Podcast: Scaling a TMC built on modern infrastructure

For travel management companies (TMCs), building the infrastructure to support global travel programs is usually expensive and time-consuming. New technology, however, is making it easier than ever for TMCs to provide next-generation travel experiences.

For the fifth episode of The Travel Is a Human Emotion Podcast, Solutions Travel CEO Mark Walton and Spotnana Founder and Chief Product Officer Sarosh Waghmar discussed how Solutions Travel got its start as a tech-first TMC, how its partnership with Spotnana has developed, and how the TMC is now standing up customers with global travel programs.

A bet on innovation

When Solutions Travel launched in early 2023, it made a bet on embracing technology in the core of its mission. 

Travel industry veteran Walton, who previously served as Executive Vice President of Options Travel and Vice President of Strategy and Account Management at Orbitz for Business, saw the potential in offering customers the benefits of an integrated tech stack along with personalized service from experienced travel agents.

“The key thing that resonated with me was the idea that Spotnana was essentially turning the industry upside down and rebuilding the infrastructure from a technology standpoint, [using] an open API type of architecture to allow the individual components to be integrated to whatever a client essentially wants,” said Walton.

“I thought to myself, if any company in this industry has the ability to create and fulfill this objective of a perfect trip, Spotnana had that opportunity. How do we get involved?”

A strong partnership

Beyond referring each other to potential clients based on their needs, Spotnana and Solutions Travel work closely to ensure that customer demands are met and new innovations are regularly introduced to clients.

“Part of it is ongoing meetings where we talk about innovation and ideation,” said Walton. “Part of it is problem solving… I came from a software environment, I worked for Orbitz for many years and software isn’t perfect. It’s important for us to be responsive to the customer.”

The flexibility of Spotnana’s Travel-as-a-Service platform allows Solutions Travel to configure the travel experience for each new client, while still maintaining a consistent level of service and support with its experienced staff. This has been a key differentiator for the TMC as it competes against larger, more established players in the market.

There’s also the benefit of continual improvement from Spotnana’s microservices-based tech stack, since all Spotnana channel partners benefit from new features when they are released.

“We work with Spotnana pretty much every day on innovation that we get through not only us, but through our feedback from our customers,” said Walton. “When we start the relationship [with a client], you’re buying us not only for today, but for what we’re going to be tomorrow and the years after that.”

Global growth

Solutions Travel has scaled its operations to serve global customers without having to scale its technology teams in the process.

Walton pointed to a new client that they have been able to launch quickly, thanks to his experienced team and the flexibility provided by Spotnana’s Travel-as-a-Service platform.

“We spent about eight months in an RFP process with a very large multinational company,” said Walton. “We run the business and we just started about roughly two months ago. This is a company that we are implementing in 40 countries around the world. We are now currently operational in the U.S. and Canada, all of Latin America. We launch in July in Europe, and then in August in the APAC region. So we’ll have all 40 countries implemented live on a single platform globally in August.

“It’s a testament not only to the great people we have that are enabling this, but it’s the technology that allows us to be efficient in rolling out a global program like that. Without this type of technology, we wouldn’t be in the position that we’re in.”

Want to learn more about how Spotnana allows TMCs to provide better experiences to their customers? Subscribe to the podcast or get a demo today.