Exposing your internal business systems to your customers, suppliers and other business partners is a way to increase revenue without increasing operational expenses.

The philosophy behind "Expose Yourself" is simple.

• Allow your customers to access your products and/or service in a way that removes effort from your organisation.
• Encourage a wider audience of customer to use your services.
• Integrate with your current automated and manual systems to make the processes of online commerce work effectively.

In 2003 Issta, a North London tour operator, wanted to expose their internal reservation systems to their clients to allow them to arrange flights, car hire and holiday packages themselves. Now, almost 3 years later, the revenue generated from their online solutions makes up over 55% of their total UK income.

Removing Effort from the Organisation

• Before Isstadirect was launched in 2003 all bookings were taken by reservation staff in the office. The booking process over the phone is a long one taking on average 30 to 60 minutes per booking. By allowing clients to search and select flights online, the amount of time needed by reservation staff is greatly reduced.
• During busy periods the company would take on extra staff to manage the increased demand. With the launch of Isstadirect.com the website manages the excess demands ensuring staff levels remain constant.

Encourage a Wider Audience

• Simply launching a website is not sufficient to start encouraging new business. Issta understood this and started marketing to existing clients and advertising their new services in more traditional media like newspapers and magazines. Although costly in the short term this activity paid dividends when the service started to become known within Issta's target audience. The number of repeat clients began to increase very quickly and due to Issta's clever discount schemes, clients were simply getting better deals online.
• As the number of email addresses being taken on the Internet increased another valuable marketing tool was introduced. Customised email allowed Isstadirect.com to inform its clients and other interested parties about current flights, holidays and car hire deals they had available. This was achieved through targeted email marketing campaigns.
• Promoting Isstadirect.com on the Internet has proved extremely effective. In the 4th quarter of 2005 for every £7.50 spent on search engine marketing Isstadirect.com generated £100.00 of revenue.

Integration with Current Internal Systems

There are many processes required after a booking is taken. For example a booking reference must be issued and carried through all correspondence. Tickets must be issued and the airlines and airport checking in staff must all have up to date passenger manifests.

• Isstadirect.com issues a unique booking reference number which can be used in their internal systems.
• Reservation staff are informed of new online bookings via an email. They then access an encrypted and fully secure section of the website to view and process the new booking. They are able to see which flights, holiday or car hire has been requested and can also obtain all payment details.
• As passengers book aircraft seats, staff are able to update passenger manifests enabling Issta's airport staff to be fully up to date with who should be arriving at check-in for each flight.

Isstadirect.com continues to grow from strength to strength and generated in excess of £4.5 Million in 2006.