NB: This is a guest post by Cormac Whelan, CEO of Dublin-based travel technology company Datalex.
Today’s travel industry demands innovation to compete and the addition of Open Axis will not result in different standards, but will dovetail with OpenTravel Alliance to enhance the industry’s ability to react.
Open Axis will work to define a standard integration schema using XML, which will bring valuable enhancements to existent XML standards.
OpenTravel will continue to benefit from the expertise and experience of Datalex; its airline customers and the work of organizations such as Open Axis.
Datalex is a founding member and sit on the board of OpenTravel and is an allied member of Open Axis, as such we bring our experience to bear for the benefit of supply and demand side of travel distribution.
Both organizations are focused on the right thing; utilizing technology to better enable their member’s respective businesses to meet the needs of their customers and the demands of the market. Both have chosen XML as the messaging standard they want to orientate around.
Our product focus is to enable shopping and reservations functionality through web services and XML so we are already in that business. Our company focus is to enable business flexibility for our customers and enable them to move at the speed their business dictates and desires.
Our customers are very demanding first movers and what we have learned is that the thing to standardize is software (and technology) and not the customers ability to innovate and differentiate in their business.
I think this is where some of the larger organizations in the travel business have taken a mis-step.
We see the future for airlines as the ability to differentiate their value proposition to their customers.
Examples that are delivering significant revenues for airlines are AirFares at Frontier Airlines, Your Choice at American Airlines and Travel Options at United Airlines.
These are representative of the evolving airline retail business practice delivering real results and customer value and we’ve been deploying the requisite schema and functions in support thereof for some years now.
We’ve learnt a lot but mostly that the airlines are keenly aware that they need flexibility in their systems to drive new ways of retailing their products and services and to leverage value across multiple channels - and one size will not fit all – channel or consumer.
I have no doubt there are some challenges ahead but our view is as long as we make technology the focus of the standards then we (Datalex) and the other technology providers to the travel industry will be able to manage through it and deliver the kind of innovation the suppliers deserve and demand.
Standards are good, they are there to enable the business, where standards are not yet defined we will work to make them happen but the lack of standards should not be an obstacle to innovation.
NB: This is a guest post by Cormac Whelan, CEO of Dublin-based travel technology company Datalex.
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