presentatie tsi e commerce

Responsive to change

The changing environment

E-Day, 5 October 2009

TSi SolutionsGorslaan 10, 1441 RG PurmerendTel.: +31 (0)88 – 25 00 000

E-mail: [email protected]

Professionaliteit door kwaliteit

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the

most intelligent, but the one that is most responsive to change.”

- Charles Darwin

Be responsive to Change



Professionaliteit door kwaliteit Agenda

• Brief introduction TSi

• The 6P’s: The Travel marketing mix in the changing environment

• ICT Trends and how to use that to your advantage



Professionaliteit door kwaliteit TSi brief history

• 1999: Founded Travel Service International with a travel platform for distribution and reservation of holiday houses

• 2001: Developed a lastminute databank for package holidays • 2004: the launch of a Travel CRS with full content of over all

major Dutch touroperators• 2004 Introduced new trade name : TSi Solutions• 2007: acquired Xentaur websolutions• 2007: acquired full ownership of Objective travel content

provider “Toeristiek” from Reed Business and Web@Workfrom Thomas Cook Netherlands

• Currently specialized in a variety of sophisticated tailor-made B2B solutions, Content house and B2B2C (web)products for the travel industry

• More than 120 staff in 4 locations: Purmerend, Enschede, Groningen and Poland

• More than 1000 customers in the travel industry use one of our products



Professionaliteit door kwaliteit 6P’s in the changing environment

The challenges today…..1.Product - The customer needs are changing>

“One size does NOT fit all anymore “and a more individual approach needed.

- Customer is in the driver seat >more demanding2.Place (or distribution)

– internet changed the way of booking and the distribution of products

– internet offers access to a broader market> an opportunity as well as a threat >more competition> difficult to be noticed

– Traditional travel agency has image problem > the added value is questioned

3.Price - Recession> price sensitivity – Decision to travel postponed> Last minutes, customer

wants value for money– Market is more transparent – comparison leads to price

driven offers



Professionaliteit door kwaliteit The challenges today4.Personnel

– Recession, last minute trend, 0 commission on flights, fluid pricing> resulting in lower margins>

– Cost saving > reorganisations > productivity to improve but with less manpower

– Knowledge, experience, sales skills of travel agency staff under pressure

5.Promotion– Reduction of costs > less marketing spending– In general not enough knowledge of “your”

customer >– Promotions not targeted to specific groups >

Output of promotions not effective enough– Majority of Retail has online presence, however in

Belgium frequently still static or offer a wide range of products with low conversion

6.Proces– Front/Mid and Back office systems not always as

efficient as necessary in current times




ICT trends in the travel industry

How to use these to your advantage and to address the

challenges




Web 2.0, Semantic web and ICT trends in the travel industry

web 2.0blogs

wikitagging

tagcloudssocial media

collaboration

knowledge sharing

flickr

ICT trendspodcasts

communities

twitter

hyves

RSS

ajax

Semantic web

folksonomy



Professionaliteit door kwaliteit What is ICT

• The abbreviation ICT stands for “Information and Communication Technology.

• If we talk about ICT, we mean the exchange of information via different channels and appliances: via (mobile) phone, via internet, via computer networks (intra-extranets), via social networks etc

• The last decade, ICT tremendously changed the (travel) industry and ……much more to come

• ICT offers new means of communication between you and your customer



Professionaliteit door kwaliteit What is a Trend?

• A Trend is not a Hype

• A Trend is there to stay for a longer period and should not be missed

• It needs correct timing to implement

• There are a lot of trends and often a trend is built upon an existing trend

• But sometimes a completely new trend is born



Professionaliteit door kwaliteit From ICT Laws to Trends and Hypes?

The 2 most important “laws” of the ICT Industry

– Moore’s Law: (Intel) the complexity of a circuit on chip doubles every 12- 18 months for the same price - exponential decline in costs

– Metcalfe’s Law (3-Com): the total value of a network is proportional to the square of the number of subscribers(Seely Brown’s (Xerox) version: the total value of a network is proportional to the square of the number of user communities)



Professionaliteit door kwaliteit From ICT to E-business

ICT scenarios E-businessscenarios

Market trends

Organizational-trends

Technologyknowledge Social

trends

Consequencesfor companies



Professionaliteit door kwaliteittrends resulting from laws (M&M)

1. Moores Law + Content (selection criteria)

possibility to Long Tail in the travel industry.

