Travel companies are spending up to 80% of their IT budgets on maintaining outdated legacy distribution systems according to a report from Traventec, one of the largest travel software development companies in Europe.
The paper, titled ‘Legacy Systems - Stifling Business Innovation and Change?’, concludes that systems such as viewdata no longer adequately and efficiently support critical business processes including dynamic packaging - vital to companies seeking competitive advantage.

Traventec is also warning that businesses who procrastinate adoption of new distribution technologies are promoting a status quo that will prove damaging to traditional companies and will help new players, such as large online companies, increase market strength.

The report calls for companies to incrementally phase out their legacy applications by focusing on modernising and re-architecting those components that no longer support their business requirements.

Greg Cawley, Traventec CEO said: “Inaction is not an option for those who wish to remain in the game. Legacy technologies, some of which were developed in the 1960s, are coming under pressure due to the complexity of providing seamless interfaces to multiple third-party systems.

“A new breed of online travel provider is benefiting by building their distribution technology from scratch, allowing them to adapt to consumer’s requirements more effectively.”
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