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Case study: Capable Travel
Business: Capable Travel
Type of Business: Travel agency
Capable Travel, based in London, is an established independent travel agency, which employs six staff. The company offers a complete range of travel services, providing customers with highly competitive prices on flights, package holidays, city breaks, cruises and customised packages designed to suit individual needs.
For businesses competing for market share in the travel sector, a notoriously competitive and price-sensitive industry, ensuring that clients are offered the best deal can prove difficult. Speed is paramount as the cost of a holiday or flight is almost always time sensitive and prices can change by the minute.
Established in 1983, the company has only been online for three years. It originally set up an ISDN connection, but as soon as ADSL became available it opted for broadband as employees were frustrated with slow download times.
The switch didn’t just speed things up it also made savings. Nigel Burns, the company’s sales manager, estimates the company has made an annual cost saving of at least £1,200 by replacing ISDN with an ‘always-on’ high-speed broadband connection.
“With broadband, we save time and money in a number of ways,” explains Burns. “In addition to avoiding long delays waiting for an email to send or a web page to download, we no longer have to leave our desks every five minutes to use the fax machine or send documents by post.
“Since installing the high-speed connection, we’ve never experienced a problem sending an email, regardless of its size,” adds Burns.
Broadband has also enhanced the travel agency’s customer service enabling staff to instantly send and receive reports and itineraries via email. With broadband, clients can make changes to suggested itineraries and re-send the revised version within minutes.
Broadband has helped Capable Travel keep its operating costs down, savings that are passed on to customers through lower priced deals, which in turn provides the company with competitive advantage.
“Broadband has helped us to develop a very focused and responsive attitude to work. The speed at which we can now operate means that we don’t lose any business through delays,” concludes Burns.
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