2. Metcalfe’s Law + content + visitors possibility to

travel 2.0 and semantic web in de travel industry

3. Metcalfe’s Law + software developers Open Source and webservices (SOA=service oriented architecture).

4. Moores Law +broadband Telecommunication integration such as VoiP.



Professionaliteit door kwaliteit Trend 1: The Long-Tail

The long tail ', the potential of the yellow colored area, is larger thanthe bestsellers

Bestsellers (green area)

niche products and themes

The Theory of the Long-Tail is describedfor the first time in 2004 by Chris Anderson

The essence of his theory is that productswith only few buyers or with limiteddemand, together could have a biggershare of the industry than the “bestsellers”, as long as the shop or the distribution channel is big enough.



Professionaliteit door kwaliteit Trend 1: The Long Tail



Professionaliteit door kwaliteit Opportunities of Longtail

• Opportunities for the travel industry: Stand out from the crowd and direct your attention to specific themes, target groups or niche products (the longtail)

• In order to succeed it is essential that you have access to different content types and filter /selection technology in place in order to offer the specific supply to suit the specifictarget groups .

• As TSi, we distinguish 5 content types to be used for segmentation and targetted websites (such as golfsite, diving, fishing, families with children, camping etc)



Professionaliteit door kwaliteit The ultimate content combination

Toeristiek objective and detailed descriptions, searchable criteria and realistic photo’s.

Consumer reviewsPhoto’s, video’s

Commercial texts and foto’s of touroperators/suppliers.

Actual packageprices, availability and T/O extra’s includingbooking procedures into T/O backoffice.

Actual weather info Google Maps

Unique codes and coördinates make it possible to combine the various content types to an object.

For the longtail it is necessary to be able to use/combine (filtered)content from the different content types



Professionaliteit door kwaliteit Trend 2: web-2.0

DIY

UGC

PTTP

do it yourself

user generated content

power to the people

Most important characteristics:• “do it yourself ” (the user has the power)• collaboration (social software, sharing

& community)

What is web 2.0?



Professionaliteit door kwaliteit What is Web 2.0?

This is what the Wikipedia states:• "Web 2.0" is commonly associated with web

development and web design that facilitates interactiveinformation sharing, interoperability, user-centereddesign[1] and collaboration on the World Wide Web.

Examples of Web 2.0 include web-based communities, hosted services, web applications, social-networkingsites, video-sharing sites, wikis, blogs, mashups and folksonomies.

A Web 2.0 site allows its users to interact with other usersor to change website content, in contrast to non-interactive websites where users are limited to the passive viewing of information that is provided to them.




web 2.0 is all about combining and participating– The consumer publishes– The consumer makes news himself– The consumer tags information– The consumer uses more elaborate search words– The consumer actively participates in social networks– Mash ups (bringing all different sources together)– New technical solutions for software-applications

(open source)

What is Web 2.0 ?




Web 2.0 is also all about “sharing”• via blogs• via wiki's• photo's via flickr.com, Google Panoramics, family albums• video's via youtube• Customer reviews• podcasts & vodcasts (distribution music,-streaming-video, TV

on-demand)

Web 2.0 user generated




wiki– Website to built and share knowledge

purpose– Working together– Knowledge building– (Wikipedia) use the:

“wisdom of the crowds”, “million minds approach”

but– Who knows what is “the truth”? (subjective)– What about maintenance?

