When starting any project, a determining factor for its success is to surround oneself with expert voices that help make more accurate decisions.
Having the advice and experience of mentors to guide our path can make a difference between failure and success, not only in the business world but in any field. In that sense, something that has characterized Reservamos SaaS since its inception has been the ability of its founders, Andrés Sucre, Sebastián Gómez, and Adrián Cuadros, to listen to expert individuals, who over time have become advisors, guides, and even investors.
In this blog post, we want to introduce you to the Board of Advisors that integrates Reservamos SaaS and share a little more about their experience in sectors such as tourism, technology, and business. The advice of this expert team has provided us not only with specialized knowledge in the bus travel sector but also a deep understanding of the latest trends and technologies in the market, as well as the necessary vision to make Reservamos SaaS the technological ally for any bus company that wants to accelerate its digital transformation and improve the experience for travelers.
Albert Serrano is the Managing Director for Spain at Privalia & Veepee, a leading online flash sales retailer operating in several European countries. Privalia & Veepee offers discounted deals on fashion, beauty, and home products to its members.
Serrano joined Privalia in 2007 as a Finance Manager, and over the years, he has held various leadership positions within the company. In 2014, he was appointed as the Managing Director for Spain, overseeing the growth and development of the business in the country.
Serrano has played a key role in the expansion of Privalia & Veepee in Spain. Under his leadership, the company has grown its membership base, expanded its product offerings, and improved its customer experience. He has been instrumental in driving innovation and implementing new technologies to enhance the company’s online platform.
Darío Okrent is the Chief Digital Officer at ALSEA, a leading multi-brand restaurant operator in Latin America and Spain. ALSEA operates more than 4,000 restaurants and coffee shops in various countries, including Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Spain, and Portugal. As the Chief Digital Officer, Darío Okrent is responsible for developing and executing the company’s digital strategy, including eCommerce, digital marketing, and technology innovation. He joined ALSEA in 2017, bringing with him extensive experience in the digital space.
Before joining ALSEA, Okrent held leadership positions at various companies, including Samsung Electronics, Telefonica, and BBVA. He has a proven track record of successfully implementing digital strategies that drive growth and enhance customer experiences.
Okrent holds a degree in Industrial Engineering from the Universidad de Buenos Aires and an MBA from the IE Business School in Madrid. He is a frequent speaker at digital and technology conferences and is considered an expert in the field.
Enrique Perezyera is the Non-Executive Chairman of Microsoft Corporation in Mexico. In this role, he provides strategic guidance and leadership to Microsoft’s operations in the country.
With over 30 years of experience in management roles within the technology industry, Perezyera brings extensive knowledge and expertise to the table. He has held various executive positions at Microsoft, such as Vice President of the Latin America region and Vice President of Worldwide Services. He has also collaborated with companies such as Hewlett Packard,IBM, Oracle, Sugar CRM, and Salesforce, and his leadership has been instrumental in generating significant results and growth in markets such as Mexico, Brazil, and other regions of Latin America.
Additionally, he has served on the boards of several technology companies, including Nortel Networks, Neoris, and Softtek. Recently, Perezyera was appointed as President for Mexico at the global digital accelerator Neoris.
Félix Velázquez is the Director of Ancillary, Pricing, and Revenue Management at Viva Aerobus, a Mexican ultra-low-cost airline. In his role, Velázquez is responsible for managing the airline’s ancillary revenue streams, pricing strategies, and revenue management systems.
Velázquez joined Viva Aerobus in 2011 and has held various positions within the company, including Revenue Management Manager and Pricing Manager. He has been instrumental in implementing revenue management systems and strategies that have helped the airline to optimize its pricing and increase its ancillary revenue.
Under Velázquez’s leadership, Viva Aerobus has been able to offer more personalized and flexible products and services to its customers while generating additional revenue. He has played a key role in the development of the airline’s ancillary revenue streams, including baggage fees, seat selection, and onboard sales.
Pablo Slough joined the Google team in November 2009 and worked as Country Manager in the Mexico offices for 2 years. Later on, at Google, he led a global team focused on positioning marketing solutions, and at YouTube, he served as Head of Branded Content Business. He is currently the DEI Strategy & Insights, Executive Recruiting.
Before joining Google, Pablo was director of OCESA Digital at CIE México, the regional director of digital communications at Universal McCann México, and worked in Emerging Markets at West Merchant Bank and Banco do Brasil Securities.
