Online turns 10 but at what cost?

It‘s frightening to think that only 10 years ago PowerPoint had just been introduced, email was being delivered through ‘dumb’ terminals and the FD’s secretary ‘managed’ travel. Mind you, costs were lower. In those days it was only the overhead ‘acetates’ and occasional projector that was left in the boot of the departing cabs instead of laptops and the LCD projector. Nor was there the mad scramble in pockets for a ‘phone as the ‘brick’ was too big for pockets. It was in that era, just 10 years ago, that the first online booking was made. Surprisingly, it wasn’t for one of the fledgling LCCs but instead it was for British Midland, a long established carrier who had the idea that if they wanted to cut overheads and reduce operating costs, then Online was the way to go. Visionary? ... yes, brave? … very.

There was a tirade of comment and most of it negative at the time but today 60 million Americans book online and globally the figure probably doubles. The corporate market may have been a major adopter but progress was hard fought as resistance to change and pockets of entrenched power took time to crumble. The market has moved on and Interactive is now accepted as the principle booking tool for point to point bookings with some corporations achieving 90% compliance.

Like all innovation, opinions vary and the cost to the early adopters was high in terms of resources, development and implementation. Late comers, mainly the SME market, rode on the coat tails of early adopters and through their participation, packaged rather than bespoke applications became available. Suppliers were now encouraged to add content and provide access to a broader range of product thus bringing benefits to all. TMCs also faced their challenges as many of the online tools were intended to replace them. TMCs now understand the attributes of Interactive and are unanimous in believing that the overall benefit to the majority of organisations is significant as long as the homework has been done and the company understands that life is about to change.

Some of the things Interactive won’t do:
Talk about the Footie – No it can’t do that but it will remember seating and hotel preferences without fail. It also keeps the booker on track with Policy and can interface with the expense claim process.
Burst into tears if you shout at it – we all get frayed at the edges and Interactive doesn’t mind. Just tell it exactly what you want and it will provide options if the request can’t be met.
Book suppliers you don’t have a deal with - this may irritate some but eventually will provide the leverage required in bringing certain suppliers back to the table.
Pick up the dry cleaning and fetch lunch – but it can get you out of tight spots by being available over weekends and after hours. Interactive in available 24 x 7 but on occasion can be subject to a bit of down time but then, don’t we all?

The main issue to determine is the core benefit to your organisation and the cultural shift required to make Interactive effective. For the majority of users, the adoption of Interactive was driven by the cost of non compliance and productivity benefits. These companies had the technical and process competencies to manage the change and implementation. However, if that’s not an issue and flexibility is more important than policy, then Interactive perhaps is not for your company.

To find out more about the online approach and to see whether your organisation can benefit, please contact any member of ATMC.

©Gordon Young 2006. All rights reserved.