Friday, April 11, 2014

RTS Press Release - Brittany Ferries selects RTS CargoProfitOpt

Revenue Technology Services (RTS) is pleased to announce that Brittany Ferries Freight division has selected RTS CargoProfitOpt as the solution to meet its freight revenue management requirements. Once implemented, this will be the ferry industry’s first such solution. With this win, RTS adds to its list of several firsts in its long history of 32 years; first passenger revenue management solution developed for Republic Airways, first cargo price optimization solution for Virgin Atlantic Cargo, and now the first revenue management solution for the freight ferry market for Brittany Ferries.

This also reiterates the thought leadership shown by both the companies to shake the status quo and make significant improvements to how freight is managed in the industry.

The freight revenue management solution will support capacity forecasting, show up rate forecasting, demand forecasting, bid pricing, and customer value components that will help Brittany Ferries to maximize their profits.

This win also strengthens the relationship and long standing partnership between the two companies over the years. Brittany Ferries already uses RTS ProfitOpt, our passenger revenue management solution.

Simon Wagstaff, Group Freight Director, commented At Brittany Ferries, we have long been convinced of the potential of a reliable system of revenue management for our freight business. RTS has always exhibited thought leadership in data analytics, revenue management, and pricing .The choice of RTS as our partner for this project was a very straightforward one, given the existing relationship between our two companies and the trust and confidence that has been built up since the introduction of their revenue management system on the passenger side of our business. We have complete confidence in their ability to deliver the system that we need and look forward to working closely with RTS in the long term.”

Raja Kasilingam, President and COO at RTS, "Revenue Technology Services is committed to making positive changes to the freight ferry automation world. We are delighted to add this product to the industry-leading suite of products we offer to the market place, all designed to help companies optimally market and sell their product, operate efficiently, and to better serve their customers.” Mukundh Parthasarathy, Vice President of Cargo solutions for Revenue Technology Services chimed in, “To have the world’s first freight revenue management solution developed for Brittany Ferries is a huge achievement for our cargo suite. Adding to this, we are the only company to have an integrated freight revenue management and passenger revenue management solution.”

The first phase of the project is scheduled to go live in the second quarter of 2014 that includes capacity management modules.

Alan Wayne, the project manager for this endeavour and also the manager of the passenger revenue management practice at Brittany Ferries commented, “The last couple of months have seen a successful start to the project. The nature of developing an integrated passenger and freight revenue management system has thrown up some interesting challenges that both Brittany Ferries and RTS are rising to. If we continue to progress in the same fashion we will have no problems hitting our Phase 1 go-live target. “


About RTS

Revenue Technology Services is a worldwide provider of profit enhancing revenue management and pricing software solutions for passenger and cargo, consulting services, and IT services for travel, transportation and logistics industries. RTS is headquartered in Dallas, Texas with offices in UK and South Africa and a development centre in IT Park in Chandigarh, India. For additional information, visit www.rtscorp.com or contact rts.information@rtscorp.com or +1-972-573-1600

About Brittany Ferries
Founded in 1972 by proud Breton Alexis Gourvennec and a group of fellow Breton farmers wanting to export their cauliflowers and artichokes to the UK, Brittany Ferries is now the leading maritime carrier on the western and central channel. Gourvennec formed the company, formerly known as Armement Bretagne-Angleterre-Irelande, or B.A.I. for short, which was officially born on a bleak New Year's Day in 1973 with French, British and Breton flags flying and a choir singing carols. With Britain's entry into the Common Market in 1973, Gourvennec saw his chance to end the geographical isolation of Brittany. Realising the quickest route to this new market would be across the western channel to Plymouth, he contacted several large shipping companies to no avail and began setting up his own company by purchasing a freighter, the Kerisnel, named after a small Breton village famous for its cauliflowers - with the Breton farmers who are still the company's main shareholders today.



Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Technolog-ease

I mentioned a few times previously where blog ideas seem to appear at random, depending on what is happening. Today was no different! Having covered the “People” and “Processes” part of our catchphrase, the only item remaining (before I start the loop again), is technology. I am, at heart, a geek. Granted, a weird geek, in that I like things like off road driving, fixing cars and mechanics, playing hard rock guitar, household repairs and various other “non-geek” pursuits.

But I have to tell you, I like technology. Not the type where I need an IT degree to be able to fix a car engine, but that type which makes our lives easier. The type which allows us to work around the world, cater for staff and clients in multiple time zones, and still maintain a reasonable work/life balance.

I live in the most beautiful city in the world, Cape Town. From a convenience perspective, it is NOT in the U.S.A., so we have to deal with businesses, shops and shopping centers who all tend to keep the same working hours. None of this 10 PM visit to the PC shops for parts. If I need to meet with someone, it needs to be during what would be my working day. So I need to borrow some time.

Additionally, our team is based around the world. Our India team’s day starts 3 ½ hours before mine. Our US team’s day starts pretty much as our sun goes down. When I am heading off to meet Mr. Sandman, they are heading towards afternoon tea time.

And in today’s connected world, people for the most part want answers NOW.

Technology can be a great enabler. Nipping out this morning to meet my insurance guy, an email comes through from a European client with a query. I can log this remotely, request a response from someone on our technical team in India, and they can investigate. The investigation is done remotely, and I get the feedback to the client, all within about 15 minutes. And this is done whilst I am stuck in traffic (one of the few Cape Town downsides), albeit with a spectacular view of the surfers.

This afternoon, after various calls, including conference calls with our full scattered team, I will head out slightly early to help coach my 3 sons at gymnastics. But this will be secure in the knowledge that if anything urgent arises, there is a pretty good chance that it can be resolved without me needing to leave the floor.

Later, after dinner and some time with the family, I can still sit down, vegetate a little in front of the TV, but at the same time I can review and respond to other requests, complete some admin, get appointments set up and generally continue being productive.

Similar technology allows clients to access hosted systems (both ours and others) remotely, offering the possibilities of similar flexibility. The abundance of online tools for meetings, video conferencing, screen sharing allows us to interact with clients without the added cost of travel, and provides much quicker resolution.

For those of us who grew up with token ring networking, Unix, DOS networking, green screens, and dumb terminals all requiring some form of hard connections or locations, technology truly can be miraculous. The biggest challenge I personally face is knowing when to switch off!

So any unhealthy work/life balance is not the fault of technology, but purely down to my human failings J

Let us know how you use, or would like to use, technology to enrich your lives.

Jason Codd
Vice President - Services