Yesterday, May 4, Àngel Garrido, CEO at Voxel Group, participated in Plan de choque para turismo, an initiative of Inturea and Growtur that want to share knowledge of professionals of the travel industry about the current situation and what actions can be taken to face the crisis.
During the interview, Àngel Garrido talked about automation and digitalisation of the back-office processes of the touristic companies. An aspect that according to Laura Rampérez, Co-Founder and CEO at Inturea, will be key to face the current context for most touristic companies.
Opportunities for the new context
When asked about the reactivation of the sector, Àngel Garrido highlighted the situation of uncertainty shared with most professionals of the sector. However, they all agreed in the progress of secondary projects during this time: “This crisis will open new opportunities”.
Some examples of it are new projects that some hotels are working on at the moment to adapt and advance in the new context, such as online check-in and check-out, mobile apps or the implementation of new technologies.
On this line, baVel, the leading electronic transactions platform of Voxel Group for the travel industry at a global scale and in the HORECA channel in Spain, helps automate the invoicing process for the touristic companies. This way, companies are more efficient when reconciling and tracing invoices, as well as dematerialising the administrative department. “We help companies eliminate or automate non-valuable processes”.
On this matter, Garrido added that when companies are in a crisis situation, they usually analyse the costs structure and it is when automation and digitalisation of processes become more important.
OPA, the B2B payments standard
In line with the automation and digitalisation of processes, another key aspect of the interview was the management of B2B payments in the touristic sector.
Currently, Voxel and HEDNA (Hospitality Electronic Distribution Network Association) are propelling the Open Payment Alliance next to other players of the sector. The OPA is a new standard that offers a unique channel for B2B payments for the touristic industry that wants to suit the needs of the sector and eliminate the inefficiencies of the current distribution channels.
The aim of the OPA is to connect the technology players and boost new payment methods, as well as streamline the associated processes.
baVel Digital Summit
Finally, Laura Rampérez pointed out that Voxel is currently making a series of online conferences, framed in the baVel Digital Summit, that want to share the vision and experience with some of the top-notch professionals about the challenges and opportunities to face the current situation.
This week, there are three sessions that will analyse the Retail sector in the Dominican Republic, the HORECA channel in Spain and the travel industry in the context of a global crisis.
Furthermore, Xavier Ginesta, President at Voxel Group, will also participate in “Plan de choque para turismo” about the payments standard of the OPA, next Friday, May 8 at 6pm.
