Simple tech tools for agents

‘A decade into this industry, while there are several exceptions, the general norm is the inertia against change. My goal, through the article, is to bust myths and garner interest in the use of tech,’ says Suyash Gupta, Founder & CEO, Transportal and Director, Travel Bureau.

Let me start by addressing the elephant in the room – what is the future of travel agencies and travel businesses? Let us not fool ourselves into believing that things will get back to normal soon. Instead, we must use this time to equip ourselves for the future. A lot of us can use this time to make our migrations happen and get used to working with these technology tools that are either available for free or come at a nominal price. I would like to narrow this down to the basics – how basic technology can help grow our business.

Communications

Email is and will remain the primary form of communication for the industry, but using Google Suite is probably one of the most secure, functional and with 99.9 per cent uptime. Priced at Rs125 per user per month, with 30 GB of cloud storage plus access to GSuite, it does not get any better than this.

Microsoft Teams or Slack are also excellent tools for internal team communication and built for business. WhatsApp is simple, however, it is not the best for work communication as official messages get mixed up with personal ones.

Websites

Your website is the face of your company. Most of our websites are old, not up to date or very tough to navigate. Wix.com, SquareSpace, WordPress, and Bokun are easy-to-use website builders with which anyone can make great-looking websites by themselves without using or knowing any code.

Payments & finance

If someone is convinced and wants to buy a particular service, we must make payments simple. Complicated bank transfers, CC Auth Forms are passé. Razorpay is probably one of the best online tools which can be integrated into websites and company accounting software as well. Debit/ credit cards, NEFT, wallets – all kinds of payments are accepted and credited to the bank account within 3-7 days at minimal fee.

Marketing & Social Media

Today, everyone is on social media. Facebook is losing steam and Instagram is the new tool for any social media communication – a constant flow of content, probably the easiest for the travel industry. Some reading up on the use of hashtags can build a decent following for any travel company. Updating social media channels consistently can lead to a lot of verified leads from interested travellers. Short videos have proven to have much more engagement than just wordy posts. Canva.com is a tool that cannot be stressed on enough.