Goodbye to ITC admin headaches

THERE’S a huge gap in
the quoting, booking
and accounting systems
available to ITCs operating in
the SA market. Consultants
say the tech that’s currently
available doesn’t meet the
needs of a small to mediumsized
business and is either
too expensive or restrictive in
its application.
Francois Swart, md of
Priority Travel and founder
of new travel tech system,
Runway, says his product is
set to be a game changer for
ITCs, specifically those that
want to expand their business.
“There’s a massive gap in
the market for an accounting
system that understands
how the small to mediumsized
agencies in SA operate,
says Ricky Reynolds,
Special Projects manager of
Reynolds Travel Centre. He
says although there are other
systems that understand the
SA travel market’s accounting
idiosyncrasies (such as
billbacks) they only cater for
larger consortiums. “They’re
all process driven and can’t
be personalised to meet the
needs of an ITC.”
He also says the support
systems offered by current
market leaders are costly.
“Support will happily fix your
problem, but they’ll charge
high fees and won’t tell you
what the problem was so
that you can fix it in future.”
He says many ITCs then stop
using the support system and
fall behind in their accounting.
Stuart Goodall, ITC of Travel
15, says more ITCs are using
“antiquated tech systems
than ever before”. He says
he currently quotes and
invoices manually by cutting
and pasting his quotes and
invoices in a word document.
Francois says his product
will solve an ITC’s admin
headaches: Runway aims to
be a fully integrated “one-stop
solution” for small to mediumsized
agencies. Agents will
be able to use the system for
quoting, invoicing, bookings,
loading negotiated rates and
to generate professional
vouchers.
The development of the
product is in three phases.
Now in phase A, the product
offers a linked quoting and
invoicing solution for agents.
In Phase B, Runway will be
integrated with the GDS so
agents can search and book
flights and hotels using a live
system.
In Phase C, Francois says
the system will be used by the
client as a booking tool.
Currently, Runway’s features
include a professional
standardised back office
system that stores all an
agency’s rates, loaded images,
client contact details and
template quotes. The system
also allows ITCs to add markups
and service fees when
quoting or invoicing.
When a client is ready
to book, Runway converts
the quote into a booking
confirmation, which is then
sent to the client through
their browser. Once confirmed,
the system automatically
generates an invoice.
Other features include a
basic reporting capability,
and the ability to log every
action made on the system.
Notes on bookings and emails
between the consultant and
client are also automatically
stored.
Francois says he will lease
the product at approximately
R4 500 a month. Runway is
expected to be available by
June.
Although, Mladen Lukic,
md of Travel Counsellors
says there is a need for more
integrated systems within
the ITC market, he doubts
whether there will ever be a
true “one-stop tech solution”
available to agents. He says
there are instances where
certain processes just can’t
be integrated into one system,
for example when a specific
rail ticket would need to be
booked from an aggregator.
Dinesh Naidoo, group
operations director of SWG,
says his company also
identified the need for an
integrated system suited to an
ITC’s needs. “We’re currently
developing our own product,
which offers a full quoting, and
accounting system that talks
to the GDS,” he says. SWG
plans to launch its product to
its members at its conference
in August.