Face-to-Face: Nikhil Dhodapkar, Managing Director, Abacus Distribution Systems (India)
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1) How does the Indian travel landscape look to Abacus at present?
Travellers are starting to return, although it will probably be 2011 before traffic returns to pre-crisis levels. At the same time we are seeing more rigour and sophistication being applied to corporate travel policies. However, there is still a great deal of ‘unmanaged travel’ within the SME corporate sector in Asia and so we are seeing more shopping online for travel bargains. We are also seeing more net-savvy travellers using social media. To help our customers tap into this growing base, we recently launched the newest version of Abacus WebStart - the leading Internet booking engine, which is tailored to Asian travel agencies. This release will further extend our customers’ online advantage by adding new fare search and payment capabilities.
We saw a strong rebound in performance over the last six months and forecast that it should be a good year for the travel industry. However, it is important that the industry continues to work together to bring value to customers.
2) How is the latest technology helping shape the recovery of corporate and individual travel in the Indian travel market?
Travel players have transformed their businesses to be more nimble and more innovative as a result of the recession. Technology, such as Abacus PowerSuite and Abacus PowerConnect, has played a major role in this by enabling the industry to increase productivity and lower operating costs by automating labour intensive processes. Abacus PowerSuite reduces frontline operations, helping each agent work 50% faster. We recently launched the enhanced version of our point-of-sale solution, Abacus Whiz 4.8.2. Enhancements to the latest release include the enhanced re-issue mask that automates re-pricing and calculates the difference in fares and taxes automatically.
Moreover, as customers increasingly turn to the Internet when planning travel, agencies are discovering the power of creating a virtual presence. Abacus helps bring these businesses online more effectively and at a lower cost. Finally, cultivating customer loyalty also helped the travel industry survive the recession. Using the right CRM tools, such as Abacus ClientBase, allows travel agencies to build customer relationships.
3) How do you differentiate Abacus India from, and stay ahead of, your key competitors?
We differentiate ourselves in three key areas - our reach, our content and our dedicated service standards for building and maintaining relationships with our clients. In India, we are offering unique and intelligent solutions to our customers. Besides Abacus ClientBase, our customers also have access to Abacus TravelIntelligence - a solution enabling businesses to mitigate operating risks through basic policy management and protect employee well-being. It also helps secure vital intellectual assets by monitoring travel movements and optimising the travel supply chain via trend and usage analysis.
Abacus eServices is Asia’s only GDS online customer service self-help portal, and has received growing interest from travel agencies across India over the past year. The solution provides agencies 24/7 access to the Abacus’ full range of business services and market information, eLearning etc.
Abacus grew out of the major Asian airlines’ CRS systems and so we can proudly say we have superb Asia Pacific reach, as well as understanding the Asian business dynamic. We have spent over US$125 million (INR551.6 crore) to develop and customise our solutions especially for the Asian markets. We partner with Sabre and work with other travel players so we are able to provide global content in the Asia region.
4) What strategies do you employ to build long term, mutually beneficial, partnerships within the travel industry?
We ensure that our clients have the latest and technology in order to compete effectively in the market. Even more importantly, we build close relationships through discussion, analysis and understanding of their businesses and challenges. We then apply tailor-made solutions, staying in close contact with the clients to analyse the results. We also ensure we operate efficiently, and pass these efficiencies to our customers. We work with our partners to bring better value to their customers, eg. promotions with airlines and the hotels so that travel agents will have a higher value of content to offer to travellers.
5) How will the introduction of your latest WebStart IBE benefit travel agents?
In our recent Abacus Travel Sentiments Survey, almost 50% of travel agents were not operating online. However of these, 70% were thinking of developing a website and so the new Abacus WebStart package is a ‘door opener’ for them to increase the operational sophistication and therefore the efficiency and profitability of their businesses almost immediately.
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