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Travel
Travel–Airlines, Car Rentals, Hotels, Entertainment venues and service providers
Vertical Overview
The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) estimated that worldwide spending for personal travel was $2.8 trillion in 2005, a figure that increasing annually. The travel industry, housing the Travel suppliers - such as airlines, car rental agencies, and hotels, online and offline travel agencies (eg booking agents and travel dealers) - the Global distribution systems (GDSs), and other companies that fulfill interrelated customer needs or large enterprises, is witnessing phenomenal growth.
Travel companies are under intense pressure to find innovative ways to both maximize revenue and reduce costs. Margins are razor thin, the pool of high value customers continues to shrink, competition is fierce and there is no integrated view of the business. Despite such challenges, the travel industry is considered to have performed successfully because of its early adoption of Internet technology for business improvement and benefits. The revolutionary medium of the Internet has changed the way travel is purchased. The majority of travel research and booking has shifted from traditional channels to the Internet. The convenience, speed and access to ‘comparison pricing’ the Internet affords has won over business and leisure travelers, forcing travel-related businesses to serve their customers online or go under. The Internet might be called a source of much of the travel industry's despair, but curiously, it also offers a possible means of managing the very crisis it has helped create.
Consumers enjoy spending their time researching and planning personal travel more than any other subject. The Internet has opened access to vast amounts of information for research purposes and also the ability to by-pass a travel agent and book directly online, taking advantage of many cost benefits.
Technology offers opportunities to reduce the cost of travel, improve service delivery, improve security, and deliver a better experience to the customer from their first making an initial enquiry to arrival at the final destination. Despite this, many segments of the industry are failing to realize these benefits. Price competition is cutthroat, and many travel companies cannot - or will not - invest in technology that requires more than a few months to deliver a return on investment.
Research Facts
Today, what is different is the pace of change in the current market, which prompts the need to move fast using technologies that enable these issues to be quickly addressed. Additionally, customers have become a proactive force in today's economy and are determining the nature of competition as they voice their expectations and select the manufacturers that can best respond to their needs. All this is transforming business today, customers replacing technology as the driving force for change across a wide range of industries, including manufacturing. . Now it is imperative to find out what customers want, how they want to receive it, what they want to pay for it, and when they want to get it. This new approach challenges manufacturers to meet consumers' high expectations of more control, better information, and versatile communications capabilities.
The Business Challenge
Changing business demands are forcing travel companies to adapt and evolve faster than ever. The travel industry has seen radical changes in recent years, with extraordinary growth but reflective and capricious shifts in demography and consumer expectations. The consumer base has become too far spread; and the need of the time is to induct scalability, reduce operation costs, and invent new methods to bridge the spread.
Managing distribution costs
Its going to become a key strategic priority among travel companies. Airlines, for instance, rank distribution costs as their third largest expense after fuel and payroll but also consider distribution costs to be the most controllable of the three. The Internet gives travel marketers the ability to reduce distribution costs from as much as $30 per room to less than $1.
Retaining customers
is next biggest challenge together with turning them into loyal ones. Travel companies need to establish a continuing dialogue with customers - before the purchase, during the stay and after they return home. The successful marketers will apply multiple methods for customer contact, again utilizing the opportunity afforded by online marketing and not continuing to rely on such traditional methods as comment cards and offline surveys.
Enabling technology
is to make Internet and e-Commerce work to the best advantage of business and customer alike - don't throw big money at the Internet without really understanding what works and what does not work. Understand how to expand an online presence without alienating existing channels of distribution, and how to prevent transaction costs from going up when customers use the internet to look but might still sometimes book through traditional channels.
Customer Analysis
is to clearly define knowledge needs and transform customer data into knowledge. The travel companies need to work with the technical teams to build systems based on what needs to come out rather that what is going in. They should invest in campaign management solutions that will allow them to rapidly design and execute more effective campaigns with enhanced customer intelligence, multi-channel integration and consistent customer communication.
Solution Approach
The dynamic nature of business today with its fast pace of change drives enterprises to work hard to maintain a competitive edge. As a result, enterprises run short of time to build and deploy new solutions or re-engineer an existing system to support their critical business needs, while discarding the legacy systems that become prohibitively expensive. To answer such a formidable business challenge, SourceEdge focuses on use of Solution Blueprints and a Rapid Application Development oriented model. SourceEdge Solution Blueprint Model addresses business requirement specification analyses with use cases and help us to build and deliver solutions to our clients in the quickest time.
