TMC in the age of digital transition

The digital revolution has not been velvet, far from it. While the new online players were posting double-digit growth rates, the major 'incumbent' networks had to rethink their business models, sometimes at the cost of painful reorganisation. "Egencia has done us a lot of good by giving us a boost at a time when we were seeing online as a bit of a threat, by taking a step backwards, confesses Bertrand Mabille, Vice President France & Mediterranean at Carlson Wagonlit (CWT). "We had to turn this challenge into an opportunity. And that's what we're doing today. In less than five years, CWT has cut almost 1 000 jobs and around ten sites in France. For its part, American Express has shed 5 400 employees worldwide.

This difficult period has left its mark, but seems to be a thing of the past. "Our downsizing is now in its final phase. In a way, we've accelerated the process. Online is an inescapable trend, so it was better to stabilise the company as quickly as possible, sums up Bertrand Mabille. However, we still need qualified travel agents. While low value-added transactions have migrated to online tools, the complex part still requires motivated and trained staff."

Today, rather than job cuts, American Express is focusing its media attention on investment in online tools, with the sale of 50 % of its Business Travel business to the Certares financial group. CWT, meanwhile, is well on the way to completing its digital transition, with the business travel agency set to pass the 50 million mark this year. % of online transactions. This is a far cry from the 7 % posted five years earlier... "There is a spectacular inversion of the model, much more rapid in France than in other countries, because our economic structure is concentrated on very large companies, which have a considerable impact when they migrate online", explains Bertrand Mabille.

The head of CWT France & Méditerranée stresses "The efforts made to introduce digital technology into our business model, in particular to automate rail operations. If a travel agent carries out the rail transactions, the added value is too low for us to make any money". Pragmatically, Bertrand Mabille plans to transfer everything that can be migrated online by 2015, before stabilising the adoption rate at around 55%. % at 60 %. This digital transition is modelled on the developments seen in the American market five years earlier, and will not be limited to the Business Travel section. "We are embarking on a new stage in the development of Havas Voyages with a genuine digitalization plan designed to make the brand the benchmark multi-channel player".says Bertrand Mabille, who is already setting an ambitious target for the agency: "turn it into a small Amazon for travel.

In the wake of this digital revolution, another change is already taking place in the agencies' roadmap: mobile booking. And this time, the big TMCs have no intention of standing on the sidelines. This is the logic behind CWT's 2012 acquisition of Worldmate, an Israeli specialist in mobile technologies dedicated to the travel industry, which appears to be TMC's 'techno' trump card. Mobile hotel booking is due to be integrated into the CWT To Go platform from June 2014. As for American Express, the 900 million injected into the Business Travel sector should not be long in finding concrete applications in travellers' smartphones. "A new story beginssays Bertrand Mabille.