THE NEW DISTRIBUTION CAPABILITY (NDC) 627 • OTAs (Online Travel Agents) and MSEs (Metasearch Engines) have grown by focusing on user experience and by being able to process a much larger number of offers (airlines, flights, dates etc.) and data (travel solutions). • TMCs (Travel Management Companies) are evolving their model, moving to further servicing (duty of care etc.) and partnering with online booking tools and mobile solution providers. Other players (brick and mortar, consolidators, etc.) build their strength by differentiating their offer through a niche and added-value approach. Travel agents are confronted with an increasing complexity in sourcing content (from car rentals, hotels, airlines legacy carriers, low cost carriers) and have a growing need for intermediaries that fully aggregate content. Next to this, they need enhancements to desktop, mobile and online tools that can display all the content in one place. They view the booking channel fragmentation as counterproductive, and as NDC-enabled processes are brought to the market, NDC providers, which include airlines, GDSs, mid and back-office software firms, and other travel technology firms, must create ways to present airline products and enable booking via both GDS native displays and through agency desktop applications, which use graphically rich user interfaces. 3.4. Corporate buyers have a strong influence, as they want to purchase air content efficiently Corporate Buyers have several objectives: • Traveller satisfaction: they need to be able to book in a convenient way and on multiple devices, anywhere, anytime. They also need to understand what they are entitled to get (for example, in terms of ancillaries) • Control: they want to ensure that the corporate travel policy is clear and applied in the different systems • Security and duty of care • Rich content: they want to be able to move from simple fares to product offerings that stimulate debates, enriching the official corporate channels in order to satisfy travellers whilst maintaining their travel policy Tools will help to service the sale of ancillary and personalised products either throughSBT(Self-BookingTools) or via theTMC.Moreover, the implementation of ancillary sales products and personalisation capabilities means that travel
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