Cloud Computing Takes Travel Companies to New Heights

It’s 2016. By now, most business professionals have heard about “cloud computing,” even if their company hasn’t adopted a cloud-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution to support their business practices. But chances are, their company has transitioned at least one business process—reservations management, payments or customer service—to a hosted, cloud-based model.

From the Bottom-Line Up

How companies manage their operations is directly linked to profitability. Many travel companies’ systems are resource-intensive, traditionally run in-house and maintained on site. Today companies are moving to digital technologies to cut costs, as well as to meet the changing expectations and preferences of today’s travelers and better serve their business partners.

Cloud-based solutions make it easy to automate historically manual workflows, resulting in timesavings and analytics-rich, higher quality processes. As SaaS services are metered, pricing tends to be affordable and scalable which is important when companies grow and/or experience seasonal highs and lows.

Security, Mobility, 24/7-ability…and More

When subscribing to a SaaS solution, the software accessed by users is hosted in a cloud environment by the technology vendor. Their company’s information is stored remotely on the vendor’s servers, which means they manage everything on their end, from integrations and upgrades to customer service. The customer has virtually no need for new infrastructure or additional in-house IT support.

And since cloud-based solutions are web-based, everything is accessed on-demand through a website portal or mobile app. That makes working anytime/anywhere a reality. Visit DCS Travel Technologies’ Top Reasons SaaS is a Good Fit for your Travel Business or a lengthier explanation.

Here are some examples of SaaS solutions making their mark on various administrative functions within the travel industry:

• ERP – DCS’s web-based travel management software, TINA, is a mid-back office solution providing timely and reliable data about an organization’s various operations on a daily basis to help travel professionals manage their workflow.

• Customer Service – Syntec’s AgentCall is a cloud-hosted call center management solution used by travel companies to run a more efficient customer service department that’s easy to scale.

• E-billing – Voxel’s web-based baVel e-billing platform allows trading partners to electronically exchange information, such as invoices, credit notes and payment advices, in addition to orders, catalogs, quotes and reservations.

• Payments – UATP is an airline owned global travel management solution used by issuers and corporate subscribers for air, rail and travel agency payments.

• Reservations – HBSi’s integrated and centralized solution connects hotel central reservation or property management systems with complex travel distributors worldwide.

Staying Connected

Travel companies are turning to SaaS solutions to streamline back office administration, enhance billing and payments processing, optimize their customer service organizations and more. But the real value is they enable their workforce to focus on delivering the products and services that keep them ahead of the competition and in the A-game with their customers.