By: David J. Wardell

© 1990 By: David J. Wardell.  Reproduction or redistribution in any form without written permission is strictly prohibited.

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Among the pervasive attitudes of the computer industry is one which says that devotion to technology must be complete--even if excellence means that products or services are unusable or never introduced because they are not vet perfect. An equally unbalanced counter-argument is that products must be usable and practical before all else--including whether or not they are good for anything.

Advocated in practice if not openly by many computer developers, these practices illustrate many technology users’ challenge:

"How can I select products that are truly appropriate for my needs? If neither position is reasonable, how can I recognize companies practicing either, and where is the balance between technology and practicality?"

Often computer experts are said to have a "tentative reality"--lacking the ability to separate what should be from what can never be. In a technology--driven industry, such as travel distribution has become, you will find that reaching the appropriate "leading edge" is a critical task, as thereby your ability to compete as well as to operate efficiently is established.

For better or worse, technology largely defines what competition is all about in the 1990s. This applies to the largest and the smallest of agencies--all are inundated by information and the need to transform it into effective customer service. Even without the significant technology investments that are beyond the reach of small agencies, the right set of tools must be available to effectively meet customer needs when a potentially better-equipped competitor is nearby.

The best of the large agencies have recognized that meaningful information comes only through technology, that information is a critical Internal management tool and an invaluable service differentiator, and that information--based management is a product in Itself. Because technology is so difficult to duplicate and use effectively, it can be a powerful point of competitive advantage that is both meaningful and sustainable.

In any business where technology is an integral part of operations, lagging too much behind the Leading Edge invites mediocrity or failure. Neither is tolerable where competition is intense. As travel automation has taken only a few years to reach present levels, the industry certainly qualifies as technologically dynamic.

Successful implementation of small computer technology is itself maturing within the travel industry. As agencies become more expert in applying appropriate technology to their problems, they find operations affected as well as marketing. Operational gains in today’s travel industry are made on the margin and are produced by effective use of tools and procedures--a situation that is accentuated as agency size increases.

The late 1980s saw many the last big round of such products: 1991 will see still more. The extreme examples were same of the ultimately ‘user-friendly’ microcomputer accounting systems (used advisedly in this context). Their designers determined that existing systems were too cumbersome and that their new, "better" products would not impose traditional restraints on users. The results were so devoid of accounting controls that most anything the operator cared to enter would produce seemingly "accurate" financial controls.

It is easy to forget that, in a highly technical field, complex problems cannot be uncomplicated simply by making systems easy to use. Usually the intrinsic difficulty, and need for accuracy, of the underlying task remains.

The other extreme is false security found through technological independence. "Travel accounting has too long been the purvey of airlines and big business", so the story goes, "Agencies need to grow-up and be independent--take control of their own destinies".

While an interesting sentiment, companies offering extremely complex and sophisticated computer systems often voice it and really mean that the company is not prepared to support the product apart from basic installation (some not even that far). The Klondike discovery of computer independence is in reality only a glitter of fool’s gold when it causes large staffs and staff expense, ongoing support problems, and ultimately less usable systems. Complexity, of itself, has little to do with the Leading Edge.

Some large agencies invest heavily in tools for their customers or their benefit. These include customer Inquiry systems that permit computer-based manipulation of agency sales and transaction data for individual accounts, and electronic reservation auditing systems that monitor for lower fares and perform other routine reservation activities.

These are but two examples of technology projects based upon tools, not solutions. While there are a few technology addicts that simply have to format their own reports, most customers don’t want online inquiry, they want understandable, accurate, reliable, and meaningful reports. Wrapping a new gadget around the reporting process doesn’t solve anyone’s problem--it just Intimidates customers into not asking so many hard questions and makes everybody feel better without having to upgrade the quality of information within the agency.

The "best tool" is no tool. Better to resolve a problem once and for all rather than contrive a tool to deal with it, even if it’s a useful one. Reservation auditing tools are useful only because someone doesn’t do their job right in the first place. Customers wouldn’t care about auditing gadgets if you adopted a lower tolerance for error in your operation and worked toward a ‘zero defect’ environment.

The Leading Edge concept carries with it the notion that users can actually get at the technology. While there are certainly agencies capable of being fully "data Independent," they are few indeed. Years in the computer business, often while having to wrestle with the problem of finding good solutions to difficult software problems (most hardware suppliers support their products fairly well) has fully convinced me that the most educated users cannot maintain the Leading Edge without definitive, broadly-based vendor support.

