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Five Steps for Agile Travel Tech Success

It’s no secret that the more adaptable your travel program is, the more effective it will be. The best travel programs respond to changing traveller and industry needs in real-time, whether it be through cutting-edge travel tech or best-in-class human support. And while the road to crafting a truly agile travel program isn’t always simple, here are three key tips that John Morhous, Chief Experience Officer at Flight Centre Travel Group, and Jo Lloyd, Global Head of Account Management at FCM, swear by when building out an agile program.

TMC approaches

 

1. How do you TMC?

John says most TMCs fall into three buckets: tech-focused, hybrid, and open-platform. Before you figure out where you want to go with your agile program, you must first define where you are. Once you know, then it’s time to compare and contrast: what is your current TMC doing that you like? Dislike? Would like to improve? Maybe it’s time to make a change.

2. Don't forget UX!

Jo says striking a balance between your program efficacy and user experience is crucial. Always listen to your users and make iterative changes to improve their experience and program efficiency. There’s nothing more agile than that!

  • Conduct UX testing and observe users interacting with your travel tech. Take note of any difficulties and room for improvements.
  • Survey your users at key benchmarks: how are they feeling about your tech 30 days after launch? 60 days? 90 days?
  • Always measure changes against the impact to user experience. In short, if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.

3. Take Charge of Your Third-Party Apps

It’s easy for things to get noisy when it comes to third-party tech. And a disjointed tech stack makes for an unstable travel program foundation. John reminds us that when evaluating third-party apps, we need to keep three things in mind: buyer goals, TMC capability, and third-party app compatibility. If all three don’t overlap, then it’s time to reconsider where third-party apps fit into your stack.

4. Don't Go Chasing Waterfalls

Agile ideology evolved from a need to approach software development differently. Historically, software developers took a waterfall approach, where they would focus on one task, throw all their effort toward it, and then move on to the next thing. Agile changes up this model and gives companies the dexterity to pivot your focus and shift effort to the most critical tasks at hand. So how can you make your travel program agile?

  • Partner with an agile travel tech provider, meaning, new features will be released on a cadence, current features will receive scheduled maintenance, and your voice drives development.
  • Build a tech stack that fits less like Legos and more like Jenga. While all your travel tech needs to speak to each other and ensure a constant flow of data, it’s not always linear.
  • Avoid one-size-fits-all TMCs at all costs. You want to partner with a TMCs that responds to current trends, crises, and customer needs in real time, not when they feel like it.

5. Allocate Efforts Efficiently

Just like in the waterfall method, it’s easy to throw all your resources at one task or project, but that’s not always a good idea, much less cost effective. When choosing your travel tech, you need to balance two main ideas: how much time do you want to spend on overall tech upkeep vs. overall travel program management.

  • If after surveying your users you realize they need more human interactions while booking and managing travel, you may consider partnering with a TMC with a heavy focus on live customer support and less self-service.
  • If you notice there are flaws in how your apps communicate with each other, you may allocate budget toward a consulting team to help you build out effective integrations.

Ready to hear more? John and Jo partnered with BTN to host a webinar on Mastering Your Agile Travel Technology. It’s ready to watch on-demand on FCM’s website now.

Watch now

Ready to hear more?

John and Jo partnered with BTN to host a webinar on Mastering Your Agile Travel Technology. Watch it on-demand now.

Let us help your company achieve agile travel tech success. Chat with us today.

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