Interview with : Valérie Maidon, travel and seminars programme manager at La Poste

How was online booking introduced at La Poste?

Valérie Maidon - Back in 2008, we carried out a pilot experiment involving 2,000 people by implementing the AETM online booking solution from Amadeus. To achieve our objective of a 60 % adoption rate across all La Poste entities, we worked for a year and a half with the CWT teams.

Our first challenge was to resolve the various technical problems, given the large number of profiles to be entered into the database. We then put a lot of work into supporting the end users, i.e. the 1,500 travel agents across the country. We opted for a gentle approach to support, favouring dialogue and the provision of 'how-to' documents, while making it clear that the SBT would be the compulsory ordering channel from 1 May 2010, six months after it went live.

What are you seeing and what are your plans?

V. M. - In addition to achieving the target of 60 %s, the introduction of SBT has not created any tension among users. This means that we can now capitalise on this success for the implementation of other projects, such as the roll-out of the seminar offer within La Poste. In addition, automation has led to an overall reduction in ticket prices, thanks to the visibility of the different fares offered by the tool, and a saving of 35 % on agency costs.

In terms of projects, we want to maintain a presence among users, in particular through travel agency implants, and increase the score to 60 % in the coming months. We also plan to extend SBT to La Poste group subsidiaries over the next year.