The unique features of our Solution Blueprint Model suit today’s business needs
Extranet Portal for Travel Companies
The portal that connects all the travel companies covering Airlines, Cruise, Car rental agencies, Buses, Trains, Hotels, Cottages & Villas, Camping Sites, Golf courses, and other possible destinations like Zoos, Safaris, Museums, etc. This system enables the travel companies to sell their services and products and also helps to maintain and manage transactions related to their business. This is an extranet system interfaced to the portal system and includes:
Travel Portal Back Office
The portal that helps to maintain and manage the content and administer the transactions conducted by the travelers connected to travel companies or sellers of goods. This is the back end system of the portal where access is limited to the Portal owner only and includes:
Centralized Ticketing System
The portal that allows a customer to search and book tickets from multiple suppliers, search and do reservations from multiple suppliers online and create a complete travel itinerary at the click of a mouse. This is the front layer of the portal interfaced with the transaction engine of the portal system. The Blue print development approach Business Requirements Analysis Process: Business analysis through Process definition and diagram, User Activities and Use cases, Collaboration and UML diagram.
Business Entities Design
Business process documentation through Application use cases, Module definition, System architecture, UML class diagram and GUI design
Application Development Automation
Business logic definition through Prototype, Automatic code generation, Proof of concept, Module design and Deployment
Quality Process Automation
Business validation through System and compliance testing, Initial system integration testing, Data verification and implementation
Business Requirement Analysis Process
This is the first phase of the solution building process, SourceEdge works in collaboration with its clients to identify the functional requirements, transforming these into technical requirements. The business goal of this phase is to
Business Entities Design
The output of the first phase is input of this phase, where business requirements are defined and transformed into a technical document of application use cases, modules, system design & architecture, and user interfaces. The business goal of this phase is to
Application Development Automation: The output of the Business Entities Design phase is a ready framework to generate the codes automatically for different modules of the application. The code is generated using SourceEdge’s proprietary RAD tool and the business goal of this phase is to
Quality Process Automation: As application testing occurs at every incremental stage of design and development, when it comes to this final phase of quality verification, the process is easy to implement, test and deliver. The business goal of this phase is to
Software Architecture
The travel portal uses a Microsoft .NET based Portal Framework. The illustration below defines the solution stack for the Travel Portal Solution
Solution Benefits
The Travel Portal can transform the current processes and traditional methods, benefiting travel companies, online and offline agents, and travelers.
Technology Approach
Using the latest powerful Web Services standard-based technology, the Travel Portal solution interfaces directly with reservation systems for travel companies, such as hotels, airlines, car rental agencies, and entertainment venues, and creates a consolidated record for storing all aspects of a traveler’s itinerary. The key factors are
Vertical Overview
The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) estimated that worldwide spending for personal travel was $2.8 trillion in 2005, a figure that increasing annually. The travel industry, housing the Travel suppliers - such as airlines, car rental agencies, and hotels, online and offline travel agencies (eg booking agents and travel dealers) - the Global distribution systems (GDSs), and other companies that fulfill interrelated customer needs or large enterprises, is witnessing phenomenal growth.
Travel companies are under intense pressure to find innovative ways to both maximize revenue and reduce costs. Margins are razor thin, the pool of high value customers continues to shrink, competition is fierce and there is no integrated view of the business. Despite such challenges, the travel industry is considered to have performed successfully because of its early adoption of Internet technology for business improvement and benefits. The revolutionary medium of the Internet has changed the way travel is purchased. The majority of travel research and booking has shifted from traditional channels to the Internet. The convenience, speed and access to ‘comparison pricing’ the Internet affords has won over business and leisure travelers, forcing travel-related businesses to serve their customers online or go under. The Internet might be called a source of much of the travel industry's despair, but curiously, it also offers a possible means of managing the very crisis it has helped create.
Consumers enjoy spending their time researching and planning personal travel more than any other subject. The Internet has opened access to vast amounts of information for research purposes and also the ability to by-pass a travel agent and book directly online, taking advantage of many cost benefits.
Technology offers opportunities to reduce the cost of travel, improve service delivery, improve security, and deliver a better experience to the customer from their first making an initial enquiry to arrival at the final destination. Despite this, many segments of the industry are failing to realize these benefits. Price competition is cutthroat, and many travel companies cannot - or will not - invest in technology that requires more than a few months to deliver a return on investment.
Research Facts
- In 2006 unique visitors to online sites rose 13% to 80.3 million a month
- Online bookings accounted for 40% of total travel bookings in 2006, and are expected to represent 56% by 2010
- The majority (or 54%) of online travel shoppers begin travel research with an online travel agency.
