The Leading Edge

By
David J. Wardell

How finding, deploying, and successfully

using leading edge technology, processes,
and business practices create sustainable
competitive advantage in travel distribution.
 Copyright 2001 by: David J. Wardell

All rights reserved. No part of this

publication may be reproduced in any form
or by any electronic or mechanical means,
including information storage and retrieval
systems, without prior permission in
writing from the copyright holder. Brief
quotations embodied in reviews are
permitted with full attribution.
Table of Contents
About The Author.........................................................ii
The Leading Edge.......................................................1
Where Is the Leading Edge?.......................................4
The Best Tool.............................................................. 7
What Does Independence Mean?...............................9
The Functional Gap...................................................11
Setting Directions...................................................... 13
Building Better Products............................................14
How Do You Write the Check?................................. 16
Using the Leading Edge............................................17

The Leading Edge Page i

David J. Wardell
About The Author
David J. Wardell has
worked in travel
industry for many years
in operations,
management, training,
travel management and
systems design, and in
other phases of the
computer,
transportation, and
retailing businesses as
a consultant, executive planner, and
administrator.
Previous to entering the industry he
worked in computer system design and
analysis and operated his own service
bureau and software development
company. Mr. Wardell owned and
managed several other successful
businesses outside the travel industry in
retail sales and services, computers and
automation, electronics, and publishing.

The Leading Edge Page ii

David J. Wardell
Mr. Wardell enjoys a wide reputation
within the travel and computer industries
as one of the country's foremost experts
on applied systems development, product
planning and management, strategic
planning and development, and marketing.
He has created and managed marketing,
systems, and general strategic planning for
many of America's largest and most
successful corporations—both travel and
non-travel related. His work is reflected in
the successful programs of numerous
multi-million dollar corporations.
Mr. Wardell is among the country's
foremost experts in travel MIS, applied
computer technology, systems strategy,
computer-based analysis, and practical
software development. He has conducted
extensive theoretical and practical research
into many areas of software design,
particularly interactive business
applications, machine (artificial)
intelligence, logic-based programming,
and expert system applications.

The Leading Edge Page iii

David J. Wardell
He has authored over 400 articles for
technical, trade, consumer, and general
interest publications, including such
prestigious periodicals as The Economist,
on numerous technical and non-technical
subjects. He is a frequent featured speaker
at travel industry trade meetings. His
monthly column on automation and
computers in the travel industry has
appeared in Travel Weekly, the industry's
largest trade journal, since January, 1985
Mr. Wardell has been listed in various
Marquis Who's Who publications since
1987, including Who's Who in America and
Who's Who in the World. He is a member
of various engineering, technology, and
travel trade groups.
Among his more recent positions,
beginning in 1987 Mr. Wardell was Vice
President and Managing Director of Vendor
Services, responsible for product and
system prototyping, development,
strategic planning, vendor relations, and
general business development for Citicorp
Information Management Services, Inc.

The Leading Edge Page iv

David J. Wardell
(also known as Citicorp CIMS, a subsidiary
of Citicorp).
In 1991 Mr. Wardell became Vice President
—Information Services and Chief
Information Officer for USTravel, the
nation's third largest travel distribution
company, in Rockville, Maryland. He was
responsible for the company's full range of
technology products, systems
development, automation planning,
computer operation, data communications,
data processing, reporting, and several
aspects of travel reservation operations.
In 1995 he became Senior Vice President
and Chief Information Officer of OAG
Travel Services, a unit of Reed Elsevier, a
major international publishing company.
Among his many responsibilities were day-
to-day management, technology
development and strategy for RTG’s
Internet and electronic commerce
activities, and other business development
support. He is a recognized expert in
Internet-based electronic commerce and is
familiar with all the supporting

The Leading Edge Page v

David J. Wardell
technologies and business practices used
in this area.
In 1996 Mr. Wardell became President of
USMatrix, the U.S. subsidiary of Global
Travel Computer Services, based in
Toronto, Canada. Global is the world's
largest non-CRS travel MIS and point-of-
sale systems, outsourcing, and networking
company, supporting over 1,000 branches
through its on-line travel systems
technology.
In 1999, as part of a long-term consulting
engagement, Mr. Wardell assumed
management and operations
responsibilities for SatoTravel, the
Arlington, Virginia-based global travel
management company focusing upon
military and civilian government travel. He
organized and operated the company’s e-
commerce activities, including its highly
successful ticket fulfillment and customer
support operation. Mr. Wardell also
provided key support in many other areas,
including general business strategy,

The Leading Edge Page vi

David J. Wardell
commercial operations, and business
development.
Mr. Wardell now uses his extensive
expertise to undertake independent
consulting projects in the technology,
travel operations, marketing, and business
development areas through his company,
Technical Reality.

