Vacation planning is usually associated with very pleasant moments, although sometimes complex. Finding the best offers, freezing the amount to protect against a new rise in the dollar, deciding the destination and making the purchase are part of the process in which a variety of options usually appear.The leading companies in the digital world are working all the time to provide the best experiences. Faced with a process of digitalization that does not stop its progress, many companies are forced to convert quickly to survive and be in accordance with the new demands of the public.
Almundo is one of the firms that works in the hectic field of tourism. And he had to understand that in order to hasten his digital transformation, he must first advance his cultural transformation. That is, in a change doors inside the organization.
"The companies that were digitally transformed are not those that incorporated an area of technology. Rather, they are the ones that noticed that everything changed. In particular, in the link with consumers," Tomás González Ruiz, Chief Product tells iProUP Almundo Officer. "Today an expectation was generated that was not there before," he adds.
Currently, the company has an average annual growth of 40% in transactions since 2013. Since its creation, it has accumulated 3.5 million customers and a presence in four Latin American countries: Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and Colombia.
In this way, he began to think about his travel offer in a much more personalized way: "nodes connector" in a large network of travelers in which both the company and the rest of the firms are disputed to an increasingly public demanding.The industry changed, the model changed
Given the overwhelming progress of new technologies, all dispute the loyalty of users in a competition that is becoming increasingly close. And, as if this were not enough, each of them has enough information on the web to plan on their own, so that there is a "high specialization" of people interested in the travel segment, as González Ruiz explains ."When the online agencies appeared, a wave began that resulted in a democratization of the information. Before, there was some lack of transparency because access to that data was very scarce or in some cases directly there was not," he says.
After banks and credit cards expanded the menu of payment of fees, the possibility of flying became widespread, as well as the number (and variety) of users who began to buy trips.
Thus emerged the "hyper experts", people with sites, news blogs, metasearch engines or other sources of information that began to be the referents of much of the society interested in tourism.
In this context, in which each person has all the "info" to plan their own journey, with recognized portals that provide very good benefits to travel or stay, what place do the agencies occupy? For now, they had to reinvent themselves.
"There is a lot of information. That is why we had to redefine our place and adapt," explains the Almundo Chief Product Officer. And for that they decided to work on two fronts:1. - The implementation of technological innovations, including artificial intelligence, so that users find what they are looking for easy, receive precise notifications with offers and destinations of interest
2. - Simplification of options for customers. "Everything has to be functional. Therefore, in our app the traveler has everything necessary to organize," he explains.
For all this to work, it is important to know the consumers. Almundo has a specific Big Data and machine learning team that works with different methodologies to apply disruptive technologies to different products.
For example, among some of its applications the platform orders the search of hotels or flights according to the user's profile: a young person traveling alone is not the same as a family with three children. While the options are the same, they are privileged depending on each interest.
"There is a certain profiling that is working on the ordering of products. A limited and useful customization based on behavior. We take the information they load on the site (dates, places and category of hotels), since it allows you to infer what kind of preferences the user has. This then orders the options on the web and the app, "he explains.
In another order, he mentions the possibility of contacting "Experts", a tool that connects users with others who have a lot of travel expertise, live there or simply consider themselves "hyper-experts."
With two years of validity, the executive defines this functionality as "the chance to access travel specialists who do not work in an office but are in a network to help put them together, give tips on activities to be performed and that users feel that a couple is assisting them, from peer to peer. "
This network is accessible both from the app and the web and allows you to communicate by chat or by phone. "We adapt to this demand of the traveler, who is the one who needs to talk to someone like me, not like the one who wants to sell me," he says.OmnichannelWith their eyes on attracting new customers, in Almundo they discovered that there is a segment that seeks contact with specialists, face to face, to buy their trips.
"We think of a hybrid model, by which we rely on digital and develop an omnichannel proposal, which considers the face-to-face aspect to integrate the best of both worlds," says the executive.
Almundo today has more than 100 points of sale in Argentina (between its own stores and franchises). For this year, it expects to reach 200 branches throughout the country, among those that are already open and those that are waiting for the contract to close.
So far in 2019, it added more than 50 franchisees, which represented the creation of more than 150 jobs, and already has agencies in 19 provinces. With this franchise model, it now aims to expand into three Latin American markets in which it is already operating: Brazil, Colombia and Mexico.
In Rio de Janeiro, it seeks to take advantage of the synergy with the CVC tourism group, which also owns Avantrip, which acquired Almundo for US $ 77 million and hopes to reach more than 1,000 points of sale in the next four years. It is also the only travel agency that sells products of low cost airlines."We aspire to a balanced growth: that 50% are new ventures and the other 50% traditional agencies that are reconverted, since we also want the latter to join our omnichannel model," says Horacio Canavesi, Sales Manager of Almundo.
For those who decide to undertake from scratch, the implementation takes only three months, thanks to processes with daily follow-ups. In the case of existing agencies that are transformed, this period is the same as that which takes time to adapt to the new aesthetic.
At the same time, training is provided focused on the understanding and proper use of the platform and all business variables. "There is a lot of talk about digitalization, but users still value stores and people. That's why we bet on an omnichannel proposal," González Ruiz adds.Inside to outside transformation
Reaching this transformation was part of a process that was not from one day to the next. Therefore, in Almundo they adopted agile methodologies, organizational strategies widely used in the software industry but increasingly popular in all areas of companies, where "teams were greatly empowered."
In this sense, González Ruiz explains: "The innovation does not come from a person from above the company, but it is related to the space that is given to the teams to work together. There was a great change that had to do with the organization, within all areas. "
In this process decisions were decentralized and proposals began to emerge from all areas with the focus on improving proposals aimed at consumers. Also, this paradigm attracts talent, especially for the freedom to propose and work on different projects.Looking ahead, the Almundo executive points out that users have a growing expectation of digital products, want more agile and personalized searches.
"Without realizing it, the platforms personalize the experience. If they take it out, starting over is complicated. That's why it's important to work so that customers have everything tailored," he adds. He points out that machine learning is key to recommending destinations and options to users, even before the need has been generated in them.
"The value that companies give is based on their ability to pivot, adapt, empower teams. If you don't have the ability to change quickly you will never make a difference," he concludes.