course project topic - travel agency inc IT upgrade (network and communication management) - needed in couple hours ...

General Information about the Industry

The travel industry has experienced and continues to undergo many significant changes.  According to IBISWorld, there are 11,763 travel agencies that earned $33 billion annually from 2008-2013 while shrinking at 0.8%.  However, as the economy in the United States improves, the industry is predicted to grow 1.7% to expected annual revenue of $36 billion.  Tours and packaged reservations account for 31% of the industry’s revenue.  Cruise reservations make up another 27% and International air travel rounds out the big three at 15%. Lodging, domestic air travel and vehicle rental come in at or below 10% each (Brennan, 2013).  Online travel agencies have exploded in popularity.  In 1999 they serviced 15.1 million customers, which have grown to more than 70 million (WWW Metrics).  Major online travel agencies include Priceline, Travelocity, Orbitz, Cheap Tickets, and Expedia.

The US Travel Association finds that less and less people are traveling with children under 18 (26% in 2012 compared to 31% in 2008.)  Leisure travelers are generally older than business travelers with an average age of 47.5 compared to 45.9 for business.  Not surprisingly, households that travel tend to earn more than those who do not, with an average household income of $62,500 and $87,500 for leisure and business travelers respectively (U.S. Travel Association).

  Travel agencies have been utilized to plan everything from business trips to family vacations. During the early 90s, travel agencies were booming with business. Consumers were able to find information about locations, communicate through email, and plan the trip with a travel agency without ever leaving their homes.

                In the early 2000s, the technology to plan and process a complete vacation completely online, without human interaction, became popular. These search sites could provide the cheapest plane ticket, hotel and rental car and package them online using a simple online search. Websites like Priceline and Orbitz quickly dominated the market. Even if they weren’t the cheapest, they were significantly faster than calling a travel agency and having them plan the trip.

                This trend has continued ever since its inception. Most everyone has seen a Priceline commercial and most of us have at one time looked for pricing on one of these sites. Travel agencies have become part of a dying breed and in order to salvage themselves, they will have to offer more than a simple point and click website.

The explosion of mobile devices has created a huge demand for mobile apps that sync with a travel account. Most airports even process boarding passes directly from a cell phone. Mobile users account for some of the highest statistics for price searching on travel websites. This market continues to grow as phones and tablets become more popular.

                Some travel companies focus on providing an easy to access website as well as cheap prices, but some are going one step further by offering customer service throughout the whole trip. By downloading an application from the travel company, customers are now offered suggestions based on their GPS location or trip itinerary. There is no additional cost for these services.

                In 2012, many travel agencies began experiencing a new market trend that signifies a change of direction. Even with the numerous mobile applications, price savings potential, and downplay of traditional travel companies, customers have started to return to travel agencies. A 2012 survey conducted in the UK shows that about 25% of people used a travel agency when planning a trip. In 2013, this number increased to 27% (FCO Travel Advice, 2012). Travelers have rediscovered the advantages of having human interaction and a source with which they can discuss their wants and needs.

                Another trend slowly forming in the later months of 2013 is luxury vacations. The US recession and other global issues led to many people choosing to take “staycations,” vacations where you stay in a local area. Or they took shorter trips and spent less money due to the unstable economies. Space tourism has found itself on some travel agencies’ books. However, this hasn’t become a popular vacation for families due to the price tag of over 200,000 dollars (USD) for a single trip, which lasts under 2 hours. This type of luxury vacation is only for the truly privileged. But even the middle class has been showing more interest in a luxury vacation as the economy recovers.

            The ability to capture a client’s business has become a complex mix of fast quoting, human interaction, and mobile application all at a reasonable price.  To control the market, travel agencies will rely on how they move along with the trends.

Our firm performed a competitive analysis to identify areas that would offer Travel Agency, Inc. a competitive edge. It has been determined that one of the areas would be to focus on how the calls are handled after they have been answered. Efficient handling of calls would prove to be a significant point of cost savings. As the charts below indicate, the case of forwarding idle calls to supervisors seems excessive but is proven to improve call management.

