Odyssey, a Fit-for-Purpose Software Platform, takes a Business Analysis Approach to build trust and confidence with Multi-Day Operators, helping them reach their common goals of revenue growth, operational efficiency, and risk resilience.
Do you know the story about Henry Ford? The innovator behind the assembly line for faster car production.
His statement...
“'If I had asked people what they wanted,
they would have said faster horses.”
…sparked a thought.
If we asked today what Multi-Day Operators would want in order to make their business more successful… they might say more staff.
What would Multi-Day Operators want in order to make their business more successful? Faster horses = More staff?
We want to take a step back and help you think about this differently, because this may not always be the best solution.
We Take on The Role of Business Analyst First
In our 30 years of combined experience in software development and adventure tourism we have talked to many Multi-Day Operators, both big and small. We understand how complex a multi-day business can be.
Our observations suggest there are three key areas Operators wish to improve on…
Operators want to increase revenue, manage risk, and reduce costs.
Increase Revenue and efficiency, reduce risk and cost
So if we believe that having a ‘fit for purpose’ operating system like Odyssey will help you achieve these… then we need to ensure we have a sound understanding of your business.
Discovery Process: We Want to See the Big Picture
Odyssey wants to see the big picture first
The initial approach we take is to utilise a Discovery Process. We want to deeply understand how you currently operate, your products and services, the pain points you are trying to solve, your goals and aspirations, and who your staff and customers are.
Depending on the business we can either collate this information via our Discovery questionnaire or via a Zoom Discovery call or first meeting. This is the phase where Multi-Day Operators share with us, and we listen and seek to understand the impact, urgency and willingness towards finding a solution.
Here are some example questions used in the Discovery Questionnaire:
“What problems are you trying to solve?”
“What’s the impact of this problem on your company mission, your reputation, your staff and your customers?”
“What is the timeframe for you in solving this problem?
During the Discovery call/meeting, we level up the questions with three derived economic values in mind:
Increased revenue
Reduced risk
Reduced Cost
Example questions we might ask are:
“Where do you see revenue growth opportunities in your business?”. A possible answer could be, “We want to set up new products in a new region or country”.
“What are your big risks?”. A possible answer could be “losing luggage, missing a transfer pick up, accommodation not confirmed, getting a bad reputation for being disorganised”. We follow-up with a question, “What's the financial implications of this risk, and what would it mean to have this resolved?”
“What do your existing systems cost? How much time are your staff spending on making reservations/itineraries/organising/taking care of customers, duplicating processes, copy/paste?” A common answer to this is “wasting a lot of time, duplicating information”.
Odyssey wants to listen about your business
Going through these Discovery Questions with prospective clients is our approach to thoroughly exploring and understanding our prospective clients' needs and challenges.
Understanding the commonalities and unique dilemmas each company faces with its current systems will then allow us to articulate how our product (Odyssey) and service can specifically assist them.
At this stage we also present a pathway plan diagram to show the phases to using Odyssey.
Odyssey's blueprint to help Multi-Day Operators achieve business goals
Demonstration: ROI and Value Assessment
The next step is to provide a Demonstration of Odyssey via Zoom. We will use the information from the Discovery phase to help us present a relevant demo for your business. Keeping in mind the derived values we focus the demo on the areas that matter to you:
Increase revenue - Exploring and identifying potential revenue streams such as introducing new products or expanding into specific markets. We’ll show you how our Product/Package design features can assist.
Reduce risk - Evaluating potential risks and how we can help minimise these helps our potential clients see the implications on their business, staff, suppliers and customers. We’ll show you how your business can operate with one source of truth for your data and you’ll see how your services are connected.
Reduce Cost - With your current management processes in mind we can explore the financial and time costs associated with tasks vs a new system and how we can deliver savings. For example you’ll see how to go from copy/paste (time/costs) to a push of a button to generate itineraries and mobile app functions.
Odyssey Founders Tanya and Al doing the Demo of Odyssey
Our Success is a Partnership
Our relationship with multi-day operators is a partnership. And this starts well before ‘signing up’ to implement Odyssey. It starts from the first time we meet. So for us this early phase of discovery and demonstration sets the foundation of this partnership.
Like any new relationship there will be some uncertainties. And just like any relationship there is natural consideration for how good a match are we :-) ... this is normal and to be expected. The discovery and demonstration phase provides the space to determine this.
You will be considering things like… are these people going to be good to work with?, do they understand my issues and my business?, does the product they are offering provide a solution?, and of course, is this good value for money?
Some of these elements you will answer on day one eg yes we are nice people to work with :-) …other elements may take longer to completely realise e.g. is this good value for money. We say this because during the discovery and demonstration phase you are not truly using the product to get the tangible benefits or value… and this is where having trust and confidence comes in as this will come with time.
Cycle Journeys' a founding partner of Odyssey, talks about their experience with Odyssey
What do we ask of you?
Being open and honest about where your business is at, the strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and risks helps us be connected to your goals and aspirations. For some this might mean sharing information that you haven’t shared with others, and we respect that, and are happy to set up a NDA if required. Keep in mind, a problem shared is a problem halved.
Odyssey wants to understand your business
Our mission is to help multi-day operators be even more successful, so we ask for your trust and confidence to enable us to help you get there.
We have some case studies from our existing Odyssey users who have come through these first steps. And have taken their business from spreadsheets or legacy systems and are now experiencing the tangible benefits with Odyssey.
Read from one of our success stories: Trail Journeys Case Study
If you’re open to having a conversation with us about your business…
Book a Discovery Call today
