Technomine reports uptick in business thanks to roadmap plans

Outsourcing specialist Technomine Travel Solutions reported a surge in interest from the trade since the government outlined plans for lifting travel restrictions earlier this month.

On April 5, the government confirmed it would introduce a three-tier traffic light system for categorising countries for international travellers.

Technomine Travel Solutions (TTS) started its UK operations in January, after the appointment of industry stalwart Chris Oakes as sales director.

The company can help travel agencies that need to outsource services such as back-office and out-of-hours functions, and web chat support.

“We had an initial flurry of activity on the new website at launch [in January] and steady growth of traffic throughout the first quarter,” said Oakes.

“Since the announcement on April 5, we saw a 400% increase on web activity and also an increase in enquiries. Over 3,000 unique users visited since the start of the year.”

Oakes business owners are faced with an “onerous task” of bringing staff back to work from furlough. Many require retraining while being on the payroll but with no guarantee of bookings or income.

“We have over 120 new customers in the pipeline and are working on their bespoke service requirements, so we are good to go at relatively short notice, as and when they are ready to do so, given government clarity,” said Oakes.

One client using the outsourcing service is David McDonald, managing director of northwest miniple World Travel Lounge and LGBTQ tour operator ChilliMix.

He said: “Working with TTS has given us breathing space and business continuity.

“It has been great to allow our staff to get back to what they are good at and let our outsource team focus on processes and functions as well as service.

“It has allowed us to become a 24/7 operation with no additional pressure on the team.”