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From left: Steve Byrne, Gareth Healy, Travolution


editor Lee Hayhurst, Thierry Gnych and Jon Pickles


‘Decide exactly why you need tech before investing’


An expert panel says it’s vital that companies clarify what they want new technology to do, before committing to ‘grandiose innovations’. Ben Ireland reports


Companies in the travel sector should evaluate how they use technology before they decide whether to invest in their own systems or off-the-shelf products from third-party suppliers.


A panel of experts discussing


the findings of Travolution’s annual Innovation Report said it was


critical for travel firms to identify what they want new technologies to do before committing to “grandiose” innovations. The report found that travel companies’ IT spend rose 5% to £1.59 billion last year compared


64 travelweekly.co.uk 5 April 2018


with 2016. Travel agents spent £593 million and operators £168 million, as the sector pumped more into technology than the UK average. Steve Byrne, chief executive of


Travel Counsellors, which provides support for 1,800 homeworkers from its Manchester HQ and turns over £600 million a year, said: “It sounds a bit grandiose, but we need to be clear about why we invest in technology. Do you want to introduce chatbots and artificial intelligence (AI) to drive down costs or improve the service? Once you are clear about that, you can


use technology to enhance your business.” He said it was difficult to


compete with the budgets of tech giants such as Google and Expedia, so exploiting their innovations may prove “pragmatic”. “If it’s core to your business,


you want to be in control of the technology,” said Byrne. “But it would be self-defeating to say ‘now we’ve got our core product developed, we only develop in- house’. If outsourced solutions can improve the business quickly or cost-effectively, do that.” Gareth Healy, partner at


Inflexion, which owns Innovation Report sponsor Atcore and has


invested in luxury operator Scott Dunn and online travel agency On


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