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With the industry still lacking innovation and being driven by incentives, as well as travel management companies continuing to put all their eggs in the global distribution system baskets as it seems, technology providers are forecasted to face a downturn.
We can observe markets cannibalizing themselves and
airlines distributing directly, by disintermediation of GDS and TMC; GDSs providing booking tools for agencies, while at the same time
operating online travel agencies and online TMCs; GDSs being very
selective with their certified developers while the
Department of Justice is looking into this practice; and corporations continuing to pay a fortune in distribution costs,
cut in half by some new entrants.
American Airlines' recent announcement to
migrate their full content to direct channels enabled by XML and third-party technology firms means AA is taking a first step towards independence from GDSs and is punishing these traditional distributors, which are driven only by political decisions and unfruitful negotiations, by reducing their market share. GDS distribution will still be around, but new business models such as
merchandizing will only be possible through AA's XML interface.
Mergers, political decisions and protectionism along with the
economic downturns have resulted in business travel budget cuts, preventing third-party technology firms from pursuing long-term strategies. Fast-moving environments that elude any control force suppliers to become more flexible, to react to changing market conditions by providing an entire framework based on business objects that can be upgraded as needed.
By contrast, alternatives should be provided that pursue the idea of Service Oriented Architecture as well as solve the challenges provided by fragmentation and modularization. Nothing should be wasted, be it money, time or effort. Today an agent desktop solution has to be delivered, tomorrow a corporate booking tool which uses the same business policies, next week an online booking tool and after that an iPhone app, a Blackberry solution, or a community-based booking tool and agent GUI. Most likely today each of these systems has its own profile module, its own workflow and rules engine (if at all), its own policy module, etc., and everything has to be updated and maintained separately. However, every entity has to act exactly within the limitation of these tools--and more interestingly, all the same way--even though the travel pattern of an investment firm, a petroleum company, an auditor, a consulting corporation or a manufacturer might differ greatly. Switch vertically and horizontally and you might be much better off. One profile, one policy, similar workflow, specifically designed for the individual requirements across industries.
Clients must be enabled to arrange their specific solutions on the basis of more appropriate differentiated products which suit their needs. It starts with a transaction server connected to all sorts of content and inventory. The next layer is a sandwich of a rules engine and process engine garnished by a variety of services such as profiles, policies and things we do not even know today and topped with an individual and intuitive graphical user interface. This can be the only flexible architecture which has to be provided in order to supply the missing pieces to complement the complex landscape enterprises and agencies face today and tomorrow. As a kid, with just a bunch of Lego pieces you build whatever comes to mind. With technology from a user experience we must get there while the application is solid and steady.
It must be possible to just add or edit crucial adjustments that the technical architecture requires and to provide options that instantly enrich the basic concept in terms of the four dimensions of flexibility, usability, maintainability and configurability--which must be regarded as indispensable major factors of an executable business solution.
One size does not fit all when it comes to the requirements of modern agencies or corporations. Individual travel solutions that leave nothing to be desired have to be represented on the principle that business shapes technology, without arousing major problems in implementation processes. They should not constrain businesses with paralyzing, rigid technology. Having said this, let’s welcome the New Year by claiming and always keeping in mind that technology must not be a limiting but rather an enhancing factor of how businesses should be driven.
