SPECIAL REPORT
conversations you never thought you’d need to have – all from your bedroom. From a more practical point of view it’s GHfiQLWHO\ DFFHOHUDWHG WKH XVH RI RQOLQH tools for requirements gathering, training and support. We do much less face-to-face time with customers and can get much more done. Simon: We’re fortunate to have partnerships with several large ‘staycation’ operators who have seen some unprecedented booking levels, but for the rest it is evident that there is QR RQH VL]H fiWV DOO FKDQJH DFURVV RXU clients. Every operator has approached the pandemic very differently and we’ve done whatever we can to support them as they navigate through their unique set of challenges. Cressida: We have been through this incredibly tough time together and worked closely with our clients to help as each new challenge came our way. Our Net Promoter Score has moved in a VLJQLfiFDQWO\ PRUH SRVLWLYH GLUHFWLRQ LQ the last 12 months as we tried our best WR fiQG VROXWLRQV WR RXU FXVWRPHUVȇ ongoing challenges and I feel our partnerships and our methods of communication are now more transparent. Manuel: We have seen a shift in customer behaviour towards more-standardised solutions. There is less appetite for custom-built solutions and customers are happier to get standardised product features that solve their problems. This is a much more scalable approach both for our customers and for ourselves and it aligns our interests even more. George: Customer bonds have strengthened. Everyone needed fiQDQFLDO KHOS GLVFRXQWV H[WUD IHDWXUHV new modules at reduced rates. So, when the daily runaround decreased by a huge margin, customers became more humane and understood how YDOXDEOH DQ XQGHUVWDQGLQJ DQG flH[LEOH IT partner is for their future business. Jon: It’s really made us work much closer with our clients. We have set up a
“WE’VE SEEN A SHIFT TO STANDARDISED SOLUTIONS AND
LESS APPETITE FOR CUSTOM-BUILT”
dedicated customer success team and we allocate a customer success manager to each and every one of our FXVWRPHUV WR HQVXUH WKH\ DUH EHQHfiWLQJ from our technology. This means we are understanding their needs and together making sure they are getting a real return on investment.
Q. HOW HAS THE PANDEMIC PROMPTED YOU TO REVISE THE FOCUS AND PRIORITIES IN YOUR COMPANY? Cressida:We now have a laser focus on supporting existing clients while building a product for the future. Covid-19 hasn’t prompted this change in Traveltek – we had the plan before. But it has certainly highlighted many LQHIfiFLHQFLHV LQ WKH WUDYHO LQGXVWU\ WKDW WHFKQRORJ\ FDQ KHOS WR fi[ Jon: As I said above, we have been working much more closely with our customers who we have put at the heart of our business. For Kaptio we want every customer to be an advocate of our products and services. It’s been challenging over the past 18 months but we are witnessing the results of our hard work and our customers are feeling it too. Simon: :HȇYH ORQJ VHHQ WKH EHQHfiWV of remote working and how teams can ZRUN HIfiFLHQWO\ DQG HIIHFWLYHO\ ZKLOH RXW RI WKH RIfiFH EXW WKH ELJ FKDQJH we’ve made is how we engage with our customers remotely. To address this we’ve launched Inspiretec Academy, an
online learning tool to help our customers quickly get up to speed and get the most out of our platform and we’ve already used it to support the ‘go live’ of new implementations. Andy: It’s accelerated the strategy to launch more off-the-shelf and modular-based software. We’re launching a new product next month and that will be our third in under two years. Our history and skills are more aligned with enterprise technology and relationships, and that won’t VLJQLfiFDQWO\ FKDQJH EXW FRPSOHPHQWLQJ WKDW ZLWK D GLYHUVLfiHG product set that can be simply delivered to higher numbers of customers internationally broadens our opportunity. Putting our best technology in front of more people more simply sounds like something that shouldn’t need a pandemic to accelerate. George: We offer a fully cloud-based solution, so delivering projects from home brought little change to our organisation. Our priorities have always been to deliver fast and feature-rich technology and we kept doing so regardless of Covid. Bookings are now at +47% versus 2019 levels so we believe our focus on delivering really paid off. With our new ‘book as you grow’ pricing models, we have assisted our clients through the toughest period in memory and can look forward to seeing bookings and income increase going forward. Manuel: The pandemic has certainly demanded more focus in various areas. We closely examined everything we did in order to assess whether it also made sense from a strategic point of view. Furthermore, we have invested a lot in standardisation and process automation to be able to deliver a better service with less effort. Last but not least, we have focused more on medium-sized to large travel brands because many small players have gone into some form of hibernation, but we see this as a temporary impact.
TRAVOLUTION.CO.UK — SEPTEMBER 2021 — 11
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