How does Data Warehouse Help in Travel Management
A data warehouse or DWH helps in decision making. In this blog, we will see how it applies in the business travel sector. It is based on the collection and consolidation of data and obtaining relevant information for practical applications.
Data Warehouse Role in Travel Management
By data warehouse, we refer to the collection point where various data gather from different sources. It basically forms the foundation for decision making, a point where negotiations are made and successes are measured. DWH is also the point of optimization of processes. With this, businesses are successful in achieving efficiency and making substantial savings.
Let us now talk about the travel field. If we look at it from a technical angle, a travel manager has nothing to do with the data warehouse. Then, why are we discussing it here? Well, with the help of a data warehouse, the manager can get crucial information; and this will help him profitably to improve the company’s results. With this information, he will also be able to provide the best possible support for his company’s travellers. However, it is imperative to ensure that all relevant data pools are connected to the data warehouse.
What data should the Data Warehouse keep?
The answer to this question depends on what insights you are looking to gain from your warehouse. Usually in the field of travel management, the following data are mostly needed.
- Booking data from multiple reservation channels – including both bookings made through travel agencies and also through the company directly.
- All personal and organizational data from the HR system
- All accounting data of the payment providers
- All data from the travel expense accounting systems
- Other data like exchange rate, geographic data for international travellers.
What to watch out for while setting up your travel data warehouse?
There are a few important things that you must keep in your mind when you are planning to set up a data warehouse for your travel needs. One, you must select relevant data pots. This is because you can gain the right insights only if you have the right data. Next, you need to have automated processes. This will bring down manual efforts and errors too.
One crucial thing to keep in mind is data security. Since personal and business – both types of data will be involved here, you need to ensure that the ware house is absolutely secure. You should also give importance to data anonymization. Besides this, you need to make sure that whatever tools you are choosing for reports, monitoring and analysis- they should all be easily operable by all the users.
It is a huge benefit if he data warehouse is provided by an independent service provider. The advantage it gives you is the flexibility to react to changes.
What all information can you obtain from your data warehouse?
Speaking in more general terms, a data warehouse is one of the most basic steps when it comes to company’s strategy for business intelligence. It helps to make well-founded business decisions. And, it is a great option to gain results for performance management. In addition to this, a data warehouse also provides important data for negotiating with the relevant service providers. In the travel needs, it is mainly used for
- Real time analyses such as location analysis, benchmarks etc.
- Recurring expenses reporting such as expenses per region or supplier etc.
- Reporting of number of travelers or number of bookings for region.
- Monitoring and controlling specifications such as KPI target achievement, travel policy compliance, total budget exceeding warning and so on.
- Providing data to other service providers like companies that look at travel risk management
- Forecasts and other analysis to improve the overall system
As we see, the information that you can get from the data of the data warehouse can help in internal reporting to management and in overall optimization of current processes. It also assists in behavioral changes (e.g. with a view to sustainability or savings) and serves as a basis for negotiations with service providers. The data from the warehouse can also act as a data pool for further services, and as a decision-guidance for further improving the overall processes and systems.
Conclusion
Having a data warehouse greatly helps in travel management systems. The benefits of a good data warehouse are unending, as we discussed above. At EOV, we have been actively engaged in making the travel industry more tech-savvy and with our innovative products, our travel partners are soaring high! If you would also like to benefit from technology in travel industry, get in touch with us now!