- In 2006 50% of airline ticket sales and reservations were conducted exclusively online
- The growth of travel web sites in 2006 soared by 25%
- The introduction of online electronic brochures has led to a 90% decline in requests for traditional paper brochures from operators’ websites
- The worldwide study of hospitality executives found that 68% of hoteliers plan to shift their budgets from offline to online marketing in 2007.
- What do E-travel consumers buy online? Airline tickets top the list, followed by overnight lodging, rental cars, tickets for museums, festivals, sports events, tickets for amusement parks, travel packages, cruises
- Online travelers feel the best travel Web sites offer the ability to compare prices, provide opportunities to save money, offer the most up-to-date information, and offer a wide range of travel options.
- Compared to other travel Web sites, company Web sites (airlines, hotels, etc.), destination Web sites (states, cities, etc.), and online agencies (Expedia, Travelocity, etc.) are used most often among online travel planners.
Today, what is different is the pace of change in the current market, which prompts the need to move fast using technologies that enable these issues to be quickly addressed. Additionally, customers have become a proactive force in today's economy and are determining the nature of competition as they voice their expectations and select the manufacturers that can best respond to their needs. All this is transforming business today, customers replacing technology as the driving force for change across a wide range of industries, including manufacturing. . Now it is imperative to find out what customers want, how they want to receive it, what they want to pay for it, and when they want to get it. This new approach challenges manufacturers to meet consumers' high expectations of more control, better information, and versatile communications capabilities.
The Business Challenge
Changing business demands are forcing travel companies to adapt and evolve faster than ever. The travel industry has seen radical changes in recent years, with extraordinary growth but reflective and capricious shifts in demography and consumer expectations. The consumer base has become too far spread; and the need of the time is to induct scalability, reduce operation costs, and invent new methods to bridge the spread.
Managing distribution costs
Its going to become a key strategic priority among travel companies. Airlines, for instance, rank distribution costs as their third largest expense after fuel and payroll but also consider distribution costs to be the most controllable of the three. The Internet gives travel marketers the ability to reduce distribution costs from as much as $30 per room to less than $1.
Retaining customers
is next biggest challenge together with turning them into loyal ones. Travel companies need to establish a continuing dialogue with customers - before the purchase, during the stay and after they return home. The successful marketers will apply multiple methods for customer contact, again utilizing the opportunity afforded by online marketing and not continuing to rely on such traditional methods as comment cards and offline surveys.
Enabling technology
is to make Internet and e-Commerce work to the best advantage of business and customer alike - don't throw big money at the Internet without really understanding what works and what does not work. Understand how to expand an online presence without alienating existing channels of distribution, and how to prevent transaction costs from going up when customers use the internet to look but might still sometimes book through traditional channels.
Customer Analysis
is to clearly define knowledge needs and transform customer data into knowledge. The travel companies need to work with the technical teams to build systems based on what needs to come out rather that what is going in. They should invest in campaign management solutions that will allow them to rapidly design and execute more effective campaigns with enhanced customer intelligence, multi-channel integration and consistent customer communication.
Solution Approach
The dynamic nature of business today with its fast pace of change drives enterprises to work hard to maintain a competitive edge. As a result, enterprises run short of time to build and deploy new solutions or re-engineer an existing system to support their critical business needs, while discarding the legacy systems that become prohibitively expensive. To answer such a formidable business challenge, SourceEdge focuses on use of Solution Blueprints and a Rapid Application Development oriented model. SourceEdge Solution Blueprint Model addresses business requirement specification analyses with use cases and help us to build and deliver solutions to our clients in the quickest time.
The unique features of our Solution Blueprint Model suit today’s business needs
- Platform independent
- Highly flexible, scalable, robust architecture
- Vertical centric business solution
- Model once and deploy anywhere
- Lower development costs
- Reduced maintenance cost and less dependency
Travel companies need a well-connected business system to enable planning, distribution, selling, operating and analyzing products/services catering for the specific needs of the complex leisure travel market. An integrated, end-to-end travel management solution will ease out travel companies business operations and enable them to run fully connected systems open to their customers anywhere.
Using new Service Oriented Architecture specifications, the SourceEdge Travel Portal solution overcomes the problem of fragmented information by providing the consolidated, expanded information that today’s travel companies need.
