ENSEMBLE TAKES TECH PLATFORMS TO NEW LEVEL
Ensemble Travel Group introduced two new technology platforms during its international conference in Colorado Springs specifically developed to help membership profits soar by giving them something they have very little of — and that’s time. The “Next Generation” Extranet (internal portal) and “Next Generation” ClientSite (consumer-facing web site) technology projects, both developed by Ensemble’s IT department, are radical departures from previous renditions. The platforms significantly reduce the amount of time needed to locate information and book product, as in the case of the Extranet, or to update an agency’s web site, for ClientSite.
“Rather than continue to tweak our existing platforms, we adopted a ‘leap-frog’ approach that effectively takes us to a whole new level in one fell swoop,” said Ensemble’s Marc Jacobsen, senior director, IT North America. “These technology tools help you — our members and partners — conduct your business efficiently, effectively, and as profitably as possible. At Ensemble, it’s a whole new world that engages members, suppliers, and staff. And that trilogy will drive what technology solutions we design, develop, and implement for our organization in the future.”
The Ensemble IT team considers the new Extranet as the “workhorse” for any member’s business, providing one-stop-shop intuitive access to all Ensemble information and travel tools, in addition to an overall visually enhanced user experience. The content has not only been expanded, but categorized in an easy-to-find fashion for members, thus reducing the number of click-throughs needed, and the extensive search capabilities for cruise and land exclusives, supplier offers, and agent familiarization trips also save members time.
The new Ensemble ClientSite (consumer-facing web site) accomplishes its goals of creating a platform that is easy for members to update with its drag-and-drop interface as well as being simple for clients to navigate and get inspired to travel by. With the new editor tool, videos, photographs, maps, and text can be added or deleted with a few simple key strokes. Members can choose from more than 70 design templates to customize their brand or build their own HTML and CSS, directly in the editor function. New blogging features make updating a breeze and the platform supports unlimited number of blogs within a website with full comment moderation allowing an open, moderated or closed conversation.