For further information:

TechNotes
Technical Reality

www.wardell.org
www.wardellblog.com

Facebook: dj.wardell
Twitter: djwardell
Skype: techreality

The Leading Edge Page vii

David J. Wardell
The Leading Edge
Among the pervasive attitudes of the
computer industry is one which says that
devotion to technology must be complete
—even if excellence means that products
or services are unusable or never
introduced because they are not yet
perfect. An equally unbalanced counter-
argument is that products must be usable
and practical before all else—including
whether or not they are good for anything.
Advocated in practice if not openly by
many computer developers, these
Practices illustrate many technology users’
challenge:
“How can l select products that are truly
appropriate for my needs? If neither
position is reasonable, how can I
recognize companies practicing either,
and where is the balance between
technology and practicality?”
Often computer experts are said to have a
“tentative reality”—lacking the ability to

The Leading Edge Page 1

David J. Wardell
separate what should be from what can
never be. In a technology-driven industry,
such as travel distribution has become, you
will find that reaching the appropriate
“leading edge” is a critical task, as thereby
your ability to compete as well as to
operate efficiently is established.
For better or worse, technology and its
appropriate use largely defines what
competition is all about. This applies to
the largest and the smallest of agencies—
all are inundated by information and the
need to transform it into effective customer
service. Even without the significant
technology investments that are beyond
the reach of small agencies, the right set of
tools must be available to effectively meet
customer needs when a potentially better-
equipped competitor is nearby.
The best of the large agencies have
recognized that:
1. Meaningful information comes only
through technology.

The Leading Edge Page 2

David J. Wardell
 2. Information is a critical internal
management tool and an invaluable
service differentiator.
3. Information-based management is a
product in itself.
Because technology is so difficult to
duplicate and use effectively, it can be a
powerful point of competitive advantage
that is both meaningful and sustainable.
What Should I Do Differently?
1. Understand that effective travel
competition necessarily involves
technology—but that the effective
application of technology is more
important than the products
themselves.
2. Build technology solutions around
the most effective and efficient
delivery and application of
information—applied to real-world
customer or business problems.

The Leading Edge Page 3

David J. Wardell
Where Is the Leading Edge?
In any business where technology is an
integral part of operations, lagging too
much behind the Leading Edge invites
mediocrity or failure. Neither is tolerable
where competition is intense. As travel
automation has taken only a few years to
reach present levels, the industry certainly
qualifies as technologically dynamic.
Successful implementation of small
computer technology is itself maturing
within the travel industry. As agencies
become more expert in applying
appropriate technology to their problems,
they find operations affected as well as
marketing. Operational gains in today's
travel industry are made on the margin and
are produced by effective use of tools and
procedures—a situation that is accentuated
as agency size increases.
Recent years have seen many such
products; more are still to come. The
extreme examples were some of the
ultimately “user-friendly”

The Leading Edge Page 4

David J. Wardell
microcomputer accounting systems
(used advisedly in this context) that
were popular a few years ago. Their
designers determined that existing
systems were too cumbersome and that
these new, “better” products would not
impose traditional restraints upon
users. The results were so devoid of
accounting controls that most anything
the operator cared to enter would
produce seemingly “accurate” data.
It is easy to forget that, in a highly
technical field, complex problems
cannot be uncomplicated simply by
making systems easy to use. Usually the
intrinsic difficulty, and need for
accuracy, of the underlying task
remains.
The other extreme is false security
found through technological
independence. “Travel accounting has
too long been dominated by airlines and
big business,” so the story goes.
“Agencies need to grow-up and he

The Leading Edge Page 5

David J. Wardell
independent—take control of their own
destinies.”
While an interesting notion, these words
are most often spoken by companies
offering extremely complex and
sophisticated computer, and really
means that the company is unprepared
to support the product apart from basic
installation (some not even that far).
The Klondike discovery of computer
independence is in reality only a glitter
of fool’s gold when it causes large staffs
and staff expense, ongoing support
problems, and ultimately less usable
systems. Complexity, of itself ' has little
to do with the Leading Edge.
What Should I Do Differently?
3. Understand that independence is
often irrelevant to technological
success. You can prosper just as
well by becoming the most effective
user of someone else’s tools—for
less money.

