President's Message
Computers! Everyone uses one. Soon as you master what you think is the latest in technology
along comes the dreaded "upgrades", or worse a complete new software
program that you are told now that you will have to learn if you want to survive
in your travel business.
OSSN MEMBER SURVEY
How Tech Savvy Are You?
By Gary M. Fee, OSSN President
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 44%
stated they use a public E-mail provider such as Hotmail, Yahoo or AOL. This is
bad especially if you have your own website. There is no rational reason to use
a public E-mail system when you have your own website. Why be such an avid promoter
of a public E-mail system when you can promote your own website? Example; JohnSmith@aol.com
or JohnSmith@myagency.com
Those who do use a public E-mail system gave OSSN the following breakdown:
- 19% Hotmail
- 38% Yahoo
- 19% AOL
- 8% Earthlink
- 16% MSN
OSSN finds that if you must use a Public E-mail system the one that appears
to have the fewest complaints is Yahoo. The worst of the pick is AOL which takes
it upon themselves to screen all your E-mail and predetermines what mail you should
receive and what mail you should not receive by use of pre-programmed filters.
Can you imagine the U.S. Post Office doing this to your mail?!
 35%
of the member's survey stated they use a "content provider" for their
website. For those of you that have no idea as to what a content provider is you
may find this interesting. A content provider is a company that provides your
website with special offers, deals or destinations that appear magically in your
website 7 days a week, 24 hours a day and these offerings change almost everyday
which keeps the interest level high among your client visitors. And, you can filter
out what the content provider is channeling into your website by the addition
of what is called "utility tools." Your clients can look but they can
not book. However, the offers that are shown on your website do create a query
for you that are sent to your E-mail box by the interested readers. The rates
content providers charge per month is most nominal for this kind of service to
your website.
Similar in nature to the content provider is a "booking engine" that
allows the interested party to actually book your displayed offerings. The booking
engine is what is called "live" or in many cases real time inventory.
33% of the member's surveyed say they use a booking engine on their website. So,
this is a look and book site as opposed to the content provider that is basically
look and ask. There are many booking engines in the market place to choose from.
Many are available from "Host Agencies" and some are available from
companies like Amadeus, Sabre, Worldspan or Revelex. These booking tools cost
more than the content providers and monthly fees can run from $50 to $150 per
month or higher depending on your usage.
Do you use a database management system? We asked this same question in the
November 2004 survey which 60% said they did not use such a system. Today, 57%
said they still do not. Not sure if this can be tallied up as progress. OSSN asked
what databases are members using and the results can be found on page:
http://www.ossn.com/ossn_survey/2005may/index.html
Do you use a PC or a MAC? 97% use a PC. Sorry MAC users, you have a good product
but the software in the travel business is formatted for PC's and probably always
will be.
Do you have wireless connectivity in your house? 59% said they did. Wireless
connectivity is the waive of the future and most likely will become the standard
for most households.
65% of the members said they have a laptop computer and 19% stated they have
a hand held PDA device.
78% do have a fax machine but 22% said the use a service like www.efax.com
to help reduce the cost of paper and ink from unwanted faxes.
Asked in you have a network of computers (LAN) in your home and 37% said yes
they do. This was high and surprising figure and suggests that home bases agents
are getting more serious with their computer usage by networking their PC together
to be able to share information between the PC's.
63% of the members who responded say they do use the full Micro Office Suite
of programs.
Only 14% of the member's surveyed said they use some sort of bulk E-mailing
program to reach their clients. This figure will likely continue to grow as home
based agents expand their E-commerce business.
72% said they do not use a GDS like Sabre, Worldspan, Amadeus. No surprise
here as this form of information and booking capability continues to shrink in
the marketplace while the booking opportunities to book direct with the suppliers
by the agent continues to grow and prosper. The cost associated with these systems
can be expensive unless provided or shared with a Host Agency Partner.
OSSN would like to thank all the members who did take the time to take this
survey so we could make it available to others in our industry and association.
Complete survey results may be found in the OSSN Website on page: http://www.ossn.com/ossn_survey/2005may/index.html
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