- An agreement has just been signed with the tourist giant to adapt its financial and back-office operations to the new market context and make its business processes faster, more homogeneous and more efficient, thus achieving unified digital management
- This major project will initially affect WebBeds companies in Dubai, Spain, the United Kingdom, Malaysia and Thailand, as well as its shared service centers in Romania and the Philippines
- Minsait is one of the companies that heads the digitalization of the tourist industry and its technology has become one of the main driving forces of the sector following the changes it has undergone due to COVID-19, providing disruptive and agile solutions
Indra company Minsait has reached an agreement with the tourism giant WebBeds to develop its business processes with cutting-edge digitalization solutions, thus improving its operations and adapting them to the new market context. WebBeds is the second largest global B2B accommodation provider. With a turnover of €1.6 billion in CY 2019 and its headquarters in Dubai, this bedbank provides a local distribution network of business partners made up of more than 368,000 properties in more than 14,000 destinations around the world, including guest houses, hostels, apartments and hotels run by international chains in both urban centers and tourist complexes. The term "bedbanks" refers to a disruptive model for the sector in the sense that they help hoteliers to distribute their beds in new markets, providing them with easy access to global B2B channels with high sales values, including retail travel agents, corporate travel agents, tour operators, OTAs and other wholesalers.
Minsait will develop the WebBeds systems on SAP’s S/4HANA cloud technology platform and provide support for all its IT applications in order to integrate its administrative operations, manage its operational functions in a more streamlined manner, facilitate departmental cooperation and make its internal operations more efficient. More specifically, it’s a major digital transformation project that encompasses the companies owned by the group in Dubai (United Arab Emirates), Spain, the United Kingdom, Malaysia and Thailand and envisages the optimization of its financial and economic processes in its shared service centers in Romania and the Philippines. The scope, however, could be extended in successive phases to the other countries in which WebBeds and its parent company, Webjet Limited operate.
With regard to this scope, it will include important areas such as process re-engineering and the subsequent standardization of the group’s economic-financial functions, the optimization of the cash flow and the treasury function, the management of cost provisions and the invoice structure, customer and supplier management and improving the management of the working capital by means of the digitalization and optimization of collection and payment conciliations. It’s also important to highlight the major added value that the integration of the entire life cycle of the booking in the SAP HANA cloud will bring as a result of its cloud technology.
With the evolution of its systems, WebBeds will be able to unify its back-office financial processes in a single ERP system; thus obtaining greater visibility of its entire global business as a result of the integration of its business systems, reservation portals and booking engine in the SAP HANA cloud, in areas of action such as customer and supplier billing management, accounting, and account balancing, recognition, income and expense forecasting and the deployment of a single reporting system for the whole group. Likewise, the project will help the global bedbank improve its competitive position, boosting its business efficiency and assisting the group in the challenge it faces to achieve a greater adaptation to the new market environment.
WebBeds Chief Operating Officer, Alaa Saleh, remarked “In order to remain at the forefront of the B2B bedbank market and achieve the ambitious growth expectations of the Group, WebBeds not only require state-of-the-art booking technology but also highly flexible and scalable financial systems. WebBeds require consistent optimisation of the back office, including reducing processing cost per booking, while always maintaining the required traceability and integrity between the completely redesigned booking engine and into the ERP S/4Hana Cloud environment”.
“Undergoing a major financial digital transformation program will ensure the business is at the forefront of the global travel market as the world recovers from the Covid-19 pandemic. After a thorough review of the systems and integration partners that could partner WebBeds through this transformative journey, we have been impressed with the knowledge and sector experience presented by the Minsait team and by the innovation and value that they will bring to the project. Moving all business processes into a more integrated, unique and value-added process chain will ultimately add huge benefit to the WebBeds business through this ambitious Program. We are confident that the new SAP ERP system, with Minsait’s expertise and support, will enable WebBeds to evolve into a state of perpetual agility built on technologically solid fundamentals” he said.
“It’s important to assume the technological evolution of companies from the very core of the business, given that a good methodology and the proper integration of processes not only facilitate much more effective and profitable management, but also allow the arrival of new capabilities and better results that are much better suited to the new demands imposed by the immediate future. This factor has become key in a context such as the one generated by COVID-19”, remarked Emilio Mora, Minsait’s travel director, who underlined the company’s undertaking to support the digital transformation of the new business models that are revolutionizing industries, such as the bedbanks for the tourist sector.
Technology to promote Tourism
Minsait is one of the leading companies in the global arena when it comes to the technological transformation of the tourism industry. Its systems have been implemented at more than 4,000 hotels and its suite of Onesait Travel Hospitality solutions have succeeded in managing over 20 million bookings in 33 countries. The customers of the technological and consulting company include some of the most important hotel chains in the world and major names in Europe, America and Asia.
Its technology has also become one of the main revitalizing factors of the sector following the changes it has had to adopt due to COVID-19. Minsait’s solutions are currently key to promoting processes and operations in the new scenario, in which greater market integration, further automation and particular attention to safety are envisaged. Within this context, the company has pledged its support for disruptive and agile technologies that reinforce its digital channels, automate its operations and prioritize customer safety. An example of this is its online Check-in platform for hotels, which allows the client to check with it remotely and in advance, without having to go to the reception of the hotel establishment.
Minsait leads innovation and digital transformation in SAP technologies in its provision of business solutions, with more than 2,600 SAP consultants and projects in 40 countries. Since 2011, it has formed part of a small group of companies which have the highest SAP category in services, known as SAP Global Partners, in order to help its customers design, implement and integrate tools that optimize their functions and provide top-class strategic consulting services.
About Minsait
Minsait, an Indra company (www.minsait.com), is a leading firm in Digital Transformation Consultancy and Information Technologies in Spain and Latin America. Minsait possesses a high degree of specialization and knowledge of the sector, which it backs up with its high capability to integrate the core world with the digital world, its leadership in innovation and digital transformation, and its flexibility. Thus, it focuses its offering on high-impact value propositions, based on end-to-end solutions, with a remarkable degree of segmentation, which enables it to achieve tangible impacts for its customers in each industry with a transformational focus. Its capabilities and leadership are demonstrated in its product range, under the brand Onesait, and its across-the-board range of services.
About Indra
Indra (www.indracompany.com) is one of the leading global technology and consulting companies and the technological partner for core business operations of its customers world-wide. It is a world-leader in providing proprietary solutions in specific segments in Transport and Defence markets, and a leading firm in Digital Transformation Consultancy and Information Technologies in Spain and Latin America through its affiliate Minsait. Its business model is based on a comprehensive range of proprietary products, with a high-value focus and with a high innovation component. In the 2019 financial year, Indra achieved revenue of €3,204 billion, with more than 49,000 employees, a local presence in 46 countries and business operations in over 140 countries.
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