Discuss about the Information Systems Management For Travel and Tourism .
The main purpose of this business report is to represent the research done in tours and travel industry with regarding of information system. It will cover all the results achieved including role of the information system, their types, advantages and disadvantages, recommendations, etc. in the travel industry.(Granados, Gupta, & Kauffman, 2012) As other businesses travel industry is also based on the communication and relationship with its clients. In travel industry the customers receive information through different channels and all these resources are collectively known as the information system. In this report, we will analyze about how to manage the information system so that it can be beneficial for a business. The information system is made up of various modes of communication channels. These channels may be formal or informal. The information system can be used in almost every business. The implementation of information system in an efficient way can boost the business growth. In this report, we will describe how much different type of information system and how it can be implemented. What are the hardware and software resources required for the same will also determine?
The focused problem area of this business report is to analyze the business requirements of Travel Company. Mrs Smith wants to start a small traveling company that will provide the facilities of travel, transfer accommodation, vehicle hire, new events and attractive offers. What will the best infra -structure that will be suited for this business. It is to be analyzed that which information system will be best. What will be the hardware and software requirements to start up the business? What will be the financial constraints related to business setup and licensing.
As the use of the internet is growing very rapidly in last few decades, the role of the internet in the travel and tourism industry can be seen in almost all of the areas of the travel industry including information system. Now the customers can always be in reach of the organization through a website. Customers can browse the locations and get the details about what to expect.(Djordjevic, 2013)The information system can be useful to ensure that the organization is in full control. The information system of travel industry can be of two types: open loop and closed loop. In open loop system, there is no way to ensure about the objective fulfillment. On the other hand in a closed loop system, there can be two types of methods available to control the feedback system control and feedforward control.
In every successful business organization, whether it is large or small, the information system and information technology is the key factor to manage all the business activities, and it will be beneficial in decision making process. The Information system can be used in the travel industry to collect and process data as per the needs and requirements of business analyst, manager, director and other stakeholders of top level management.(Liu, Kim, & Creel, 2015) Efficient and well managed information system can be beneficial for a varied information system and also enhance the communication with customers.
Information system can be of various types such as:
Transaction processing system: It is related to the process of data collection, processing and the core operations of the travel industry. It is used to collect data from customers and can converted into reports. (Mentis & Katsaros, 2012)For example online tickets and hotel booking system. In this process customers can book their travel package including air tickets, hotel and other options and the output will be a printed bill. It is based on the real time or batch processing system.
Decision support system: This information system when applied through multi-agent framework can efficiently used for decision making process. In this framework multiple agents of different network are loosely coupled and work together. In decision support system, these agents interact with each other and users and the environment for the betterment of decision support system.
Knowledge management system: In this type of information system the existing information can be transformed in new innovative information for the betterment of tourism. It points to the critical issues of the travel industry. The changes in the customer behavior are recorded and used for the new plans development. Knowledge management information system is related to system information that must be provided to the customers at the time of need, in an efficient form.
Management information system: In this type of information system, the data regarding travel management system and its utilization will be analyzed. As the data is very critical part for any business organization, it must be optimized and ensure compliance the travel policies. Travel management information system is a process that focuses on the identification, collection and isolation of data. It can be collected from various sources and used for decision making process. The main key points of management information system in travels and tours can be explored as:
Management of travel
Strategy planning
Sustainability
Database management system: This information system is considered as the collection of data that must be interrelated and programs that must be required to access the data from database management system.(Clarke, 2010) The data is relevant to the business enterprise. In travel industry, the primary role of data is to provide information related to business.
Office automation system: This type of information system in the travel industry represents the computer hardware and software commonly used. It will support in to collect data, store it in a database and other applications. Data transfer, data storage are some basic functionalities of office automation system. This information system is used to successfully complete the task of business. Data transfer can be in the form of email, fax or reporting tool. Some tasks of office can be performed as automated answering, replace the human being with machines to perform tasks of scanning also. The best device that can be used to implement office automation tasks is the computer system, with this, the travel industry can perform email operations and sending reminders and package updates, etc. Office automation can also be used to generate payrolls for the specific month.
Customer Relationship management system: This information system is used to establish the balance between sales and marketing. It is related to the customer’s activities. Well established CRM is a significance of successful business, as there is a perfect bonding in between business owners and customers.(Wei, 2010). Customers are actively involved in the feedback and problem resolution process. Top level management can use CRM as a tool to develop business ideas and strategic planning.
