A survey of travel companies by customer contact technology provider Babble has found limited budgets remain the biggest barrier to digital transformation.
The study found two out of five respondents identified technology issues as a concern and a majority “recognised the threat that crumbling tech architecture posed to their business, creating IT outages”.
However, two-thirds (68%) blamed budget constraints for failing to address the issue.
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Half said they lacked the time to tackle tech issues and 42% reported a ‘digital skills gap’ in their business.
Babble surveyed 55 Travolution reader businesses for its second Travel Technology Benchmarking Report unveiled at a Travolution Business Breakfast last week.
Matthew Parker, Babble chief executive, said travel businesses “must modernise and personalise to survive and thrive”.
He suggested the pre-Covid collapse of Thomas Cook served as a warning of the risks of relying on outdated technology, arguing: “Many businesses still run on a confused mix of systems held together with duct tape and a prayer.”
By contrast, he said: “A data-driven approach is the key to unlocking the curated and seamless customer experiences people crave. But to enable this, businesses must first tackle their outdated technology stack.
“Covid has been a dark time, but it also presents a huge opportunity for businesses to take stock, define their digital strategies and embrace the cloud technologies essential to empower a remote workforce and engage today’s traveller.”
The report noted the UK travel sector is forecast to be worth £257 billion by 2025 and Parker insisted: “It’s time for businesses to seize the opportunities and set themselves up to grab a bigger portion of that £257 billion.”
The survey found three-quarters of respondents use cloud platforms, but with a majority (60%) using multiple providers, which Babble warned “could prevent integration”. It found only one in five firms planned to invest in artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the customer experience.
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