We also looked at the company’s current situation and we feel that it could benefit from using a carbon footprint reduction. Considering a carbon footprint reduction could be used to your company’s advantage because it would make your company eligible for a few tax breaks.  It is understood that the buildings are considered capital expenditures, not credited with the operations accounting column.

Another area that was identified in our analysis was telecommuting. Recent news has demonstrated that telecommuting is good for the travel industry

Our analysis shows that your clients have their calls answered by your workers from virtual offices. Our competitive analysis looked at how the company could benefit from telecommuting, upgrading existing phone equipment, better handling of the time it takes for the switching of calls from idle, and escalation levels of customer service.  This switch would enhance call routing by allowing the customers to access specialist and business groups seamlessly, improving both the handling of the calls and customer satisfaction. 

The travel agency business is one which includes selling, booking and arranging any type of travel and touring as well as accommodation services.  This is done to provide vacations to the general public, as well as proving traveling for businesses.  The customer is able to sit down face-to- face with a travel agent or use online resources to set up their needs.  Research projections show that the travel industry will continue to grow in the upcoming years.  Not only will the industry continue to grow, but the means for providing the public these services are also beginning to see slight changes.  For the last ten years or so and until recently, more customers chose to arrange their travel online as opposed to visit with a travel agent.  In this area of the report, we plan to show the projections that are geared towards the industry as well as show detail where we feel modifications should be made to ensure this company will stay at the top of the industry.

As we currently know, the economy is still in a state of recovery.  Even with the economic recovery still in the early stages, the amount of travel continues to rise.  As the economy continues to recover; the demand will only increase for travel agencies.  It is most certain that a substantial amount of customers find it easier to use the Internet to arrange travel.  However, the need for a travel agent remains a crucial component of the industry (Hill, 2013).  Instances where a travel agent is invaluable include when things go wrong, you are pressed for time, in order to avoid the online hassle, and when  you’re looking for a better and more customized experience tailored to your needs.  Since these are common occurrences, we project that the travel agencies or travel agents will not be a diminishing career.  

The chart below shows the growth of revenue of the travel agency industry. As we can clearly see, the revenue growth clearly dropped in 2009.  It took less than a year for the travel industry to once again begin to rise. As we see from 2010, there is a small drop in revenue.  Once again this can credited to the economy recessions and recovery.  Projections through 2017 show travel industry revenue growth slowing but progressively leveling out. 

Revenue growth (Travel Weekly, 2013)

In another graph, we continue to see the predicted rise of the travel industry. In this graph from GBTA, we are shown the index of business travel. In only looking at business travel, we can clearly see the black line indicates the amount spent per trip growth. As of 2012, this continues to rise. This clearly shows that travel is still on the rise.

Growth in business (GTBA, 2013)

The main competitions for which travel agencies and agents must be on the lookout are online agencies. More customers are using do-it-yourself services to initiate travel plans.  If a travel agency plans to stand out and attract customers, it will have to offer a combination of travel agents as well as do-it-yourself services.  Competitive pricing is also a strong strategy that will lead a customer to their final decision.  The most important thing a customer wants is to arrange travel without any issues, in a way they find comfortable and that assures them that their arrangements are correct with no hassle. 

Travel Agency Inc.(TAI) is not able to compete against the online travel agencies, which has led to a loss of market share.  TAI’s goal is to employ an E-commerce site in an effort to regain market share, increase revenue and to provide an online, unattended portal for sales. The proposed E-commerce site will offer a secure log in for customers.  The E-commerce site will host exclusive travel promotions, sales, and discounts.  It will also have an area that will allow for the customer to provide feedback for their E-commerce experience.  The site will offer both PayPal and credit card payment options.