Business Intelligence system: This information system is related to extract, identification and analyzing data. This data is very important from the operational and decision making process point of view. It will support the travel industry in many forms such as:
To summarize the current costs
To predict the future trend about the holiday packages
To collect data from various sources
Information system for travel industry consists of various information channels from different related sources such as state wise tourism campaigns, tourism association regional wise, business growth strategies, travel packages, regular customers, business plan brochures, etc. Information system has some of the following characteristics in travel industry:
Every source of the channel is related to its own function. Travelers will use a different kind of information to decide the holiday package. In general, customers take feedback from repeat visitors for any site visiting or they can decide about it through packages.
Channels belong to information system must be related to each other in any specific way.
All the channels of the information system must be interdependent.
Every travel industry must have following characteristics those are mandatory:
Reservation management: In today’s scenario it is the most important feature of any tours and travel business. Organization must have some very efficient and flexible application software to keep track of reservations. It also includes the documents related to travel like quotations, vouchers, and financial documents, etc. As this process is important, it must be automated.
Every travel industry must have multiple sales channels. These channels are used to keep track of subagents and customers. These channels must present in form of online or offline documents.
Every travel industry must have efficient inventory information management system. Here the inventory can be in the form of available bookings and the bookings were done.
Even the computers are very useful in any kind of business information system, but dependency on these devices can be harmful in some cases.(Mucalo, 2016) It is prefer that information system of travel industry must have some sort of flexibility.
The last but not the least feature of the travel industry is reporting tools. Reports are the main part of strategies and can be used to improve the business outcomes.
Hardware requirements for the information system of travel industry,(Greiner, 2011) those will be very efficient for the business can be represented in the following table:
|
Hardware |
Description |
|
Input devices |
Input device are the main hardware devices required in any business organization. It is important to provide input in form of user’s query, scanned document, audio messages etc. Some of the input devices those can be beneficial in travel organization are keyboard, mouse, mice etc. |
|
Output devices |
With the help of output devices we can display the output that will be generated after the processing. It can be in form of report, tickets, bills etc. |
|
Processor |
Processor is the main part of any computer machine. The role of processor is convert raw data into meaningful information. |
|
Web server |
It is the central core part of any website deployment. Hardware that is used for the data storage and for the execution of another application as well |
|
Network device |
To implement the information system in travel industry there must be proper networking devices present. These devices will prove you at the control the data communication |
|
Network media |
Network media is very crucial, without proper network media customers will not able to access the website of travel industry. It can be LAN, MAN or WAN. In network media, there can be some cabling like twisted pair, coaxial cable, and fiber optic cable; these can be used as per the requirements of business. |
In the travel industry, while implementing the information system, (Maiden, 2008)not only hardware, some of the software also mandate. These are
|
Software |
Description |
|
Web browser |
It is required to access the official website (if any). There can be different such as Internet Explorer, Google chrome, etc. |
|
NOS (Network Operating system) |
NOS is very useful while implementing the information system. As without it a network cannot be established. Some of the NOS are: LINUX, UNIX, window server etc. |
|
Database |
Database is a centralized repository that is used to store data and other documents in the travel industry. In database, company can use MySQL, Microsoft SQL Server and the most popular Oracle we well. |
|
Office automation tools |
Office automation tools are very important in travel industry. These are important in the back office part. Microsoft Office is one of them that must be installed on every machine in the travel industry. Most of the reports are generated and optimized with the help of office automation tools. Some of the tasks can be automated as well. |
|
Antivirus |
To protect the whole network of the organization, well efficient antivirus program must be installed. It will protect the network from any type of business threats. It will protect not only the network but the files and documents also from hackers. |
With the growth of IT information system in the travel industry, the financial constraints and other aspects must be analyzed properly. Research has been done for the cost reduction and cost competencies. Cost reduction is the very crucial point of the information system. It can be considered as the key factor for out sourcing the information system. Travel industry operations must be organized in such a way that the overall costing of three different purposes can be sort out. These three sections are front-office, mid-office and back office. (“Internet Tourism Marketing: Potential and Constraints / July 2000″, 2016) The first step in direction of cost reduction approach is to take the responsibility of identifying the opportunities that would be differentiated the organization for competition. For instance the cost of travel agent that is highly experienced can be considered as strategic. Some other costs can be tactical also. In the front office area must have following consumptions: Bookings, customer services etc. This area has the direct impact of customers can interact easily with travel agents and customer support staff. The costing related with this area can be reduced by implementing automated tools.
