TravelCafe "Independent": more than a NetPlus travel agency system - a visionary solution

Dedicated Solutions (Potters Bar) Ltd., a company specializing in retail delivery systems and based in Potters Bar, Herts, had a vision: to empower independent travel agencies with a cutting edge system that would give them increased productivity and customer care.

Their retail concept involved creating a start-to-finish system whereby a customer who went into a travel agency would use a touch screen to browse through electronic brochures, make a selection, check availability and then convert it into a booking.

To implement such a sophisticated system Dedicated Solutions needed an information management system that would be able to handle the data, make searches and do the conversion into a booking. Martin Russ, Dedicated Solutions' Sales Director said: "We soon noticed that the "nuts and bolts" of this concept was missing: a software capable of managing the influx of information. We were not looking to reinvent the wheel and spent some time evaluating what was available on the travel industry, but when we couldn't find a system that offered a complete solution, we decided to create our own."

That's when they evaluated a number of application development tools including Delphi, Visual Basic and NetPlus. Martin continues: "We were after a set of tools which would: 1) allow integration with others; 2) be client/server and offer not only connectivity but also flexibility with SQL; 3) offer durability and adaptability; 4) be intuitive; 5) allow development to be done in a modular basis; 6) offer Wide Area Network (WAN) support. From the software we evaluated, NetPlus was the only one that fulfilled all of these requirements."

Dedicated Solutions also decided to contract Sapphire's consultancy services to help them develop this revolutionary travel agency management system. A team of up to six people from both Sapphire and Dedicated Solutions worked together, constantly obtaining input from dozens of travel agencies, to deliver TravelCafe "Independent", a system fulfilling the needs of not only small independents but those of major call centres.

TravelCafe "Independent" contains a high degree of functionality. Stanley Berenzweig, Dedicated Solutions' Chairman, says: "Our aim was to create a generic intuitive system that would encompass all the needs of a travel agency so we ensured every single aspect of the travel business was included. Being a modular system it has also allowed us to continue developing it in response to our customers changing requirements and needs." The current system contains approximately 170 forms, 40 reports generated by Crystal Reports and uses SQL Anywhere as the main database engine. TravelCafe "Independent" is constantly evolving and since its release in October 2000, a number of changes have been made: when Sapphire released NetPlus 32 bit, Dedicated Solutions implemented the new enhancements into TravelCafe "Independent" alongside cosmetic improvements and the addition of new Reports. Currently a new CRM (Customer Relationship Management) area and diary function is being added to give agencies further control of customer's preferences and daily tasks.

According to Martin, TravelCafe "Independent" has brought their original concept much closer to reality and with their provision of hardware, setup, support, and training, their solution already meets their aim of bringing more power to the travel industry.

Travel Cafe's success in the travel world can be seen at Broadlands Travel, one of the leading travel sites in the UK with branches in North Walsham and Stalham, Norfolk, and one of Travel Cafe's first adopters. Nick Lee, Broadland's director, comments "TravelCafe "Independent" has totally changed the way we do business by increasing productivity and giving us more control over what we do".

Having previously relied on a paper system, Broadlands were looking for a Windows system that would: 1) be fast and easy to use, 2) have an on-going development/update plan, 3) deliver training, 4) deliver results, 5) be cost effective. Six of the most popular travel agency Systems were evaluated including Kwik, LNS and TAD, but TravelCafe "Independent" was the one chosen by Broadlands. The fact that TravelCafe "Independent" is also delivered as a part of a total solution including hardware as well as setup, support and training helped Broadlands with their decision.

Since its implementation in September 2000, Broadlands business has seen an enormous improvement. "I can now get answers accurately in minutes as opposed to the couple of hours taken previously. It has given me more control and increased the team's productivity - before, when we used to get a phone call from a client asking from which airport terminal he would fly from, it would mean a physical check of his paper file and if this was in accounts or being used by someone else, it meant phoning the customer back later with the answer. Now a quick check on the customer's record on TravelCafe "Independent" takes seconds, freeing up time for us to provide better customer care", reported Nick.

With two separate branches, Broadlands opted to use a replication system to do an automatic overnight update of both systems, where only the changes in the data are replicated. Later as Broadlands expand they might opt for sharing TravelCafe "Independent" via a WAN (Wide Area Network).

"NetPlus's TravelCafe "Independent" is not an Accounts system with the Travel Agency functions built on top like other systems available, it really exceeds customers expectations", finalises Nick Lee, "and I'll certainly recommend it to other agencies".

TravelCafe "Independent" is another example of the many different vertical applications that have been developed using Sapphire's NetPlus technology, and as such, is also proving highly successful within its field.