Tech Tools for Doing Biz in the Cloud
by Andrew Sheivachman /Moving his business life online into the cloud, has been liberating for Ryan McGredy.
“I’m nowhere-based,” mused McGredy, president of ASTA’s Young Professionals Society (YPS) and owner of California-based Moraga Travel.
McGredy commented on the move during a YPS session on “Indispensable Technology Tools of the Connected Travel Agent” at the recent ASTA Global Convention onboard the Norwegian Breakaway.
“I don’t keep a physical desk at my office with a phone or my things; I am purely 100% road warrior all the time,” he said.
Dazed and confused
While it may seem intuitive for travel professionals to embrace a more mobile work life, the process can be fraught with confusion and complications.
McGredy believes he has become more efficient and less stressed by moving to the cloud.
“I got tired of having the stress of feeling there was a desk I wasn’t making it to, or that I always needed something that was off in another place,” he said.
Streamlining the digital life
McGredy’s presentation included dozens of suggestions for programs, apps and extensions that agents can use to streamline their digital life and become more efficient.
It’s not just about staying organized; it’s about having access to everything I need wherever I am,” he said.
“I need to be able to get things on my phone or at a computer in the hotel business center if something happens to my phone.”
McGredy recommended task-organization applications like Evernote, Asana, Buffer and Wufoo to agents who are looking to become better organized online.
“Wufoo is a web form builder, it can gather information on clients or help if you are thinking about putting together a group.”
Focus on security
McGredy stressed the importance of keeping security in mind when moving personal, business and client data into the cloud.
His recommendations for information security tools include 1Password and Zenmate.
“When you start carrying your life in a backpack, you start worrying about the amount of personal data you are touching on a daily basis,” he said.
“There were a lot of things I had to look into to ensure everything is secure and I wasn’t opening my coworkers to vulnerability,” he added. “I always worry that a hacker is skimming my information when I’m using public Wi-Fi in an airport”
Voice communication
Talking on the phone is obviously a hallmark of quality customer service, and essential to any travel agency.
Agents should explore cloud-based phone options that focus on flexibility and mobility, according to McGredy.
He mentioned Nextiva as a particularly innovative option.
“It’s a cloud-based VOIP PBX, which is a weird alphabet soup way of saying the place that routes your phone calls,” said McGredy. “Nextiva puts it all online and sends you a phone to plug into your ethernet ports for calls.”
Google Voice, Grasshopper and Join.me are other powerful communication tools, he said.
Gmail hacks
Agents who use Gmail will have the most flexibility in dealing with their inboxes, according to McGredy. “Gmail really is the best email tool for someone who is mobile.”
One service in particular is “every travel agent’s best friend,” according to McGredy.
“Unroll.me goes through your gmail inbox and comes back with every subscription sales list you’re on,” said McGredy. “You can clean out those 400 emails you get a day from all the lists you have somehow ended up on.”