BALDWINS TRAVEL WINS TECH KICKSTART
“Growth happens in stages and TECHKICKSTART in association with
Kent-based travel agency chain Baldwins Travel is to receive a tech makeover for its shops after winning Travel Weekly and Vertical Systems’ Tech Kickstart competition. The agency, which has eight branches plus a business travel office, was picked as the winner from scores of entries for the tech MOT. Joint managing director Nick Marks said:
“We are delighted to win. We are always looking for new technology.” He added: “Everything we have needs to be
looked at. Some of the marketing elements we have are not fit for purpose. It’s all about data and how we get that data, not only for existing customers but also for new ones.” The chain currently has two separate
back-office systems in operation. “The end game is to be all on one system.
We will look at what we need and want and see what they can do for us,” said Marks. Vertical Systems managing director Rob
Barker admitted it had been a hard task picking a winner. “Every agent had a good reason for winning. We selected Baldwins Travel because Vertical Systems understands true integration and we empathise with the issue of having branches and data in different places.
consequently customer information gets collated from various sources along the way, which results in fragmentation. This not only affects efficiency but also impacts on processes and communications. “We have worked with this scenario before and know that travel agencies often don’t really see the business opportunities that a reliable, integrated system can provide.” Barker said an integrated system could help Baldwins enjoy sales growth and put in place more-efficient business processes. “We welcome the opportunity to embark on
this project with Baldwins Travel and together we will deliver a system with platforms that ‘talk to each other’, provide visibility and trends from their customers, centralised data control and access, and personalisation for marketing and communications. The commitment to total integration is exciting.” Vertical Systems, the IT and
telecommunications experts behind the Tarsc front and back-office system, will now visit the agency to provide a consultation of the business and its technology needs. Its team of experts will provide advice on which front and back-office computer systems and telephone system would suit the agency best. A tailored package will be installed by Vertical to meet the agency’s needs. As well as software, Vertical Systems will provide training to staff to use its systems and will provide follow-up appointments to check on progress. The tech makeover of Baldwins Travel will be charted in the pages of Travel Weekly.
What Baldwins Travel has won
■ A visit from Vertical’s expert team to assess your needs
■ CRM system ■ New telephone system ■ New back-office system ■ Search and booking front-office system
■ Online payment system for clients to pay online
■ Installation and staff training ■ Follow-up advice
Nick Marks (second left) with Baldwins
Travel colleagues and Lee Watson (centre), Vertical Systems
Baldwins Travel’s Nick
Marks (left) and Vertical Systems’ Lee Watson
1 February 2018
travelweekly.co.uk 39
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