The Leading Edge Page 6

David J. Wardell
The Best Tool
Some large agencies invest heavily in
tools for their customers or their
benefit. These include customer inquiry
systems that permit computer-based
manipulation of agency sales and
transaction data for individual accounts,
and electronic reservation auditing
systems that monitor for lower fares
and perform other routine reservation
activities.
These are but examples of technology
projects based upon tools, not
solutions. While there are a few
technology addicts that simply have to
format their own reports, most
customers don't want on-line inquiry.
They want understandable, accurate,
reliable, and meaningful reports.
Wrapping a new gadget around the
reporting process, stuffing into web
browser-based structures, or calling it
“data warehousing” doesn't solve any
problem—it simply intimidates
customers into not asking so many hard

The Leading Edge Page 7

David J. Wardell
questions and makes everybody feel
better without having to upgrade the
quality of information within the
agency.
The “best tool” is no tool. Better to
resolve a problem once and for all
rather than contrive a tool to deal with
it, even if it’s a useful one. Reservation
auditing tools are useful only because
someone doesn't do their job right in
the first place. Customers wouldn't care
about auditing gadgets if you adopted a
lower tolerance for error in your
operation and worked toward a “zero
defect” environment.
What Should I Do Differently?
4. Recognize that most “technology
problems” are really unresolved
management problems, and that
managing toward your objectives
without the need to resort to tools
or technology is both cheaper and
more effective than building or
buying the latest gadget.

The Leading Edge Page 8

David J. Wardell
 5. Remember that technology is
intrinsically valueless—unless it is
appropriately applied to business
problems.

What Does Independence

Mean?
The Leading Edge concept carries with it
the notion that users can actually get at
the technology. While there are
certainly agencies capable of being fully
“data independent,” they are few
indeed. Years in the computer business,
often while having to wrestle with the
problem of finding good solutions to
difficult software problems (most hardware
suppliers support their products fairly well)
has fully convinced me that the most
educated users cannot maintain the
Leading Edge without definitive, broadly-
based vendor support.
I once heard the “grow-up” line from an
independent software company
contemplating an agency product based

The Leading Edge Page 9

David J. Wardell
upon a popular mainframe computer
system. For most purposes, a mainframe
is understood to be a large-scale computer
system, which forms the central processing
core of an extensive installation,
maintained by crowds of somber-faced
operators and system specialists.
Sophisticated, certainly—but who will use
that sophistication and what agency is
prepared to assume the burden of its
operation? Even the software was not that
straightforward. When asked about
potential training problems and how they
would be resolved, the vendor simply
replied:
“Well, the agencies can just get new travel
agents.”
Reservation systems are an equally
important productivity problem. Users tend
to ignore areas that may cause
differentiation between systems, as they
are applied to the needs of the agency, and
focus strictly upon marketing
considerations or out-of-pocket costs. All
the major CRS work, but some certainly do

The Leading Edge Page 10

David J. Wardell
so appreciably better than others in
specific situations.
What Should I Do Differently?
6. “Independence” is usually neither
the cheapest or most effective path
to process improvement or effective
systems. Wherever possible, use
someone else’s money and
infrastructure to achieve your
technology goals.
7. Striving for “independence” often
masks unresolved operational flaws
and management limitations.
Correct these before considering
“independent” technology
solutions.

The Functional Gap

Pricing relating to performance and
productivity in small agency
microcomputer-based products will
continue for the present. Large agency
systems, given the inability of most
agencies to implement a mainframe (or the

The Leading Edge Page 11

David J. Wardell
need for one), are limited more by
inelegant software that can no longer be
compensated for by new and more
advanced minicomputers.
While major technological advances were
made in minicomputers it was possible to
look to hardware to solve performance
and, to a degree, functional problems. As
better computers arrived they
compensated for software that consumed
excessive system resources and didn't run
very well.
Today, however, the large accounting and
MIS systems are near their peak and most
agencies have limited abilities to pay for
more extensive products. The next few
years doubtless hold exciting new and as
yet unrecognized hardware advances, but
the Leading Edge should focus on:
• Problem resolution.
• Customer service products and tools
where appropriate.
• Technology that supports reaching
business objectives

The Leading Edge Page 12

David J. Wardell
 • Careful technology planning
• Cost control
Travel distributors must not be lulled to
sleep by gadgets. This will mark a
fundamental change from what has been
“appropriate for the market” (meaning
what stupid people will buy) or sometimes
“what will get by,” as practiced by some
software suppliers in the past.
What Should I Do Differently?
1. Demand reliable, sustainable
technology products from your
suppliers; question their
representations where their goals
are inconsistent with yours.
2. Remember that business planning
and goals must drive technology—
not the other way around.

