Martin Bachmann, the Head of the Swiss travel technology company Umbrella is not the tallest one. And Umbrella is – compared to other software providers – not the biggest player neither. But anyway, both are winning big with its profile management solution «Umbrella Faces». Beside Kuoni Business Travel and Lufthansa City Center (LCC) also the technology group ABB decided to use Umbrella. We at TravelBrain give attention to the subject Profile Management since the foundation of the company 10 years ago.
One of the fist topics of TravelBrain
One of my first topics at the start of TravelBrain has been a mandate for support of the TQ3-Team which took care of the further development of an in India developed profile management solution. TQ3 became BCD und the former application became TSPM (Trip Source Profile Management). The solution proofed one’s worth and has been in use with many large customers of BCD. When I had the project lead for the implementation of Amadeus Open Profile Suite (OPS) for a global LCC customer it helped to engross my mind und to build some know how. The subject profile management is always popping up in many projects and needs to be taken in to consideration. But all solutions have one thing in common… they are all targeted towards large and multi-national companies, got complex and are customized and configured for single customers.
Profile Management – clever & smart
But Umbrella is now proofing that it is possible to handle this in a simpler way. Not every feature or exotic requirement of clients is being provided for. But in return the solution is ready within a couple of days. Not just but also for mid-size and smaller customers. There is no – but can be – urge to have automated feeds from an HR database. Also with Umbrella Faces targeted systems will be fed with inevitable information from the traveller profile. As of today those are coming from Sabre, Galileo and Amadeus but also online booking engines such as Concur, Amadeus AETM and Cytric of IFAO. Additional interfaces will be following for sure
Umbrella Faces is still attractive for larger customers as the deal with ABB is proving. Sometimes less is more. ABB and also Kuoni Business Travel are using Umbrella as their mid-office. For the team of Martin Bachmann the integration of the data was a must. Bachmann hired Helmut Pilz – a GDS expert who worked for Amadeus – who will take care of the further development and enhancement of Faces. A new website und a blog regarding this subject are the first visible activities.
Umbrella Faces Webseite
Blogpost Lufthansa City Center
Blogpost ABB – Interview with Thomas Spillmann (german only)
Profile Management – a must for TMCs and corporates
The subject profile management will stay high up on the agenda of TravelBrain. And not just at Travel Brain but also with TMCs and with the corporates. And more and more the smaller business travel providers will be confronted with this subject. On the one hand processes need to be optimized while earnings come down and on the other hand it is the aim to charge the traveller for the creation and maintenance of the data. Also the responsibility for the accuracy of the data (cost centres, project numbers, frequent traveller numbers etc.) will be bounced back to the clients. Then again it is about making sure that profile data is synchronized in the on- and offline world any time. The data is updated in the profile management system in real-time. The solution of Umbrella makes profile management affordable for smaller players. So the traveller can update its data on the PC, tablet or smartphone and the travel office is always using the latest data.
With the storage of the data at the travel office, GDS or the profile system provider some customers have difficulties. To have a corresponding profile has been the requirement for processing bookings efficient and meaningful. Unless of course, the traveller is being asked to provide the data for each new booking. In the future it will be possible to store the data within the company. The profile management system will only fetch the data with a unique identifier when the data is needed – meaning at the time of a booking. And all that without storing the data.
Who are the players on the market
The TMCs have their own home-made systems. American Express Connect or BCD TSPM (Trip Source Profile Management), CWT Portrait and HRG Profile are some of them. Admittedly the names of those products are unimportant to corporate customers as the applications are usually embedded in the portal of the suppliers.
A part of that there are other providers who take care of the subject. Have a look, get an idea and information on how this can help you with your own profile management structure.
Umbrella Faces
Amadeus Open Profile Suite
nuTravel Profile Mnagement
Skyjunxion Profile Management
Trondent ProFiler
If you rather focus on your core business and need support with the development of a strategy or the implementation of a profile management system, please get in touch with us. We are happy to support you as a consultant for the evaluation of the perfect solution or as the project lead for the implementation.
Adrian Matt for travelBrain
Profilmanagement – ein Kleiner kommt gross raus #travelerprofile #businesstravel – https://t.co/ynQrxGACB3