Online Booking Systems: A Comparison with Brick and Mortar Agencies

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the evolution of the travel industry, focusing on the transition from traditional brick-and-mortar agencies to online booking systems. It explores the advantages of self-service booking and the impact of information technology on business operations, including mobile solutions and cloud computing. The report also addresses critical security issues and threats associated with offering travel services online, such as intellectual property, hacking, and data breaches, alongside the importance of authentication, confidentiality, and non-repudiation. A comparison between brick-and-mortar and online businesses is presented, discussing the shift in the market and the segments that benefit or do not from these changes. Finally, the report highlights the role of technology in changing the workplace and the need for businesses to adapt to the digital age. This report provides valuable insights into the changing dynamics of the travel industry and the challenges and opportunities presented by online platforms.

Running head: INFORMATION SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT
Information Systems Management
Name of Student:
Name of University:
Author’s Note:

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Abstract:
The focus of this study has been to discuss the differences in the online booking system
and the brick and mortar system which was prevalent before. The security issues in offering
online services to the public throughout the day are also discussed and the way in which the use
of information technology has changed the methods of changing business have also been
mentioned. The changes in the market with the online business options have also been explained
clearly. The report overall states the growth and the gradual change in the travel industry with
the advent of online services and newer technologies.

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Table of Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................3
Self-service a benefit of online booking:.........................................................................................3
Brick and mortar agencies:..............................................................................................................4
Use of information technology in changing the methods of conducting business:.........................4
Security issues and threats in offering travel services to the public and 24/7:................................6
Security issues in offering an online presence:................................................................................7
Brick and Mortar versus online businesses discussion:...................................................................8
Changes in the market with respect to the shift from Bricks and Mortar to Online business:......10
The segment which benefits and does not:....................................................................................11
Examples of mobile phone applications and travel services provided:.........................................11
Conclusion:....................................................................................................................................11
Reference List:...............................................................................................................................13

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Introduction:
In the modern era computers have acted as a fundamental section of the business that is
associated with travel agency business since the extensive incorporation of them. The age of
information has added in various new aids. The information can be stored much faster compared
to that of the previous time due to increased innovative hardware and enhanced software. The
firms permit the agencies in order to function more effectively, thus averting the loss of
productivity because of the time of input and other monotonous jobs.
The enhanced technology of communications is responsible for widening the process
with the help of which the travel agency can interact with business networks, venture services in
addition to the customers. The availability of high speed internet networks allow instant videos,
text and voice communications, traditional methods such as offered by long distance telephonic
conversations. The data can be forwarded or transferred instantly from any agency to any airline,
hotel or any other service which are associated to the customers. This even permits the process of
booking as the harmonization which usually can take days or hours to be administered in the
earlier times which greatly reduces the wait times and the loss of productivity.
Self-service a benefit of online booking:
The most significant effects on the travel agency has been the increase of online booking.
The customers who are in the idea of booking a trip does not need to visit an agency. The
customers can connect online to several companies and can easily book an entire trip for
themselves. Airlines and hotels also need to cut out the travel agent as a whole by allowing the
customers to book tickets and reserving straight from the websites. This can prove as a hostile

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scenario for the travel agencies which conventionally relies on being regarded as an essential
arbitrator among the required services and the customers (Aslanzadeh and Keating 2014).
Brick and mortar agencies:
With the advancement of technology more and more people book services and tourism
trips online, lesser and lesser number of people head to mortar and brick agencies and tackling
with the agents directly. This led to the increased amount of pressure on the traditional agencies
like the hotels, airlines and other service benefactors which are represented previously by them
to the customers online and also affect the rates of commission (Gretzel, Wang and Fesenmaier
2012).
Use of information technology in changing the methods of conducting business:
The brick and mortar business refers to the physical presence of any particular
organization or any significant business in a building or any particular structure. It basically is
used to refer to those companies who have physical presence rather than online presence. The
advent of technology in recent times has changed the methods of conducting business in
comparison to the physical presence of businesses. The technology has factually transformed
every characteristic of the approaches in which business functions and in the past this sort of
transformation has not transpired so fast (Goeldner and Ritchie 2012).
Mobile solutions are responsible for changing the total nature of the business in the
present day situation. The different aspects of firms can even be fingered from isolated locations
in case smart-phones or tablets possess correct software. Every aspect of the business from the