TAI requires a network that is able to accommodate the transition from in house reservation agents to telecommuter reservation agents.  This network will also need to support the following areas: Denver, Washington DC, Atlanta, Phoenix and Pittsburgh.  The network that we will propose will interconnect all the offices located in Denver, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Phoenix and Pittsburgh along with the telecommuter agents onto one network.  The proposed network will eliminate the 3 current call centers in Atlanta, Pittsburgh and Phoenix.

TAI needs to utilize newer cutting edge technologies to regain market control. The new system will use a hosted server, also known as a cloud server. This will be connected by VPN to each of the locations to act as if it were a local server. This will allow for syncing information between all the locations.  We will also look at deploying a VOIP solution across the proposed network.    The proposed network will require the TAI reservation agents to have the same current setup that they used when working in house.  

TAI wants to identify what other telecommunication solutions may be added to the network that would offer savings to other parts of their business.  We have identified two solutions that could provide cost savings.  First, we would propose that TAI utilize a rebate program for purchase of computers to be made by the travel reservation agents.  This will offset the cost of purchasing new computers every two or three years for new and current employees. An example of a type of rebate program that could be used would be to offer a $500 rebate towards the employees’ purchase of a computer of their choosing.  The cost savings would be substantial over time and would only increase if they decreased the rebate slightly. 

Another telecommunications option they can leverage is the use of softphones (software based phone systems) instead of traditional hard phones.  A multi-line phone such as the Cisco 7942G costs over $250.  This softphone, loaded on the travel reservation agent’s laptop or computer would give the employee the freedom to work from anywhere.  This benefit could potentially translate into further reduced cost by perhaps lowering their employees’ pay slightly as it is understood that being able to work not just from home but from virtually anywhere with an internet connection is a huge intangible benefit not found at many jobs. 

Travel Agency Inc. will have an E-commerce site which will allow customers to make purchases online.  Purchases will be able to be made either independently or with the use of a customer service representative (CSR).  The site will allow for a faster checkout and also provide a quoting tool for those looking around for the best deal.  Each and every customer will be given the chance to speak with a CSR either over the phone, through online chat, or via text based chat. Each order will also be assigned a unique ID number which will be used to locate that specific order.  

  The customer service representatives working for Travel Agency Inc. will be making the transition from working in-house to telecommuting.  In order to provide for this transition, the original network needs to be looked at, and possibly re-done.  It is suggested that going with a virtual private network (VPN) interface using the existing PBX would be the solution.  The VPN would be an overlay network which will provide a better quality of service (QOS) by using the existing public World Wide Web.  This will work by combining software as well as routers at key locations.  

In order to transition the current amount of employees to telecommuting, research shows this should be done by moving one RCPS at a time. The first center to transition would be New York. Call forwarding would be able to send the calls from New York to the other five automatic call distributors (ACD’s). IP phones will also be issued that will connect to the ACD using the VPN. The total time to transition the New York center will take a full eight weeks. This will be done by transitioning fourteen agents every two weeks. Doing this will keep up the current performance while having the chance to monitor it as well.  Once New York has transitioned, then Chicago, Los Angeles, Dallas and lastly Atlanta will follow.

Travel Agency Inc. has provided a budget of 1.5 million a year for a total of three years. We feel that this budget is acceptable, and the work can be done for under the given budget. In order to help keep the cost of the transition down, we will be able to use equipment that is already available. All current computers and telephones which are in house will transition to the agent’s home and installed. There will be a cost of $100 per keyboard for each agent. Since there will be a total of 290 agents, the total cost of the keyboards will be $29,000. The transition would also include the current agent phones from the office being transitioned to the agent’s home. If new phones should be needed, the phone purchase would be the Cisco SPA 303 3-Line IP Phone. (Newegg-Inc, 2013) The phones cost $79.99 and we would need one per agent. There will be a total of 290 agents, which puts the cost of the phones at $23,197. To incorporate the E-commerce site, a cost of $300,000 will be needed. Included in this cost is the price for allowing 300 hours of labor to complete the site. This cost will be a one-time setup fee which will cover the initial setup of the website. This cost will cover completing the website, testing and going live. The site will be incorporated for both the customer as well as the agent to access. Payments will have the option to be made with credit/debit cards.

