How small agencies can look big
Brett Henry, Abacus International vice president of marketing, told delegates to the Abacus conference that when you had been doing the same thing in a business for 25 years, and you were doing well, it took courage and leadership to make changes.
But such was the pace of change with new technology, Henry warned, “if you’re using the tools you were using even three years ago, you will pay a big penaltyâ€.
Henry suggested that agencies looking to upgrade their skills and processes using new mobile technology applications should first concentrate on the post booking experience for the customer.
Abacus Virtually There, he said, helped agents to deliver extra services to a customer after they had booked.
“This is about total customer care, increasing brand loyalty and improving productivity,†he said.
Abacus Virtually There allows an agency to deliver any time, anywhere real time information to customers, such as flight delays, departure gate information, destination weather information etc.
“It’s a white label travel management service that can make small agencies look big,†said Henry.
Abacus has also introduced its new agency workspace, Next Generation Point-of-Sale (POS), which brings together all the information an agent will need during the day onto one screen.
“Agents won’t be staring at a dumb screen,†said Henry. “With POS they’ll have everything at their fingertips, including emails, travel news, social media feeds, international time zones, a calendar.
“It will operate on a fast, future-ready open platform that allows greater dependability and flexibility to simplify complex operations and allow for faster start-up times.
“The enhanced release has the added capability to shop by fares, flight or total price in a graphical or emulator mode.â€
Henry, talking about new technology, said, “You will never see another year like this in the GDS space. It’s really exciting.â€
Ian Jarrett
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