Mid office has the responsibility to provide support to the front office. It is also responsible for the accuracy of booking information, inventory management and costing related with packages, hotels, reservations and various other activities.
Back office is concerned with only accounting, reporting, and payroll operations. This part is also related to management of traveling suppliers, relationship with other regular customers as well. It performs mainly administrative tasks.
It is recommended that while implementing information system in travel segment, some of the most common techniques must be used for the security policies. It can be file protection through encryption, passwords and governing of useful information through computer based information system. Travel industry must use following techniques for the system security:
For the success of information system in the area of the travel industry, the most important thing is to maintain CRM. Customer relationship will keep a strong foundation. There must be the correlation between various types of information system in the organization. The information system must be capable of doing the market survey before implementing any new technology. It must ensure that customers must be aware of the new packages and options available for tourism. There must not be any content fragmentation. Basic objective of implementing information system is to take the advantage of all services. The preferred mode of reservation is rated as GDS (global distribution system). In this system, the information is converted to the meaningful form as per the expectation of travel agent. As the latest trend of mobile devices is increasing day by day, it is recommended that information system and other applications must be compatible and accessible through any screen.
Conclusion
On the basis of by findings and the research done, we can conclude the following points for the information system in travel industry:
Although the traditional information system is very beneficial and plays a very important role in organization it is accompanied by customers and the travel agents. With the innovations in the information system the requirements of customers can be fulfilled with great expectations. (Ramadorai, 2013) As per the information provided by customers and the feedback, new strategies can be decided in the information system of the travel industry. As per the report, the information system such as transaction processing system and customer relationship management system can be very beneficial for the travel industry. Many of the basic operations can be implemented in automating form while implementing the information system for office automation. The latest and innovative technology can be implemented to maintain the prestige of organization and also for the new ideas.
Reference list
Granados, N., Gupta, A., & Kauffman, R. (2012). Online and Offline Demand and Price Elasticities: Evidence from the Air Travel Industry. Information Systems Research, 23(1), 164-181. https://dx.doi.org/10.1287/isre.1100.0312
Djordjevic, A. (2013). Importance of information for tourist service users in travel decision making. Marketing, 44(1), 75-85. https://dx.doi.org/10.5937/markt1301075d
Mucalo, M. (2016). Travel agency system – 5 things it must have. iTravel Software Blog. Retrieved 1 July 2016, from https://blog.itravelsoftware.com/2012/10/travel-agency-system-5-things-it-must-have/
Liu, J., Kim, C., & Creel, C. (2015). Exploring search task difficulty reasons in different task types and user knowledge groups. Information Processing & Management, 51(3), 273-285. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ipm.2014.10.001
Mentis, A. & Katsaros, P. (2012). Model checking and code generation for transaction processing software. Concurrency And Computation: Practice And Experience, 24(7), 711-722. https://dx.doi.org/10.1002/cpe.1876
Greiner, K. (2011). Information System of Railway Undertakings Train Track Requirements. PROMET – Traffic&Transportation, 23(2). https://dx.doi.org/10.7307/ptt.v23i2.141
Maiden, N. (2008). User Requirements and System Requirements. IEEE Softw., 25(2), 90-91. https://dx.doi.org/10.1109/ms.2008.54
Ramadorai, T. (2013). Capacity constraints, investor information, and hedge fund returns. Journal Of Financial Economics, 107(2), 401-416. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jfineco.2012.08.020
Clarke, A. (2010). Operations Management in the Travel Industry. Tourism Management, 31(6), 964-965. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2010.01.001
Wei, M. (2010). A research on marketing management information system for travel agency based on CRM. Proceedings Of The 29Th Chinese Control Conference, 259-264. Retrieved from https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/login.jsp?tp=&arnumber=5572434&url=http%3A%2F%2Fieeexplore.ieee.org%2Fxpls%2Fabs_all.jsp%3Farnumber%3D5572434
Internet Tourism Marketing: Potential and Constraints / July 2000. (2016). Hotel-online.com. Retrieved 1 July 2016, from https://www.hotel-online.com/Trends/ChiangMaiJun00/InternetConstraints.html
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