Setting Directions
The Leading Edge means using technology
that is the most sophisticated, and
therefore productive, available under the

The Leading Edge Page 13

David J. Wardell
conditions where it is to be used,
understanding that unusable computers
are no better (sometimes worse) than none
at all. Reservations, accounting, and
management tools are all essential
considerations.
What Should I Do Differently?
3. Your business goals are paramount.
Adapt your processes to embrace
superior, but never marginal,
technology.

Building Better Products

A history of travel automation is awash
with examples of products offered without
consideration as to whether they were
fundamentally any good or whether they
were commercially practical.
Several long-deceased microcomputer
accounting products come to mind. At the
forefront of the microcomputer explosion,
they were purchased because there was no
effective competition within the same
market, yet they left their owners at a

The Leading Edge Page 14

David J. Wardell
competitive disadvantage very quickly as
products that were simply better designed
eclipsed them.
Other Products reached development
plateaus early on and never went further.
Large agency accounting systems, some
using advanced minicomputer technology
and costing many thousands of dollars fall
in this category. Their competitive
advantage evaporated because their
developers only had a few good ideas and
felt they could rest on the early successes
of their products without continually
investing in the Leading Edge and the
string of enhancements it demands.
Evolution toward better products is
obviously continual, but the Leading Edge
is more difficult to supplant and remains
competitively potent over time.
Enhancements and new systems always
come, but they first replace systems, which
were, practically speaking, obsolete before
they were first sold.

The Leading Edge Page 15

David J. Wardell
What Should I Do Differently?
4. Your effective integration of
superior business practices with
technology makes a formidable
competitive tool. Strive for this
combination, as opposed to the
latest and greatest tool.

How Do You Write the

Check?
A visit to most any industry trade show
where technology companies are present
will produce a dizzying array of flashy
products that are commercially useless.
Map displays that list only a dozen cities,
tour-finders that offer only a smattering of
mountain or penguin-viewing treks and not
much else, or self-booking systems that
work half as well and cost twice as much
as what vou can get from most any CRS-
based agency are examples of just a few.
On what basis does anybody write the
check for this junk? Not many people do,
and most of these suppliers will disappear

The Leading Edge Page 16

David J. Wardell
as soon as their venture capital dries up.
Don't confuse the Leading Edge with sales
pitches from developers who haven't a
clue what their potential customers really
need. Just because people are selling it
doesn't say anything about its practicality.
What Should I Do Differently?
5. Research is critical. Understand
clearly what your customer needs
and operational requirements truly
are.

Using the Leading Edge

The Leading Edge means compromising
between technology, usability, and timing.
This does not speak to the legion of
vendors who push products out the door
ready or not (there will always he plenty of
these). Instead, users should be concerned
with software and system designers that
truly lose touch with reality.
A few years is a long time in the computer
industry, but probably the minimum most
agencies would consider appropriate for

The Leading Edge Page 17

David J. Wardell
automation products. Lengthening that life
depends upon buying systems and
services you can use—ones that not only
grow with your business but that are
continually enhanced by their developers.
System independence is a wonderful,
impractical concept.
To truly reach the Leading Edge is to never
compromise by purchasing software,
systems, or services based upon marketing
expediencies, short-term cost advantages,
or “what everyone else is doing.” Travel
technology has yet to be fully exploited by
the largest of companies as a service and
business differentiator—and setting one
agency apart from all others is what travel
marketing is all about.
Reaching the point where you can offer a
differentiated service requires careful
planning, an understanding of your own
needs, and an understanding of the
computer marketplace. When all the
promotional smoke has cleared, what
ultimately does the best job for you, given
available resources and the needs of your

The Leading Edge Page 18

David J. Wardell
market, defines the best products and
services for you. There is no substitute for
buying the best and using it correctly—
thereby you can achieve the Leading Edge.
Digitally signed by David J.

David J. Wardell
DN: cn=David J. Wardell,
o=Technical Reality, ou,

Wardell
email=david@wardell.org,
c=US
Date: 2011.04.13 18:17:15
-04'00'

The Leading Edge Page 19

David J. Wardell