Interview with Chicke Fitzgerald, chief executive officer, Solutionz Group

Travel search will continue to evolve and it won't be long before
metasearch is superceded by gigasearch, a tool that sweeps all the
metasearch sites, says Chicke Fitzgerald, chief executive officer,
Solutionz Group.

"Whether business models can keep up with the technological developments
is the true questions that must be answered.  And on the new entrant
front, there is no doubt that innovation is needed, but what the GDSs
have is a balance of supply and demand.  So far the new entrants have
done a reasonable job of attracting supply, but have not yet aggregated
sufficient demand to make themselves a meaningful channel for the
suppliers.  For the most part, they will have to wait out the GDS
contracts with major retailers in order to displace the big four in a
significant way, as booking minimums and penalties are still a barrier
for agencies switching from one GDS to another," says Fitzgerald.

Fitzgerald shared information about Solutionz Group and her viewpoint on
new trends with  Eyefortravel.com's Ritesh Gupta in an interview.
Excerpts:

How do you assess the progress made by your company recently?

The company has shown solid growth on a month over month basis, despite
some of the challenges facing our industry. Many companies have cut
their internal staff resources, which opens up opportunities for
consulting firms like ours to help fill the gap. We focus on business
growth, from identifying new strategies, all the way through assisting
our clients in their implementation. We find this is a different skill
set than is required to run things once they are on an even keel.
Getting our clients to the next level is what we are about.

How had your dealing with the clients changed in the last year or so
(from distribution perspective)? How are their needs evolving?

Now that the industry is experiencing recovery, we are seeing renewed
spending on the strategic application of technology. Management of
supply, demand and content are at the forefront, as is customer
relationship management. We assist clients in identifying their needs
and often run the request for proposal (RFP) to the qualified companies
that serve that sector/discipline. In some cases, we also provide the
project management all the way through the implementation of the
technology. We use an integrated strategic planning methodology that is
a holistic approach to any large project. Many times clients jump right
to the technology implementation without considering the impact on
staff, processes, procedures, metrics and reward systems. We believe
those things are critical. Our clients are beginning to realise that
this is at the root cause of many previous initiatives not being as
successful as they could be. As a result, we spend a lot of time doing
what we call "AS IS/TO BE" analysis, painting what COULD BE and how to
get there.  That strategic road map is essential to achieving a
company's vision.

How do you think your company is set to face evolving needs of
distribution in travel industry?

We are in a unique, excellently placed position, as we act as advisors
to the various sectors of the industry as it relates to business models,
the strategic application of technology as it relates to distribution
and we also publish information about the various distribution choices
in a set of publications known as the Travel Distribution Library. We
service all sectors of the industry and of the distribution value chain,
from the investment community, to suppliers, travel intermediaries and
content companies, as well as technology and service providers to the
industry. From the supplier side we are often involved in channel cost
(and profitability!) analysis, as well as helping to assess what
solutions are available to reach the broadest, highest yielding audience
for their product - be it consumers or travel intermediaries. For our
technology clients we help them look at unique niches that they can fill
with their capabilities and the investment community looks to us to
validate their observations on trends affecting the industry. This 360
degree view helps us to provide sound advice for our clients from all
parts of the value chain.

How have you improved your offerings?

We are heavily vested in the use of sound methodologies that provide
discipline and structure to the analysis of strategic opportunities. We
are always evaluating new ways to approach old problems and tend to
blend together the best of what we find. From a practical perspective
this can come from certification in such areas as Customer Centric
Selling(tm) or the use of such tools as the Emotional Quotient Inventory
(EQi(tm)) or the Leadership Spectrum approach that looks at the
lifecycle of a company and its impact on the execution of strategy. We
read many popular management tomes and extract tools that we believe
will help the clients and partners in our network. We are also
constantly adding new talent to our team, which provides focus on new
business disciplines, as well as additional sectors.

Our newest addition is Susan Black, who is joining us to head up our new
Integrated Marketing practice. She brings with her several decades of
experience in practical, integrated marketing strategies, as well as her
recent experience as Executive VP of Marketing for Liberty/GoGo, which
gives us additional depth in the tour operator and leisure agency
sectors.

In your opinion, what does increased consolidation from the online
intermediaries mean for US travel suppliers?

Suppliers should have their eyes on one thing and that is aggregation of
profitable demand. If that demand is aggregated by the online
intermediaries, then so be it. They need to have tools in place to
manage demand aggregation and to monitor profitability of each channel
where they elect to distribute their product. If the most profitable
demand comes from traditional travel agencies, then they may have to
rethink their online strategies, which in many cases have been the chief
culprit in the erosion of their prices and hence, their margins.
Consolidation will of course increase the negotiating power of the
intermediaries, but suppliers should remember that the power is in the
hands of the one with the greatest amount of information, and
ultimately, without supply, even strong demand aggregators do not have a
complete business model.

How do you think intermediaries will react to new technology such as
travel search and new entrant GDSs?

The phrase adapt or perish comes to mind. Ever since I entered the
business in 1978, this industry has been evolving. Those that see
change, learn from it and modify their business models, products and
services and most importantly their mindset, will be the winners. Travel
search will continue to evolve and it won't be long before metasearch is
superceded by gigasearch, a tool that sweeps all the metasearch sites.
Whether business models can keep up with the technological developments
is the true questions that must be answered.  And on the new entrant
front, there is no doubt that innovation is needed, but what the GDSs
have is a balance of supply and demand.  So far the new entrants have
done a reasonable job of attracting supply, but have not yet aggregated
sufficient demand to make themselves a meaningful channel for the
suppliers.  For the most part, they will have to wait out the GDS
contracts with major retailers in order to displace the big four in a
significant way, as booking minimums and penalties are still a barrier
for agencies switching from one GDS to another.

How do you assess progress made by online travel companies and
meta-search engines in the US?

There is one sustainable measure and that is profitable growth.  The
online travel companies are having a tougher time growing profitably as
the merchant model comes under pressure and the meta-search companies
have to continually prove their value in the form of leads that are
converted to profitable business.  This is tough with the continual
focus on low price as the draw for aggregating consumer demand.  I am
convinced that the secret of sustainable growth with be for these
sectors of the industry to find ways to aggregate high yield demand for
suppliers - that is something that has been elusive for suppliers
themselves on their own sites.  Ultimately we have to retrain the
consumer to value something other than (or in addition to) low price.
That will be done by the addition of new buying metaphors that cater to
other drivers.

What is going to be your focus during the rest of year and going
forward?

Our focus will continue to be finding companies that have problems that
they either don't have the resources, the time or the talent to solve
internally.  Crafting solutions is what we do, whether it be in the area
of processes, technology, integrated marketing strategies, leadership or
project management.  We will continue to seek out tools and
methodologies that can enhance our value to our customers and uniquely
position them to compete.  Profitable growth is our mantra as well, so I
am also looking for ways to expand our successful consulting practice
and publishing company, including continuing to build out our team with
"A Team" players.