To deliver an integrated, end-to-end travel management solution that overcomes the constraints of the fragmented travel service providers, the Travel Portal has six core modules:
Travel Customer Portal
The portal that allows a customer to browse the relevant tours & travel information of their choice, search the service or goods of regional importance and plan a complete travel itinerary, resulting in a one-stop trip planning solution. This is the front layer of the portal and covers:
- Content search
- Calendar of events
- General travel info
- Online Booking
Extranet Portal for Travel Companies
The portal that connects all the travel companies covering Airlines, Cruise, Car rental agencies, Buses, Trains, Hotels, Cottages & Villas, Camping Sites, Golf courses, and other possible destinations like Zoos, Safaris, Museums, etc. This system enables the travel companies to sell their services and products and also helps to maintain and manage transactions related to their business. This is an extranet system interfaced to the portal system and includes:
- Travel companies and their service definition
- Online Booking and Accounting
- Legacy system integration
- Business Intelligence and Business Activity Monitoring
Travel Portal Back Office
The portal that helps to maintain and manage the content and administer the transactions conducted by the travelers connected to travel companies or sellers of goods. This is the back end system of the portal where access is limited to the Portal owner only and includes:
- Advertisement Management Component
- Content Push Component
- Content Management Component
- Information Blocks Component
- Helpdesk Component
- Polls and Survey Component
- Search Component
- Shopping Cart Component
- Statistics Component
- Data Management Component
- Maps & Routing Component
- Tour Planner Component
- Security Component
- Promotion Component
- Up selling and Cross Selling Component
- Administration Component
Centralized Ticketing System
The portal that allows a customer to search and book tickets from multiple suppliers, search and do reservations from multiple suppliers online and create a complete travel itinerary at the click of a mouse. This is the front layer of the portal interfaced with the transaction engine of the portal system. The Blue print development approach Business Requirements Analysis Process: Business analysis through Process definition and diagram, User Activities and Use cases, Collaboration and UML diagram.
Business Entities Design
Business process documentation through Application use cases, Module definition, System architecture, UML class diagram and GUI design
Application Development Automation
Business logic definition through Prototype, Automatic code generation, Proof of concept, Module design and Deployment
Quality Process Automation
Business validation through System and compliance testing, Initial system integration testing, Data verification and implementation
Business Requirement Analysis Process
This is the first phase of the solution building process, SourceEdge works in collaboration with its clients to identify the functional requirements, transforming these into technical requirements. The business goal of this phase is to
- Understand the business process and define the user and their functions
- Identify the business entities
- Identify the process tasks and define the business use cases
Business Entities Design
The output of the first phase is input of this phase, where business requirements are defined and transformed into a technical document of application use cases, modules, system design & architecture, and user interfaces. The business goal of this phase is to
- Understand and enumerate the workflow tasks
- Define the application use cases and Identification of classes
- Perform relational mapping between Identified classes
- Identify the business entities
- Prepare a UML diagram and design User Interfaces
Application Development Automation: The output of the Business Entities Design phase is a ready framework to generate the codes automatically for different modules of the application. The code is generated using SourceEdge’s proprietary RAD tool and the business goal of this phase is to
- Develop the business logic
- Develop a productive code and semi-workable program
- Refine the User Interfaces
- Perform checks on transaction
Quality Process Automation: As application testing occurs at every incremental stage of design and development, when it comes to this final phase of quality verification, the process is easy to implement, test and deliver. The business goal of this phase is to
- Evaluate the application on performance
- Conduct a quality check and automation using tools
- Fine tune Test and implement the system
Software Architecture
The travel portal uses a Microsoft .NET based Portal Framework. The illustration below defines the solution stack for the Travel Portal Solution
Solution Benefits
The Travel Portal can transform the current processes and traditional methods, benefiting travel companies, online and offline agents, and travelers.
- Solution Blue print addresses most of the business challenges in the initial stage and hence offers increased efficiency and higher profitability
- Flexibility to tailor the solution to match exact needs
- Ready solution framework-to-code, develop and implement
- Customer to derive rapid time to deploy and return on investment
- Cost Effective model - Model once and develop elsewhere
- Real-time data access and maintenance
- Ability to attract new customers: services can be provided directly to businesses and individual customers, not just travel agencies
- Ability to add new suppliers and services through use of flexible Web Services Description Language (WSDL) technology enabling suppliers to build interfaces
- Increase in customer loyalty by storing travel profiles and preferences to gain new perspectives
Technology Approach
Using the latest powerful Web Services standard-based technology, the Travel Portal solution interfaces directly with reservation systems for travel companies, such as hotels, airlines, car rental agencies, and entertainment venues, and creates a consolidated record for storing all aspects of a traveler’s itinerary. The key factors are
- Platform Independent
- Development Choices C# or Java and using eXtensible Markup Language (XML), Web Services Description Language (WSDL), Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP)
- Process Driven Development Model
- Highly flexible, scalable, robust architecture
- Automated development approach using RAD tool