Jargon can hamper travel agents’ understanding of what technology systems can do for them. Travel technology suppliers should aim to demystify technology terms.
Here are my top 10 jargon busters:
1. Front, mid and back office
The core parts of a selling and management system.
- ‘Front office’ refers primarily to the part that enables users to search and book.
- ‘Mid office’ relates to modules designed to support administration (eg documentation production, management reporting, customer database).
- ‘Back office’ refers to software designed to facilitate the accounting of travel.
2. Internet booking engine
A reservation system linked to a website enabling users to compare prices, check availability and book.
An IBE is the system behind the scenes that processes transactions and ‘powers’ a site. A booking engine is essentially the same thing but it powers a non web-based system, such as a call centre
3. Graphical user interface
User screens that make interaction with a booking engine simpler, by using icons and ‘point’ and ‘click’ functions to replace words.
The GUI refers to the visual user screens rather than the reservation system carrying out the booking process.
4. Application programming interface
A standard computer language and message format enabling systems to exchange data, such as availability and maps.
System suppliers build an API to share content. This allows other system developers to update their software to read the API and integrate content.
APIs are how many suppliers provide their products’ availability to travel technology systems and how websites provide online booking engine services
5. Extensible Mark-up Language
Helps systems to share data in a structured way. XML provides travel technology companies with a common way of describing information such as availability and pricing, which enables them to develop APIs quickly and easily.
XML standards for use in travel systems have been established by the Open Travel Alliance.
6. End-to-end solution
A single, integrated, selling and management system incorporating front office, mid- office and back-office modules
7. Dynamic content
Information that is accessed in real time rather than pre-stored on a database (cached). Sourcing information live ensures it is up to date, while cached data is quicker to access
8. Directional selling
Software tools that help travel firms to promote their preferred suppliers to users and customers. There are a number of ways to do this, such as placing preferred suppliers at the top of availability displays, or excluding non-preferred suppliers from the display
9. Multi-channel distribution
Using technology to sell through different channels. This includes systems deployed via call centres, websites and homeworkers, all linked to the same booking engine
10. In-House v Hosted
‘In-house’ refers to software installed on a company’s own network and hardware. ‘Hosted’ refers to software deployed remotely on the system