There will be a need to maximize the use of the current 800 number. During the transition, the current office being transitioned will have its calls forwarded to one of the other offices. When talking to Jackie at Sprint, we have between 50-60 agents on site. During the transition we will pay $300 monthly to transfer all lines to another office. This will be beneficial as no one office will have to lose business. The suggestion is made we keep the option of forwarding calls for a period no less than 6 months, and no longer than two years. The transition itself should be complete in a year’s time. At this point, we will efficiently use the 800 number forwarding for the first year. We will pay $7,200 to have the forward option for two full years. This will ensure the transition is complete, and glitch free.

The proposed network would add a Virtual Private Network (VPN) that interfaces with the existing PBX. A Virtual Private Network is an overlay network used to provide better throughput and QoS (quality of service) using the existing public world wide web. This works by using a combination of software and dedicated routers at key locations around the world.  The routers prioritize clients’ data and provide faster data connections and security.  Of course this is a premium service that is not too expensive.  The VPN is necessary for the level of data transfer to provide reliable digital phone service or VoIP.

This infrastructure is available from several different vendors, Avaya, Verizon, or Warner Cable. We suggest AT&T’s solution for the overlay network.  The VPN would connect our telecommuting workers to the regional office PBX and data networks simultaneously.  Providing fast data transfers to the company data center as well as, a more secure connection between our workers and company intranet.  The VPN also solves latency issues arising from network congestion when using VoIP on the open public internet.  This is accomplished by packet prioritizing within the overlay network instead of almost random routing that is the norm in internet data flow. AT&T also provides Multi-Protocol Label Switching or MPLS which would enable upgrades and existing equipment to work well together. 

1. All calls have to be answered no later than the 2nd ring

2. Reservations can be made 24/7

3. Ticket requests will be consolidated at Travel Agency Inc. regional data centers.

4. Completed ticket requests have to be forwarded to industry clearinghouse/brokerage centers in Atlanta, St. Louis or Los Angeles 

The VPN will allow VoIP or internet phone service, which will be identical to any other switched circuit call but will allow Travel Agency Inc. to better monitor the digital side of the PBX including call lengths and amount of time spent speaking with a specialist.  

A matching web form for each stage of the reservation system, from profile data to choice of airline and hotel, the web pages modifying itself as the web site takes input and has enough to reserve the travel arrangements.  This process will take place within the 4 minute voice call.  It will utilize the use of AJAX technologies for multi-parameter processing on the same web page.  PayPal universal payment links and Facebook cross reference profile creation will also save time on most logged in users.  Agents holding time for initial reservations is 4 minutes per call.  Calls take about 15 seconds to wrap up - before another call is delivered to the agent.

The Agents will work from home over a leased Virtual Private Network using a combination software hardware overlay network. This overlay will take advantage of the cloud structure of the regional data centers in in Los Angeles, New York, Atlanta, Dallas and Chicago. Framed relay leased T1 lines from AT&T will be utilized by way of multiprotocol label switching for non-obsolescence.  This feature allows for protocol switching at the WAN level for added security.  This will make it harder for hackers to predict which protocol is currently being used.

A web site will be built on the Microsoft .NET platform. Servers will be set up in DMZs (Demilitarized Zones) at the data processing centers running cloud OS. We would then implement the overlay and host the web site using ASP .NET built in certificate checking, user authentication, and authorization of admin privileges for IT personnel.