• versions• Structure and overview

Web 2.0 user generated



Professionaliteit door kwaliteitWeb 2.0 Reviews




RSS (rich site summary)– Technique to circulate and distribute (news) messages in a

structured way– Technique to selective notification of new messages – You need a desktop or online RSS-reader in which

“subscriptions” (i.e URL’s) are being registered.– in the “reader” you can read -summaries of- (news) messages

and hyperlink to the respective web pages

Used in:– all weblogs offer possibilities to receive new messages in RSS– most wiki’s offer possibilities to be notified via RSS of new

additions/changes

Web 2.0 rss - notification



Professionaliteit door kwaliteit API’s voor Travel 2.0

Web 2.0 is all about combining content



Professionaliteit door kwaliteitTrend 3: Open Source

Open Source is no longer just a fringe phenomenon. It is now part of main stream technology solutions



Professionaliteit door kwaliteit Trend 3: Open source

• Google apps• Open office (free alternative of MS Word, Excel, etc)• The market leading web server is Apache• Linux has the second largest market share as web

server OS and second server OS.• PHP is the web’s #1 Server-side Scripting Language. • OpenSSH is the Internet’s #1 implementation of the

SSH security protocol • Many development tools are open source• The best AJAX technology is in the open source

community



Professionaliteit door kwaliteitTrend 4: VoIP

Telephone central

Telecommunication software

Data netwerk(IP)

ISDN30

VoIPConnect



Professionaliteit door kwaliteit Trend 4 ICT- Travel Shop

• Travel agents only need a workstation with browser

• Uniform total solutions– Infrastructure, platform, applications, services

• Platforms and applications centralize and apply de-centralized

• IP-VPN• Telephone& Fax• Internet• PIN-over-IP• BTN• Touristic CRS/ Toerisitek• Multi media ContactCenter

– ACD, eMail management, webselfservice

• CRM• Narrowcasting




Blz 30

Trend 4: advantages

• One stop one shop concept ICT• Creating a virtual organization • Modern software applications available as a

service (s.a.a.s. concept) • Uniform solutions for travel agent chains• Cost saving on;

– Connectivity, calls , maintenance & support, hardware



Professionaliteit door kwaliteit Trend 5: the Semantic Web

Wikipedia definition about Semantic web:

• The Semantic Web is an evolving development of the World Wide Web in which the meaning (semantics) of information and services on the web is defined, making it possible for the web to understand and satisfy the requests of people and machines to use the web content

In short, it is allows intuitive searches among all sorts of relevant content. Especially relevance to the search is very important. I.e. The customer expects products and offers relevant to his search. Companies to adopt behavioral targetting.



Professionaliteit door kwaliteit “Set policy to innovate”

“How can I adapt my company to the fast changing environment ? “

• Set policy to innovate

• Be responsive to the trends and use them to your advantage

• Prove your added value, by using a combination of skilled knowledge, various information sources, travel products and use of sophisticated technological` solutions’.

• It is a continued process of learning and making the right innovative choices



Professionaliteit door kwaliteit “Make the difference & Inspire”

Embrace Internet , use new technologies, new distribution possibilities to your best advantage, Focus on added value FROM the perspective of the customer on your websites and in the shopsDefine USP’s to target specific groups (segmentation) to stand out from the crowd Invest in Customer Intimacy > know your customer and built a personal relationship both online and offline. Offer inspiration > make the dream come trueUse Imagineering> You are the “Designer” of his/her dream trip. So LISTEN TO YOUR CUSTOMERS NEEDS and give your customer a voice and let him participateLocal hero strategy> be known as best shop in town with high quality service and information. Qualified (local) personnel can make the local difference vs the impersonal internet Invest in sales tactics / skills of personnel, in order to be more persuasive and to improve conversion, AND…….



Professionaliteit door kwaliteit ..MAKE ICT WORK FOR YOU!

Make use of modern technology. It offers you ample possibilities to enhance internal processes. Personnel to have access to sophisticated B2B tools to deliver best possible service and quality levels in a cost efficient way. Make sure your staff has access to honest, objective up to date information about destinations and accommodations, combined with subjective aspects. This is essential to improve customers confidence in and loyalty to the travel agency (both online and offline). Diversify products, Embrace new business models such as merchant models > ultimately Dynamic Packaging of all different travel components and set your own margins




……“ Travelport Leisure Platform”

Travelport and TSi Solutions “TOGETHER” in partnership to assist

you in achieving your goals

“We help you to make the difference”




Thank you for your timeAny questions?

Professionalism through Quality

TSSi Solutions PurmerendGorslaan 101441 RG PurmerendTel.: +31 (0)88 - 25 00 000Fax: +31 (0)88 - 25 00 [email protected]