LETTER FROM CHAIRMAN

March 2014

This month, I’d like to talk about one aspect of running a business that places our industry in the forefront: the digital marketplace. I’ve been a corporate warrior for many years and in our time there were no computers, no laptops, no mobile phones – come to think of it, we didn’t have the internet either. But I think we managed to get through our workdays smoothly - things got done as planned. (Almost, I guess.)

But we’re now living in a world that is digitally connected – business-to-business, and business-to-consumer. And in this space, you are either part of the value chain of bits and bytes, or left far behind in a labyrinth of land lines and ring-bound ledgers. It is also important to remember that competition for us is not just restricted to other players in vacation ownership – it extends to hotels, homestays and theme resorts in the fast growing tourism vertical.

Having said that, my thoughts now go to retaining that personal touch within a framework driven by IT solutions – especially when you’re communicating with customers, employees and other associates.

• Today’s highly integrated platforms tackle a number of tasks, and technology can go the whole distance in giving you automation, control, reach and access. But is there scope for human intervention that provides a face to your organization?
• The emerging customer meets most of his transacting needs online. And the hospitality industry is doing well to connect the dots for this to happen quickly, efficiently and in the comfort of his home. But is the people interface taking one step back, or becoming invisible?
• Online dialog increasingly happens with a younger generation, but how would you extend the interface to customers in their sixties? Especially people who are still comfortable writing out cheques and dropping them in a mailbox? Is there a comforting voice at helpdesk willing to walk someone through the process from start to finish?
• Being online means providing access to the customer 24/7 – which means people need to stretch or work managed hours. How will this affect work-life balance, or productivity? Will stress reflect on the way they will eventually deal with end customers?
• We also have 24/7 access to a customer’s account for information on occupation history, preferences, transactions, fee remittances and dues. Can technology package all this monitoring with a people-friendly interface?
  

What you’ve just read is a legacy muse by someone who is concerned about the changing face of technology – where automated platforms might be sharing the load of incoming traffic – via voice calls or online access. Something tells me we should never minimize the option of ‘talking to humans’ in the list of choices available.

Give me a real person any day, to work hand-in-hand with technology. A real person who knows how to smile behind an emoticon.

B. S. Rathor
Chairman, AIRDA

For more insights on this, please read: Face to Face - How to Reclaim the Personal Touch in a Digital World - By Susan RoAne