1. Each ticket request (approximately 10kbytes) is forwarded to a regional data center in Atlanta, Pittsburgh or Phoenix for additional processing

2. Confirmations are received over 56kpbs data lines from these centers and require about 1kbyte of information

3. Confirmations are then transmitted back to reservation centers and faxed to customer's office.

Travel Agency Inc. is in need of an E-commerce site which will allow customers to make purchases, with or without, the assistance of a customer service representative. The E-commerce option will allows for faster checkout as well as work as a quoting tool for people that are shopping around for the best deal.

The E-commerce website will be taken a step further and allow interaction with a CSR if a customer needs assistance. This can be done one of several ways including over the phone, online chat or via a text based chat. Each order will be assigned a unique ID number which will be used by the CSR to locate the order. Customers will have the option to establish an account to save the quote. To make a purchase they will be required to create an account. This works on two levels, the first being historical record within the database that both customers and CSR's are able to use. The second level is used for advertising based on historical purchases. By getting a customer’s e-mail and home address they can be targeted during marketing campaigns.

The E-commerce system will be accessed via a website by customers. We have decided to take the system one step further and integrate it with the CSR's portal. They will access the portal similar to a customer but have many more options and tools at their disposal. This will allow all information to be processed and stored in a single system, reducing the complexity of multiple locations. This is also a benefit to home users and mobile offices. Often software is written for a specific system but with the recent developments in HTML5, Java and other OOD languages all the features can be integrated into a single system operated without a web browser on any operating system.

With the changeover to VoIP the phone system will interact directly with the E-commerce portal that the CSR's will use. Because of the functionality of SIP to answer a call, the ability interact with a web session, or call out to a customer, the process becomes as simple as a click of a mouse. The same headset that is used to speak over the phone will be used to interact with a web chat. This will reduce the cost of equipment but at the same time create a higher quality product due to dependability.

The cost associated with the E-commerce site is $300,000 upfront cost for design, programming and integration. This is based on a $100 dollar an hour labor fee associated with the design and programming costs. We estimate it will take about 300 hours to fully design, develop and test the website and portal.

Order processing requirements from the E-commerce website is fairly complex. Most modern payment providers offer API's or other measures to integrate with website purchasing. Below is the flow of an order and the requirements.

Travel Agency Inc. will need to decide on a primary payment processor to use to accept credit cards. One of the considerations to be made will be comparing the rates charged by the provider. Certain credit cards charge a higher per transaction fee depending on the card type. A great example for this will be mileage cards, which charge on average about 0.5% more than a standard issued bank credit card. This doesn't seem like a lot but over time this could cost the company millions depending on the popularity of the card.

Some other considerations that Travel Agency Inc. will need to make are if they want to accept and sell gift cards. Many processors have the ability to manage gift cards, for a fee, as well as alternative payment methods such as Google Wallet and Bit Coin. Currently we do not foresee the need to offer any of these options due to the complexity and cost associated with them but Travel Agency Inc. would have the option in the future to utilize other media for payment.

In order to automate credit card processing, everything will be administered on the same cluster of servers, due to the cloud based server being used. This will keep the process clean, accurate, and fast since the web service doesn't have to try and access different databases around the country. Front end software such as Apache or Microsoft web services will be used as well as SQL databases to process all the information. In addition exchange or other email providing software will need to be used to process communications with the customer.

The proposal for transitioning Travel Agency Inc. from five existing Regional Call Processing Sites to a complete telecommuting workforce involves an incremental move of one RCPS at a time. Several assumptions have been made based on the stated maximum calls that Travel Agency Inc. can process per hour during the peak time from 9am-10am, Monday-Friday of 4000. The CEO has also stated that the current average wait time before a call is answered in 25 seconds. Based on these facts, we assume that there are 287 call agents. By accepting an even distribution of agents over the five centers, it is further assumed that the Los Angeles, Dallas, and Chicago centers each have 56 agents, New York has 57 agents, and Atlanta has 58 agents.