He was a co-founder and managing director of Plush, a consulting company specializing in interactive design, research, marketing, and strategy solutions, and cofounder and business development director of dooyoo, which won the ISPA Award for Best Consumer Portal and the Future Publishing Award for Web Innovation. He was also a co-founder and director of ventures linked to business development in Spain and England and a financial consultant.
Paulo Andrade is a former CEO of Marcopolo Mexico, a subsidiary of Marcopolo S.A., a Brazilian multinational manufacturer of buses and coaches. Marcopolo Mexico is one of the largest bus manufacturers in Mexico, producing a range of vehicles for both domestic and international markets.
With over 30 years of experience in management roles, Andrade has gained extensive expertise in the automotive industry. He joined Marcopolo in 2009 as Vice President of Operations for the company’s Mexican operations, and in 2014, he was promoted to CEO of Marcopolo Mexico. During his tenure, he successfully led the company’s growth and development in the country.
Throughout his career, Andrade has specialized in training and managing national and international businesses, as well as implementing international strategic alliances, developing strategies, launching products, restructuring commercialization models, expanding businesses into new markets and segments, and diversifying portfolios.
Rodrigo has over 15 years of experience in the tourism and transport sectors. He is the Executive Director of Talaria Marketing, a marketing consultancy agency for companies and tourist destinations.
He started his career at Aeroméxico as the Director of Marketing and Club Premier. He then worked at SABRE as the Director of Marketing, Public Relations, and Business Development, and at Travelocity as the Vice President for Mexico and LatAm.
Rodrigo is a recognized entrepreneur, mentor, and philanthropist. Rodrigo has been a mentor in Endeavor for more than 10 years, where he has become one of the most active mentors to entrepreneurs in the areas of marketing, eCommerce, and business development. He is also notable for volunteering for various projects that have an impact on developing economies.
We have integrated the market occupancy percentage into the Competitor Monitor to provide you with a more accurate analysis.
The constant use of our digital ecosystem by our allies in Reservamos SaaS has enabled a constant improvement of our solutions to be more precise and tailored to the needs of bus companies.
The Competitor Monitor, one of the modules of BrainPROS, our Revenue Management solution, has proven to be a very useful tool for bus companies to access data that answers key questions about their market; and from there, generate more accurate strategies that help increase their revenue.
An important piece of data integrated into the information displayed by the Competitor Monitor is the competitor occupancy percentage. This helps the operational teams of bus companies provide relevant information, without the need to take extra steps outside the solution.
The new occupancy percentage graph provides the following benefits:
More agile visualization of the competition’s occupancy during a specified period.
The bus company can quickly identify when a competitor has higher occupancy.
Identify the competition’s offerings that are directly related to their occupancy.
The Competitor Monitor is the only tool on the market that currently provides bus companies with not only price tracking but also occupancy, to visualize the supply vs. demand of each individual competitor. In this way, we bring relevant data that can help bus companies continue to drive their digital growth.
We increase your online sales with the help of the A/B Testing tool on the Reservamos SaaS eCommerce platform.
The Reservamos SaaS development team has integrated a tool into their working methodology that allows them to test the effectiveness of the functionalities developed in production for the eCommerce platform.
Through A/B Testing, the Reservamos SaaS team can monitor and learn which launch implemented on your eCommerce site works better among travelers. This will allow them to analyze user behavior more accurately and make improvements that encourage higher conversion and completed sales.
The A/B Testing tool enabled on the Reservamos SaaS eCommerce platform works for all sales channels of your bus company and will help us validate user behavior toward the functionalities you decide to implement on your digital sales channel. This will allow greater agility and precision in the innovations your company wants to implement, in order to adapt to a more attractive and suitable offer for travelers’ needs.
The main objective of the A/B Testing tool is that our development and product teams can measure and compare each functionality in production, in a segment of the user base of each brand, to know its impact. This way, we identify which one generates significant improvements in the behavior of travelers and an increase in the conversion rate and sales.
With the help of A/B Testing, we perform the following actions:
Detailed segmentation to define objectives using the properties and filters available in the analytical module of the eCommerce platform.
Integration with metrics and data to obtain historical information about travelers and create more appropriate filters for each measurement.
Creation of differentiated experiments for each of the brands.
Through A/B Testing, we work with your bus company to give you direct access to the feedback that travelers provide when navigating your digital sales channel. This way, we can implement functionalities together with the certainty that they will have a positive impact on your travelers.