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sales enablement to the content-marketing as well as customer relations through the back end
processes is also influenced.
Cloud computing also helps the huge and small firms to exit from their activity to the
servers that are third party in nature and are reachable with the assistance of internet
connectivity. It also aids the organization to access to the resources that may have been cost
exorbitant which leads to the competition with organizations getting loads of funding.
Technology has also increased the amount of connectivity and also the ways in which everyone
can stay in touch. This also corresponds to the methods which change owing to the
corresponding business.
The customers of a particular business also changed with the times. The millennials are
the key driving factors that are main factors behind the businesses. The social impact and the
networking is also increased with the help of information technology. Businesses also try to put
to a digital footprint. A good reputation is also going to stick with the company.
The scenario of the workplace has changed in the last century and it basis of business
from labor as well as manual skills to the knowledge management. The day to day operations of
the business are controlled to a certain extent by the technology. Due to the internet and its
availability anything of desire can be delivered at the doorstep. All these have an underlying
level if business. The world of business has modernized in the previous few years. The various
kinds of technologies and the development in the communication are accountable for changing
the nature of the workplace.

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Security issues and threats in offering travel services to the public and 24/7:
In addition to all kinds of internet businesses, online sites have been selling several travel
services, which have become popular in the recent years. The most important advantage of an
online environment is the lower cost of maintenance of a portal. The online reservation systems
are also very efficient and different types of purchases can also be made on the internet due to
the redundancy of the travel agents. However there might be several issues related to the online
presence of a company in the travel business due to causes of harm in several aspects (Leung et
al. 2013). These issues need to be kept in mind while continuing the conduction of a travel
business. The safety and security is important.
There are several security threats in providing travel services to the public as well. There
are the intellectual property threats, where some browsers utilize the information personally from
the website without permission from the owner. This needs to be prevented by the use of aaa
secured authentication system (Blanke and Chiesa 2013).
There might be problems or threats due to the client computers which might be for
viruses and other issues. In case client’s computer uses knowledge, stealing the data or the
destruction of the computer of the client.
There are several chances of hacking as well. This is due to the fact that the internet
allows any person to send or to receive information through many networks. There are the
chances of data being stolen or modified or that of hacking. There is another major threat of
spoofing is another major threat (Standing, Tang-Taye and Boyer 2014).

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There might be server threats as well in case of the denial of service. Spamming is
another threat for the servers. In order to protect the server from the threats threat might be the
authentication of the web access (Chakravarthi and Gopal 2012).
Security issues in offering an online presence:
There are several drawbacks in case of the online presence in the business. Overall
security issues are there. The security is not more than restricting the damage and even the
potential aspects with respect to the financial information from unconstitutional sources, the
utilization or obliteration. The fast enhancement in the area technology and science, there has
been an enormous transformations in the risks associated in the exploitation of security and
technology events for restricting the individual and the organizational losses on a daily basis.
There is an encryption system in which the senders and the receivers receive the same key. The
maximum security is to be given and the areas to be targeted are that of integrity, non-
repudiation, authenticity, confidentiality and finally that of privacy (Evans, Stonehouse and
Campbell 2012).
Integrity is the protection of the state in which the message is to be kept. There are
several chances for the damage of the data integrity. The errors might take place in the manual
entering of the data. It might also occur when it is being transmitted from one computer o other.
There might be modification or theft due to software viruses or bugs. There might be data loss
due to unexpected hardware damages for example server or disk crashes. There also might be
data loss because of natural disasters which might be fire accidents (Grissemann and Stokburger-
Sauer 2012).

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There should be prevention of a party from reneging on an agreement after their
performance. In order to protect and ensure digital trust, the parties might employ digital
structures. The non-repudiation is basically the assurance that any party cannot contradict the
legitimacy of their signature in the document or forwarding of a message which were created by
them. A digital structure might not always guarantee non-repudiation. There are non-repudiation
methods such as the tracking of mails which are designed to ensure that there can be do denial of
sending a message for a sender as well (Smaliukiene, Chi-Shiun and Sizovaite 2015).
Authentication is a procedure by which a seller validates the information which provided
by the buyer like the confidential information. In case of the online e-commerce transactions, the
sellers need to be responsible for providing good payment authentication services. There needs to
be a well developed and implemented transaction authentication services. In case the websites do
not have good authentication system there might be a great loss of both data as well as money.
Confidentiality is another problem in the offering of the online presence in the business.
The data or any confidential information shared by the merchant and the customers should be
accessed only by both the parties involved. In order to maximize the confidentiality there needs
to be a good encryption as well as decryption methods, proper amount of authentication and
authorization methods. Good detection systems also need to be present (Sparks, Perkins and
Buckley 2013).
Brick and Mortar versus online businesses discussion:
The brick and mortar businesses have existed around since the existence of the society
and offer several advantages as well as have certain drawbacks when compared to the online
businesses.