The first center to transition to telecommuting workers will be New York. The 800/toll-free service provided by Sprint will continue to forward calls evenly to the five ACDs (Automatic Call Distributors) at the call centers between 8am-5pm, Monday-Friday. Where the New York ACD was programmed with the 57 extensions of the coinciding agents, it will be reprogrammed with the home phone numbers of the now telecommuting agents. It is assumed that New York uses one of the Nortel-Meridian ACDs which supports the reconfiguration of the ACD from extensions off one DID number to multiple numbers (Ayaya-Inc, 2001).

To test this network configuration, the extra capacity of the ACD will be used to test a limited number of phones in parallel with normal operations. As these tests will prove successful, assuming reliable broadband internet service to each of the agents’ homes, the implementation of a full transition of the New York call center will take place over a period of two months. To ensure a greater level of control over the reliability of phone service from the ACD out to the various agents, Travel Agency Inc. agents will be issued IP phones that connect to the ACD via a Virtual Private Network (VPN).

It was stated that each ticket requests consumes 10 Kb of bandwidth. Assuming a maximum network load of 13,333 calls per day, this equates to 133.33 Gb of data usage company wide. Divided evenly, this would result in a daily telecom data usage of 26.6 Gb for the New York call center and 57 agents associated with it. Breaking this down by agent, this equates to 468 Mb of ticket traffic per agent daily, given that each transaction is 10 Kb. Therefore, the test network must be able to handle 26.6 Gb of data daily in order to prove reliable enough for full transition. Once the test network of the New York call center proves successful, a phased transition of 14 agents every two weeks will allow Travel Agency Inc. time to ease into the network shift while continuing to evaluate network performance. The full transition of the call center to a completely telecommuting staff will take eight weeks.

Following the New York call center transition, Chicago, Los Angeles, Dallas, and finally Atlanta will follow a similar pattern. It is assumed that each of the other four RCPSs use 26.6 Gb of data as well with roughly 468 Mb of ticket traffic per agent. The full transition from five functioning call centers to a slightly increased staff of 290-294 travel agents will be accomplished in 10 months. Initial connection of computers and phones at the Agents’ homes will be done by IT personnel. Follow-on training will equip Agents to do minor troubleshooting in order to connect their IP phones to their company provided PCs and how to connect to the VPN. This is a very simple process and is not expected to cause any significant problems, even for agents who are not technically savvy. For ease of transition, phones at the agents’ homes will be assumed to be identical to the phones they used in the call center. This will make the transition that much smoother. By transitioning 14 Agents every two weeks, this averages out to one Agent per day, allowing IT personnel enough time to iron out any logistical problems with setting up agents to work from home.

We used the following existing network assumptions:

· 283 agents (used the tool listed in week 3 project details to calculate this)

· Agents split evenly between 5 RCPS

· (56 at each of the three, 57 at one and 58 at the last)

· 4.8 seconds/ring

· 9.6 seconds second ring

· 14.4 seconds third ring

· 13,333 calls/day

· 133.33 Gb/day telecom data usage

· 4000 calls/hr between 9am-10am

· 1000 of these are follow-up/non-reservation calls

· 10000 reservations/day

· 3333 follow-up/non-reservation calls per day

· Calls between 5pm-8am = 1333 calls

· 88.87 calls/hr 5pm-8am

· 1000 calls/hr – 8am-9am, 10am-5pm

Parameters of the existing network:

· Peak call volume is 4000 calls/hr

· Between 8am and 5pm, calls are split evenly between 5 centers

· Between 5pm and 8am, all calls go to Atlanta

· Max 3000 reservations/hr

· Current average answer is on 5th ring at 24 seconds

· CEO wants calls answered on 2nd or 3rd ring

· Calls between 9am-10am = 30% total calls

· Average ticket is 10 Kb

· Average call time is 255 seconds (240 seconds plus 15 second wrap up)

The flowchart below depicts the Call Process

In the following three graphs, we can see the current call answering metrics. The first image shows the correlation between the calls coming in and the agents needed to take the call during peak hours. The second image shows the correlation between the calls coming in and the agents needed to take the call during off peak hours. The first third image shows the correlation between the calls coming in and the agents needed to take the calls that come in overnight.