With the help of Reservamos SaaS technology and our support, your company stays ahead while we help you guarantee more satisfying shopping experiences, adapted to your travelers’ preferences.
Competitor Monitor will enable you to monitor the OTAs and airlines you choose, to generate more attractive strategies for your travelers.
Increasing your bus company’s competitiveness and revenue requires tools that give you a broad view of your market behavior quickly and easily. And that can adapt to show you competitors from different sectors that can influence your market.
Based on industry knowledge and learning from our partners, our technology teams have added OTAs and airlines to our Competitor Monitor solution to offer your company a greater diversity of market data and make it easier for you to make decisions to achieve much more strategic objectives by looking at the behavior of these competitors.
Competitor Monitor is a web-based tool that is part of Reservamos’ SaaS technology ecosystem and allows pricing analysts, data analysts, operations managers, and sales managers, among other members of the bus company, to visualize and analyze market performance to make better decisions on pricing strategies and inventory optimization.
To monitor OTAs, Competitor Monitor will enable you to:
Visualize both the sales of bus lines offered in an OTA and the breakdown by brand. In addition, the system can detect the brands integrated into the OTA and automatically add them to the monitoring system. In this way, our technology monitors you, while you take care of the strategies.
In the case of airlines, you can monitor the behavior of air routes that can influence your market.
Competitor Monitor facilitates the analysis of public market data and brings your company up-to-date and automatic market information, such as routes, schedules, capacity, and prices, using Data Science techniques. And best of all, you don’t need any integration!
If you would like to learn more about how the Competitor Monitor works, we would be happy to schedule a demo.
Why should your business have an App and what are its benefits?
According to the report “The State of App Marketing Latin America 2021”, which provides an overview of the mobile application industry in the Latin American region, Mexico stood out as the leader in the Spanish-speaking market, with 1.24 billion downloads, in addition to being located worldwide in the Top 10 of the main app markets with the highest number of downloads.
Digitizing your company and being present in this channel will allow you to have greater visibility and increase your market share. For this reason, we will describe 3 advantages of having an App, as well as important statistics and the impact you can expect on your business.
1. Increase the visibility of your company:
By 2025, the GSMA, an industry organization that represents the interests of mobile network operators around the world, estimates that there will be 422 million smartphones in the region. Without a doubt, the mobile channel is the one with the highest growth and best penetration compared to other devices. Apps account for a large portion of this penetration, being the channel with the best login-to-purchase conversion.
With an App, you remain present in the user’s mind since your logo is always visible on the customer’s smartphone, reminding him that he can use your services to make a trip.
2. An additional sales channel with greater efficiency:
In addition to increasing the visibility of your company, you can have a much more efficient channel to convert to sales. Customers who buy through mobile applications have 2 characteristics of great importance to brands, such as:
More recurrent customers: Users who have a brand App on their smartphones are 74% more recurrent than web or mobile web users. Recurrence is important because it is cheaper for the company to sell to a customer who has already bought, reducing the acquisition cost, vs. attracting a new customer.
Customers with higher conversion to sales (efficiency): Customers who have your App on their mobile devices buy more than users who do so through any other available sales channel. This is because the app generates more confidence when it comes to registering bank details, a situation that occurs in eCommerce in general and not just in the travel industry. The conversion per channel that we have studied in our sector is as follows:
Applications = 6x
Web = 3x
Mobile Web = 1
3. Customer loyalty:
It is important not to confuse customer satisfaction with loyalty; Although customer satisfaction influences brand loyalty, this does not mean that the customer cannot opt for other services that provide greater comfort. However, having your own App will allow you to provide added value to your users by facilitating the purchase process, with faster and easier access. Above all, take advantage of the reviews you receive to continue improving and increase the satisfaction of your users.
What is the impact of having an App?
As we mentioned before, with an App you will have better efficiency and recurrence. Just visualize this: With a mobile app you will be able to convert a percentage of the volume of clients that you have in a channel such as the mobile web to a user of your native application that will always have you at the Top of Mind when deciding how to travel, and this at their turn translates into increased profits by having a more efficient channel with higher conversion.
If you know what your company needs and you have the necessary equipment, go ahead! Otherwise, you can find companies dedicated to the development of applications specifically for your industry, which can help you have an application adapted to your market, offer, and audience, making your costs, development time, and expected success more efficient.
At Reservamos SaaS we not only have the experience to develop the App for your bus company, but we also have the best ratings in mobile apps and success stories in the sector.