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It has been observed that one of the key benefits of a business related to brick and mortar
has been that the physical position acts as the business marketing themselves. In case a precise
location is selected, the individuals are bound to stroll or drive by the business or the store. The
locality of the organization in connection with effective word-of-mouth promotions is beneficial
in terms of what they actually need.
One of the hugest factors in case of the brick and mortar business is the legitimacy of the
business. There is more amount of trust in those businesses which have a physical place in which
they can take part. In case people can look for the trust factor in the business they want to invest
in (Inversini and Masiero 2014).
Rents as well as employees might lead to considerably higher startup costs for the brick
as well as mortar businesses. In cases of just starting out, therefore, lower cost alternatives
should be suggested. Another significant disadvantage is that the brick as well as mortar business
owners usually work for sufficiently long hours and in order to avoid this, the responsibilities
need to be handed over to the employees of the organization and they need to be trusted to make
the necessary decisions.
In certain aspects, the lower startup costs are also an important factor in the joining in the
online business. The ownership rights of a website are negligible in comparison to other
expenses. In case of online business facilities, the option of working from home is always there.
This benefits a business in terms of all time connectivity and the availability of the people.
Another factor which needs to be understood is that a company or a business cannot
benefit from the people finding out about it through their presence in any particular physical
location. The services to be provided needs to be marketed also the products, otherwise no

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person will get to understand about the exact offerings of the business or the company. This also
requires individuals to learn about the details of the company.
Changes in the market with respect to the shift from Bricks and Mortar to Online business:
The shift or the change in the type in which business is offered is majorly due to the
customer experience. It is also due to the fact customers can make or break a brand and might
even cause it to improve the name of the business globally. The retailers of the business tries to
meet the demands of the customers by assessing the market and the wants of the customers.
The online industry is a vast and flourishing industry because the current sales indicate an
exponential amount of growth. Even bigger numbers are expected to be found in the future.
There also are several powerful forces driving them which have chances of driving the retailing
future. The promptly developing mobile user and online bases in the developing markets are
transforming the sales in an effective manner. The nature of the market is bound to change with
respect to the shift to the online business category from the normal existing one.
Despite the compression that arrives from the organizations and the third parties that sell
their products on their individual websites, the travel company is neither dead, nor in the fear of
dying. It has been observed that like numerous service industries, the business of travelling has
been progressing in order to familiarize with the newer and better technologies. Several
organizations are transforming the aim towards online services for the conventional services like
the airline and even hotel bookings at the time of maintenance of physical stores where it is
sufficient to conduct business.
Adapting to the innovative technology has been exposed to the travel agency to the
enhancing pains even though the industry has been effective and sound. The key aim for most

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agencies have been focused towards the online sales, permitting the consumers with the feature
of booking trips without the restrictions of the office hours or even worrying about schedules.
The conventional travel agency is assured to observe further development as the technology
changes to develop.
The segment which benefits and does not:
The segments of the people who benefit the most from the online business are
undoubtedly the customers. It also needs to be understood that the customer loyalty due to their
benefit is bound to help the businessmen as well. The availability of the online booking as well
as travel services benefits those sections of the individuals who are interested for travel but do
not have the time or the capability to visit the bricks and mortar buildings of the business which
prevailed earlier.
Examples of mobile phone applications and travel services provided:
Some of the popular mobile phone applications include, Airbnb, Skyscanner, Kayak, Trip
advisor and others which provide a plethora of services to the customers. The Airbnb application
provides hotels at much cheaper prices and often provides services which are authentic or special
by staying with a local at their home. It also allows services for planning a day, booking a car
and so on. Trip advisor offers information on well-reviewed place nearby and it supports
countries everywhere. These services help people find offers of their choice (Chokkattu 2017).
Conclusion:
Throughout the years, tourism started to have an increased significance in different
countries all over the world. The promotion of tourism is due to several reasons including is