– Current Call Answering Metric During Peak

– Current Call Answering Metric During Off-Peak

– Current Call Answering Metric During Overnight

The next set of graphs show the proposed call answering metrics. The first image shows the correlation between the proposed calls coming in and the agents needed to take the call during peak hours. The second image shows the correlation between the proposed calls coming in and the agents needed to take the call during off peak hours. The first third image shows the correlation between the proposed calls coming in and the agents needed to take the calls that come in overnight.

– Proposed Call Answering Metric During Peak

– Proposed Call Answering Metric During Off-Peak

– Proposed Call Answering Metric During Overnights

Our last set of diagrams shows a snapshot of the current network diagram along with a proposed network design (overview) and a proposed network design (detail).

– Current Network Diagram

The following recommendations are being made based on the competitive analysis that was conducted for Travel Agency Inc.

1. Travel Agency Inc. launches an E-commerce site that is designed to work with or without the assistance of a CSR agent as the customer navigates through the reservation process. The E-commerce site needs to offer exclusive travel promotions, sales and discounts. The Ecommerce sites needs to be able to accept all major credit cards and PayPal. The E-commerce site should also be able to incorporate other payment methods and options for future enhancements. The site needs to offer a section for the customer to provide feedback for their E-commerce experience.

2. Travel Agency Inc. transitions their in house reservation agents to telecommuter reservation agents within the next 10 months by using the following process.

· One Regional Call Processing Site needs to be transitioned over at a time. The order for the transition should be New York followed by Chicago, Los Angeles, Dallas and Atlanta. Each site should be tested after each transition to ensure no interruptions or issues have occurred with the network during the transition.

· Setup of equipment in the reservation agents home that is identical to what was used at the call center

· Setup of their VPN connection

· Training

· Ensure that the coverage area includes Denver, Washington DC, Atlanta, Phoenix and Pittsburgh

3. Additional Telecommunications Solutions included

· Launching a Rebate Program for computer purchases made by the travel reservation agents

· Use of softphones (software based phone systems) instead of traditional hard phones.

Our firm firmly believes that if the above recommendations are implemented by Travel Agency Inc. that they will be able to regain their dominance in the travel industry

References Ayaya-Inc. (2001, June). Configuration note 6193. Retrieved from Nortel Meridian M1* (NPIC): http://downloads.avaya.com/css/P8/documents/003755975 Brennan, A. (2013, August). Retrieved from IBISWorld database. Retrieved from Industry market research: IBISWorld industry report 56151: Travel agencies in the US. . FCO Travel Advice. (2012, September). FCO Travel Advice. Retrieved November 8, 2013, from FCO Travel Advice: http://67d8396e010decf37f33-5facf23e658215b1771a91c2df41e9fe.r14.cf3.rackcdn.com/publications/Travel_trends_report_2013.pdf GTBA. (2013, November 6). Latest GBTA Report Finds that U.S. Business Travel Should Continue Its Steady Rise. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.gbta.org/foundation/pressreleases/P Hill, C. (. (2013, November 7). When you may still need a travel agent. MarketWatch. Retrieved from http://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-travel-agents-arent-completely-pointless-2013-09-04 Newegg-Inc. (2013). Cisco SPA 303 3-Line IP Phone. Retrieved from http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833150103 Travel Weekly. (2013, November 6). Travel Revenue Retail Growth. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.travelweekly.com/uploadedFiles/PDFs/060412TravelRetailRevenueGrowth.pdf U.S. Travel Association. (n.d.). Travel facts and statistics. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.ustravel.org/news/press-kit/travel-facts-and-statistics. WWW Metrics. (n.d.). Growth of the travel industry online (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.wwwmetrics.com/travel.htm.

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