Benefits of Automation for Tours and Activities Suppliers

The benefits of automation for tours and activities are increased productivity and performance, reliability and availability, reduced operating costs, and a higher return on investment.

Automation has fundamentally changed the way we live. From the way we communicate and work to the daily choices we make, our society is now underpinned by automated processes.

Almost everything is automated these days, with most organisations using multiple automation technologies. A 2020 global survey of business leaders from a wide cross-section of industries conducted by McKinsey & Co. found that 66% were piloting solutions to automate at least one business process, up from 57% two years earlier. The percentage of companies that have fully automated at least one function has grown more modestly, from 29% in 2018 to 31% in 2020.

Why is this so?

An automated system is composed of elements designed to perform a set of tasks that have been programmed. Thus, operational and repetitive tasks become less of a burden and make your life simpler and easier.

Efficiency and fluidity are everything. And for tours and activities suppliers, it is no different.     

Whereas travel before could be a bumpy, stressful ride, today’s travellers have come to expect a smooth, streamlined experience. One that is augmented by intuitive, easy-to-use technology. What’s more, forward-thinking companies have discovered that automation can save time and money when it comes to travel management, while unlocking a company’s hidden potential and opening up new growth opportunities.

The Benefits of Automation for Tours and Activities Suppliers

The reality is, business runs faster with technology. Refusing to use new systems means your competitors are a step ahead of you. Signavio reports in “The State of Business Process Management 2020” that 62% of organisations have up to 25% of their business processes modelled.

Automating tasks relieves time, so team members can concentrate on other tasks that the software is not capable of managing. You could save hours by delegating manual tasks to the software. Some tasks necessitate human touch, of course, but automated tools can make you more efficient and give you more time to concentrate on more important tasks and strategic direction.

The following are the further benefits of automation to your business:

1. Defines business processes

You need to identify what is implicated in your business process before you can configure the automation. This identifying process makes everything visible and gives you a clear idea of what is happening or should be happening in your business.

2. Makes better projections and utilises resources

Business Process Automation (BPA), or a strategy wherein businesses use technology to organise their personnel and systems through workflows, gives you all the tools needed to monitor data, at all times. It delivers more precise data and projections about your business's future needs and income.

Automation can permit your company to maintain control over various issues, such as customer relationships, analytics, planning, sales, standardisation, and development. 

Moreso, automation of processes allows you to identify and utilise unused and underused resources, thereby bringing new business opportunities supporting assets in fields you couldn’t even have thought about while using only human resources.

3. Optimised cost-efficiency

Before any shiny, new system can claim to have revolutionised an industry, it has to fulfil its main function: Has it saved on costs?

For a business to overhaul its approach and refurbish its existing systems is a big step. Setting up automation in certain areas of a company can be costly and take time initially, but in the long term, it’s worth it when it saves costs and transforms the business. Automation can result in cost savings of 40-70%, with payback ranging from several months to several years.

Furthermore, a machine can carry out high-volume, basic mundane tasks far quicker than a human and with a far greater degree of accuracy. The time spent on administrative tasks, such as searching, data collation, data mining and analysis saves time and money on the initial tasks, while also avoiding costs of errors and inaccuracies. 

4. Increased overall productivity

One of the automation’s best features is that it allows you to do what humans do best: create ingenious business plans to eliminate costs and make important decisions. It removes repetitive activities that were once part of certain jobs, freeing up human workers' valuable time to focus on more important, dynamic work. For instance, an automated travel process streamlines everything, from booking a trip and collating expenses to analysing yearly statistics, affording workers hours to deliver a better performance. 

Not only that, but automation can also deal with jobs that humans shouldn’t have to (or don’t want to do). Think of those that require being present in a dangerous environment. Removing human workers from these environments and freeing them up to focus on more complex tasks could be a win-win for both parties.

In addition to the dangers, there are also those that many people might prefer not to do altogether, such as conducting inventory counts. Using automation can save an organisation time and money, which could be better spent on training their workers for higher-skilled jobs.

5. Greater visibility

With real-time tracking and communication on travellers, tours and activities suppliers can pinpoint exactly how and where the money is spent. Greater visibility into spending patterns will enable a laser focus on performance and give a panoramic understanding of company spending.

Automation can lead to previously unforeseen business opportunities, from pinpointing and predicting potential trends through data mining to deep insights into continuous improvement through machine learning.

Travel automation has the potential to have a profound effect on one of the most important aspects of a business and to stimulate growth potential.

6. Streamlines processes for both the tours and activities suppliers and the travellers

Today’s travellers demand an interesting travel experience, that is is why automation is a vital component of modern travel. Streamlined processes work for both the business and the traveller. A flexible procedure that uses technology to create a fluid automated system is more efficient and the perfect solution for modern, tech-savvy travellers frustrated with outdated methods.

Using a travel booking tool keeps everything centralised while ensuring that travellers have control over their trip. Communications, bookings, approvals, invoicing, and other travel-related processes can now be all under one roof.

Read more: One-Stop-Travel App: Introducing turpal

7. Safety and security

Risk management is a vital part of any travel management strategy. And in today’s world, safety and security have never been so important, especially since we are still dealing with the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

If used to its full potential, technology can be used to decrease the risk for travellers. Automation enables a much more reliable risk strategy. Real-time messaging provides a greater degree of communication between tour and activities suppliers and their travellers. Also, data can pinpoint high-risk areas, ensuring safety on the road.

8. Reducing your environmental footprint

Go digital. By streamlining equipment and processes, reducing scrap, and using less space, automation uses less energy. You can store information on your system and at the same time save money and be responsible for the environment. No more printing and storing paper documents. Plus you optimise time spent looking for information.

9. Save money, even while sleeping

As a human, sleeping is a basic need—it’s a no brainer. You will not be able to function if you don’t get enough sleep. At a certain point, you’ll need to take a break from physically managing your operations and give yourself a well-needed rest. Thankfully, your automated systems don’t need to rest. You can configure them to work all day and all night, over and over.

10. Easily manage decentralised teams in different time zones

You can only be in one place at a time and you may not have access to places on the other side of the world. Thanks to automated systems, it’s not always like that. Rather, you can manage the tasks of your decentralised teams across multiple time zones.

Start using automated systems today

Automation supports your knowledge workers and minimises operational costs, freeing up personnel to perform higher-level tasks. Clients are happier because you can assist them immediately and cut down on human error.

In the travel industry where relationships are king, automation can significantly enhance human interaction and decision-making, as well as create real-time transparency.

The benefits of automated operations for tours and operators suppliers are higher productivity, reliability, availability, increased performance, and reduced operating costs. Moving to lights-out operations yields a good return on investment.

Automation is not a trend; it’s a tactic that gained popularity and its potential is infinite. It is no longer an option. For tours and activities suppliers, automation is already a cornerstone of their day-to-day work. It’s a fundamental step to keep business competitive.

Are you ready to hand over your tasks to an automated platform?

Featured image: Josh Riemer on Unsplash