Illusions Online rolls out system in record time
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Dubai-based Illusions Online has implemented a new client system in record time.
After inking a partnership agreement with one of the GCC region’s leading MICE and FIT specialists, 1001 Events, the travel technology firm has rolled out its system in just 35 days.
“This marks the fastest implementation of any Dubai-based Destination Management Company (DMC) system ever,” confirmed Illusions Online CEO Faisal Memon. “We have gone from signing the deal to going live with the system in just over a month. Other companies have struggled for years to get the right technology in place with full automation including B2B/XML booking engines. With Illusions experience spanning 14 years in the industry and having implemented the system for the biggest travel players in the world, we can deliver a real-quick deployment of our platform for DMCs and tour operators.”
1001 Events has opted for the Enterprise edition – a cutting-edge off-the-shelf product that will automate its entire business.
The company, which currently excels in the MICE market, specialising in the inbound travel to Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Ras Al Khaimah, the Musandam Peninsula and Oman, is looking to significantly boost its leisure business and believes Illusions system will help it achieve this goal in a short time frame.
“We have been experts in the MICE market for 10 years and until now, our leisure business has been offline,” explained 1001 Events managing director Agnelo Fernandes.
“We needed to implement technology that would drive the growth of our leisure division rapidly and believe Illusions, who we view as a business partner, rather than a one-dimensional technology vendor, can provide us with a system to help us grow at a fast pace.
“By going online and interfacing with our key clients globally, we aim to double our leisure business over the next two years. In the three to four years, we are looking at 300-400% growth.”
Initially, the Illusions Enterprise edition will operate as a B2B booking system, connecting to 1001 Events’ clients 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Removing the restrictions of conflicting working hours and time zones between Dubai-headquartered 1001 Events and its clients, which are located across Europe and more recently, North and South America, will automatically boost sales, says Fernandes.
“The system will provide our clients with instant rates, availability and booking capabilities anytime, anywhere,” he explains. “The XML capability means we can interface with several key customers, which will also speed up the booking process.”
In general the Illusions will automate, integrate and centralisealmost every aspect of 1001 Events’ business including product management, hotel/services contracting, client profiles and tariff rules, a booking engine, client and supplier documentation, accounts receivables and accounts payables, logistics and planning modules, as well as Internet booking engines for clients to purchase the entire product range online.
Memon stressed the added benefit of 1001 Events being automatically integrated into Illusions Online’sWorld Travel eXchange (iWTX) system, which allows all Illusions clients – market-leading tour operators, DMCs and travel agents located across five continents – to access one another’s products and pricing and sell them in real time.
“With each client we sign, the eXchange gets bigger and better and so even with a skeleton system in place, the product and rates made available by clients involved in the eXchange is substantial enough to get an online leisure business up and running,” he explained.
“This is how we have been able to get 1001 Events’ FIT business online within six weeks, because all it needed to do initially was import itshotel and services rates and allotmentsalong with their clients data from Excel templates to the system. In the short term, it can ride off the back of the content-rich iWTX; the volume business will come later when the business is up-and-running and marketed to current and potential clients.”
Once 1001 Events’ leisure division has been tried and tested and sales start to snowball, Illusions will work in partnership with the firm to work out how the Enterprise edition can be leveraged and customised to boost its MICE business.
“This is new territory for us, which is why we decided to partner with an expert in the MICE field to see how we can improve our technology to better cater to the very specific needs of this market,” said Memon.
“When dealing with MICE clients, the human touch is still required – it’s a complex booking process – but we believe our technology can help reduce the labour-intensity of some tasks.
“The benefit of the system will be information management, as well as improving operational efficiencies such as accounting and logistics. Each day, Agnelo will receive Key Performance Indicator (KPI) data on his smartphone, providing him with all information he and his management team require to make intelligent decisions about his business.”
Fernandes said a centralised system could also help to speed up the proposal process by streamlining some of the information common to all documents and integrating reusable data.
“Being online also means we can have a presence in GCC markets and become a regional expert, without the need to open expensive offices,” he added.
The Illusions has been rolled out at 1001 Events’ Dubai headquarters initially, but implementation is planned at its 11 offices globally, starting with locations such as Muscat, Oman.
Fernandes revealed that future ambitions included working in partnership with Illusions to roll out a B2C booking engine for its leisure business.
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