Consumer tech in a B2B world

Consumer tech in a B2B world

In a million mile an hour world, where the hot gadget of today is the legacy tech of tomorrow, what should savvy travel businesses be looking out for?  Can travel businesses plan for a future that has every chance of arriving tomorrow?  CEO of ATCORE Group, Dave Cruickshank, explores how consumer tech advances can affect the travel industry.

There is a certain comfort in the old adage “the only constant in life is change.”  We need change to innovate and grow.  We can plan for change. Indeed, we build it into business plans – forecasting against likely unknowns – such is its constant momentum. But today the pace of change is accelerating, and impacting quality and price, often simultaneously.

The ramifications of these rapid developments make the effects of them on our businesses increasingly difficult to predict. If tech is about delivering better and faster experiences - and if travel is the ultimate shared experience - can travel businesses look to the next great consumer technology developments to help them better market and sell? 

At this year’s TTE Show in February, Tigerbay showcased a Virtual Reality application of a ski break, a tool co-opted from the gaming community. Tigerbay showed how this ‘high concept’ consumer tech could be used by tour operators to bring to life the selling journey. Like any savvy tech business, Tigerbay is looking to the wider tech landscape to understand better what consumers like to do, and how this might be used to travel businesses’ benefit.

So, how can travel businesses harness new consumer technologies to the benefit of their own development bottom line and see if they could work for their business model? We have outlined some “universal truths” which businesses can build into their strategies, helping to make the most of the tech on the horizon:

1.      Keep an eye not just on the innovations, but on the changes that might occur as a result. In many ways it’s the second or third level changes that can be the most important. Be aware of, and even predict, how they could impact your business

2.      Watch out for low margins, as they offer both an opportunity and a threat. If technology is starting to have an impact by reducing profit, then any price drop could easily be much higher tomorrow. The opposite, however, can also be true. The scale of deployment with many technology platforms means that a niche product that only appeals to 1% of the population could still have an audience of millions.

3.      Clever businesses should try to understand and understand widely. Focus on what your audience is into, as much as what your business offers. Smart businesses will start to think broadly and research deeply to have a sense of what will rise and fall.

4.      Work along lean business principles. Don’t be afraid to innovate, but equally don’t be afraid to ditch or twist. Trying and moving on are of equal importance in a world of such fast paced invention.

5.      Look to non-traditional hires – to younger gamers, tech experts – anyone who will stretch the expertise of your business.

The secret to harnessing the power of consumer technologies for business benefit is not to focus on the technology itself, but to the way the trends are heading.

Whether you choose to use VR or something else is not the issue, it is keeping an eye on the tech horizon that is vital to ensure tech-savvy travel businesses stay ahead of the pack.

  • We work closely with Tigerbay on a regular basis. Our website is continually evolving and improving with exciting new features. We implemented Tigerbay and went live as planned. The system is easy to use and made training straightforward.

    Mark Warner Travel

  • Tigerbay’s day-to-day usability is fantastic. Bookings now take half the time they did with the previous system. It has helped us increase efficiency, improve accuracy and streamline our business.

    Debbie O’Neill, Head of Customer Experience, Voyages Jules Verne

  • Tigerbay guided us through a smooth implementation. The team are very knowledgeable and through constant communication they helped us prioritise appropriately to ensure the initial installation project went well.

    Beachcomber Tours

  • The intuitiveness of the Tigerbay system is one of its key assets; and the simplicity of the back office allows new staff members to be trained quickly and accurately. Tigerbay has also given us the flexibility to be able to offer targeted promotional campaigns online which have proven popular with both trade and direct clients.

    Ski World

     

t: ‪+44 29 2105 5300
e: info@tigerbay.co.uk
Part of the ATCORE Group