Waiter: Have you guys decided on what you’d like?
Jill: Yes, we’ll have the grilled chicken with wild rice and green beans for the sides.
Waiter: Great, grilled chicken, wild rice, and green beans. Anything to drink?
Jill: I think we are good with just water – thanks.
Waiter: Sounds good. We will have that right up for you guys!
– Fifteen minutes pass –
Waiter: Here are your dishes! Does everything look correct?
Jill: Oh…um I think we ordered the grilled chicken, not the fish.
Waiter: Oh I’m terribly sorry! I’ll fix that right away.
Sound familiar?
We rarely stop to think about what occurs during those fifteen minutes in between ordering the food and receiving the food. There needs to be some way for the cooks in the back to deliver what was requested by the consumers in the front. There needs to be a mediator that enables the cooks to fulfill the promises presented by waiters. Whether waiters are tasked with communicating those orders by physical order tickets or by an automated ordering system, a mid-office system is required. This mid-office system acts as the connecting point between the two operational systems – the ordering and the cooking.
Now, not all mid-office systems are considered equal. The restaurant industry has been shifting from a system of shouting orders to more advanced computer-driven ticket systems. These systems are designed to decrease turnaround time and to avoid human error. This evolution is driven by a desire for increased efficiency and accuracy to better align the front of house and the kitchen, with the goal being a satisfied diner. This evolution toward error-minimizing systems is paralleled within the travel industry, an industry in need of more efficient, more accurate mid-office packages.
iQCX is that more efficient, more accurate mid-office system, linking the front office that travelers see when they book a ticket to the back office travelers experience hopping on a plane. iQCX enables you to deliver what you have promised when the consumer booked their ticket. But just as with the restaurant industry, not all mid-office systems are considered equal. Gone are the days of TMCs recording and delivering tickets by hand based on booking requests – automation is the new norm.
With iQCX you get a premier automation package that processes, validates, and optimizes the booking and ticketing cycles. Think of it as a restaurant mid-office system that not only delivers the order ticket to the kitchen, but also confirms accuracy of the order and consistently upgrades your meal when particularly fresh, local ingredients are available. iQCX, with functionalities like reservation validation, itinerary delivery, fare and seat optimization, boosts efficiency and accuracy as an extension of your day-to-day operations. iQCX gives you another set of hands, freeing up precious time and bringing peace of mind.
So, what can you do with that with that extra time and security that come as a result of increased efficiency and accuracy?
You can be proactive, instead of reactive. Instead of managing ticket processing hiccups, you can take time to analyze your travel data from the past quarter and adjust for the coming quarter. Instead of handling undelivered itineraries, you can take time to train your employees and staff members. Instead of constantly checking air rates to offer customers cheaper fares, maybe you can take an extra half hour of lunch (we were on the subject of restaurants, after all). iQCX’s functionalities give you the freedom to do your job better and to provide a reliable, satisfactory experience for your travelers.
In the opening example with which we are all familiar, something went awry. Perhaps the waiter forgot the correct order or the chef misread the ticket or maybe they simply gave the customer another customer’s food. Whatever the case, the bottom line is that the mid-office system did not efficiently and accurately provide alignment between waiter and chef and the result is an unsatisfied consumer. With iQCX, you can be assured that the front end and back end of the traveler experience align. You can be assured that your customers are satisfied.