I once heard the "grow-up" line from an independent software company contemplating an agency product based upon a popular mainframe computer system. For most purposes, a mainframe Is understood to be a large-scale computer system which forms the central processing core of an extensive installation, maintained by crowds of somber-faced operators and system specialists.

Sophisticated, certainly--but who will use that sophistication and what agency is prepared to assume the burden of its operation? Even the software was not that straightforward. When asked about potential training problems and how they would be resolved, the vendor simply replied:

"Well, the agencies can just get new travel agents."

Reservation systems are an equally important productivity problem. Users tend to ignore areas that may cause differentiation between systems, as they are applied to the needs of the agency, and focus strictly upon marketing considerations or out-of-pocket costs. All the major CRS work, but some certainly do so appreciably better than others in specific situations.

Pricing relating to performance and productivity in small agency microcomputer-based products will continue for the present. Large agency systems, given the Inability of most agencies to implement a mainframe (or the need for one) are limited more by inelegant software that can no longer be compensated for by new and more advanced minicomputers.

While major technological advances were made in minicomputers it was possible to look to hardware to solve performance and, to a degree, functional problems. As better computers arrived they compensated for software that consumed excessive system resources and didn’t run very well.

Today, however, the large accounting and MIS systems are near their peak and most agencies have limited abilities to pay for more extensive products. The next few years doubtless hold exciting new and as vet unrecognized hardware advances, but the Leading Edge should focus on:

• Problem resolution
• Customer service products and tools where appropriate
• Technology that supports reaching business objectives
• Careful technology planning
• Cost control

Technology users must not be lulled to sleep by gadgets. This will mark a fundamental change from what has been "appropriate for the market" (meaning what stupid people will buy) or sometimes "what will get by," as practiced by some software suppliers in the past.

The Leading Edge means using technology that is the most sophisticated, and therefore productive, available under the conditions where it is to be used, understanding that unusable computers are no better (sometimes worse) than none at all. Reservation, accounting, and management tools are all essential considerations.

A history of travel automation is awash with examples of products offered without consideration as to whether they were fundamentally any good or whether they were commercially practical.

Several long-deceased microcomputer accounting products come to mind. At the forefront of the microcomputer explosion of the late 1970s, they were purchased because there was no effective competition within the same market, yet they left their owners at a competitive disadvantage very quickly as they were eclipsed by products that were simply better designed.

Other products reached development plateaus early on and never went further. Large agency accounting systems, some using advanced minicomputer technology and costing many thousands of dollars fall in this category. Their competitive advantage evaporated because their developers only had a few good ideas and felt they could rest on the early successes of their products without continually Investing In the Leading Edge and the string of enhancements it demands.

Evolution toward better products is obviously continual, but the Leading Edge is more difficult to supplant and remains competitively potent over time. Enhancements and new systems always come, but they first replace systems that were, practically speaking, obsolete before they were first sold.

A visit to most any Industry trade show where technology companies are present will produce a dizzying array of flashy products that are commercially useless. Map displays that list only a dozen cities, tour-finders that offer only a smattering of mountain or penguin-viewing treks and not much else, or ticketing machines that work half as well and cost twice as much as what you can get from most any CR9 are examples of just a few.

On what basis does anybody write the check for this junk? Not many people do, and most of these suppliers will disappear as soon as their venture capital dries up. Don’t confuse the Leading Edge with sales pitches from developers who haven’t a clue what their potential customers really need. Just because people are selling it doesn’t say anything about its practicality.

The Leading Edge means compromising between technology, usability, and timing. This does not speak to the legion of vendors who push products out the door ready or not (there will always be plenty of these), Instead, users should be concerned with software and system designers that truly lose touch with reality.

A few years is a long time in the computer industry, but probably the minimum most agencies would consider appropriate for automation products. Lengthening that life depends upon buying systems and services you can use--ones that not only grow with your business but that are continually enhanced by their developers. System Independence is a wonderful, impractical concept.

To truly reach the Leading Edge is to never compromise by purchasing software, systems, or services based upon marketing expediencies, short-term cost advantages, or "what everyone else is doing." Travel technology has vet to be fully exploited by the largest of companies as a service and business differentiator--and setting one agency apart from all others is what travel marketing is all about.

Reaching the point where you can offer a differentiated service requires careful planning, an understanding of your own needs, and an understanding of the computer marketplace. When all the promotional smoke has cleared, what ultimately does the best job for you, given available resources and the needs of your market, defines the best products and services for you. There is no substitute for buying the best and using it correctly--thereby you can achieve the Leading Edge.