Apparently this is an industry first – and some may not be that surprised – but today sees the official launch of a mobile service for travel agents that uses the famous green screen.
Developed by Mobile Travel Technologies in Dublin for Asia-Pacific GDS Abacus, travel agents can use a smartphone application to manage a customer’s booking… but in the classic “green screen” (now blue!) format.
The platform is currently only available as an iPhone app but there are plans to roll it out in the coming months to other devices such as Android and Blackberry.
The service came about after Abacus (which has around 15,000 agency connections around the region) decided to develop a system so that agents can edit customer details and forward bookings away from the office desktop.
When asked what time of display would best suit the application, agency testers opted for the green screen.
To make changes on the screen, agents simply tap the individual element and a drop down appears so agents can select a new value.
Neat – although perhaps not what many would have expected. Green screen lives on!
The launch is actually part of a wider push by Abacus into mobile, including developing a white label mobile service for agents.
Ha! Love it!
I gonna get me one of those dang i-phone thingys, hell, Yes…
It’s like weekend at bernies for iPhone apps! Will this stuff ever die?
Have you ever watched agents or call centre staff using these screens? They’re so used to them that they are much more productive than web based interfaces (I’ve worked on projects testing that). The web based interfaces usually end up emulating the green screen because that’s what people are used to.
It needs a total mind shift in the way interfaces are created for the web. The typical OTA/tour op web experience is not the best for someone in sales to quickly answer a customers needs.
The quickest take up of a new reservation system in a call centre I’ve ever seen was a web based copy of a green screen (with added web UI bells and whistles, but it did look like a traditional res system).
Tnooz should do a review of the alternative UI’s for agent and call centre sales staff to see how far they’ve come along!
Well … that’s my first comment on Tnooz but i felt i really wanted to comment … I’m new to the travel industry and i just started my Online Travel Agency , I do web Programming but one year ago I had zero experience in Travel Industry , So I learned about the ARC and applied for it and the GDS … etc ,
But one of my worst day ever when i signed with Sabre and I got some courses on how to use the new blue screen … I felt like ****
I know Computer programming but it’s easier than using Sabre and I told my self … that’s way behind the technology … eventually I’m trying to switch to Amadeus now because I like their Graphical interface … Can someone please advice me if I’m going in the right direction by using Amadeus Graphical Interface or not, I just think it’s more than enough and I don’t need to use Sabre Blue Screen especially that till today Sabre don’t have their Graphical Interface ready yet!!! ?!
George – think of it like this – a GUI is easier to learn (kind of like snowboarding), but if you can learn how to use a green/blue screen from a native GDS you’ll be able to go A LOT faster in the long run… (like skiing)
Well , I was thinking like this and it make scene for a while , but once they came up with ancillary services and all of that …. I start thinking about the graphical interface even the 3 GDS companies start develop their GUI as well …!
I’ve been it the travel industry for over 25 years. Apollo Focal Point (blue screen) experience is the way of the world.
“It’s currently being used on platform is currently only available on “iPhone app but there are plans to roll it out in the coming months to other devices such as Android and Blackberry” (See Above for more Details)
Sabre platform is a great. The good part of there computer CRT Fares are sometime are inputed price wrong and that’s a benefit.
Alway print a hard copy of the reservation if you get strange rates. They can NOT by law hold you up for there pricing in Fares if you didn’t manipulate the fare.
Always create a Database on Airline and your Preferred suppliers. Most importantly you clients.
BACK UP all history of ticketing and void so that no surprised come your way from the ACR.
I hope this was some help and If I had a choice I would go with platform that is currently only available as an iPhone app for starters.
Good Luck
Thirty year old habits die hard!
Actually this is a HTML5 browser based solution built specifically for mobile – acts like an app but works on most major phone IOS browsers. Some confusion when discussing our mobile IBE app called Abacus WebStart (iphone only at this point) and Abacus Mobile (the solution discussed above by Kevin).
On a separate note it’s great to have TNOOZ in full force at the WITovation Entrepreneur Bootcamp, Hack Day, and WebInTravel. Great coverage of the most important Asian Travel Industry event of the year! Well done to Kevin and Team.
Brett
Whatever the technology feeding it – the “blue screen” format allows a great deal of information in a very small space – and there is a lot to be said for that. Granted – the price is that the user has to learn how to understand it, but that is not neccessarily a bad thing for somebody who it truly a very frequent user.
Im surprised that it is only now that a GDS comes up with this kind of an idea. I remember asking our gds sales representative if I can have gds access in my hp ipaq years ago.
Fantastic for after hours work! So how long do I need to wait until it works for my Ipad?
Any Idea when does Amadeus reveal it’s smart phone cryptic mode application?