Panasonic Tries ETDNs To Encourage Agency Use

<B> Panasonic Tries ETDNs To Encourage Agency Use</B>

By David Marcus

<I>Secaucus, N.J.</I> - Panasonic is bucking the conventional wisdom that electronic ticketing and online booking made Electronic Ticket Distribution Network machines irrelevant, and is using ETDNs to get its employees to book through the corporate-owned travel agency.

Philip Cabibi, regional operations manager for Matsushita Investment and Development Corp. of America Travel Co.--parent company of Matsushita Electronic Corp. of America (a.k.a. Panasonic USA)--recently installed two machines in the company's headquarters here, and is rolling out units to sites in Atlanta, Milpetas, Calif., and San Diego.

For the past two years, the sun has been setting on ETDNs, mainly due to the advent of Internet-based travel transactions and electronic ticketing, and vendors like Sabre have pulled out of the business. The manufacturers now producing ETDN machines are Voyager Technologies of Orlando, and Docunet Inc. of San Francisco, which is supplying Panasonic with the equipment.

Although Cabibi is swimming against today's travel tech paradigm, he maintains the ATM-like ticket printing machines cut distribution costs, are popular with travelers and force employees to use the corporate-owned agency, which is key to his travel management strategy.

Indeed, one of the more challenging aspects of Cabibi's job is implementing a travel program in a company that operates according to a Japanese business model, where purchasing decisions often are decentralized and based on local relationships. While Cabibi handles Panasonic's travel, he reports to the MIDCA umbrella organization in Osaka. At Panasonic, he said, "If local offices feel they can get a better price or deal locally or elsewhere, they do that. Agency decisions are also made based on strong local and ethnic ties."

Cabibi has managed to circumvent this obstacle by stipulating in the ETDN contract that Docunet only drive tickets issued by the corporate-owned agency, even though ETDNs can print tickets issued by any agency. "As I visit local offices, I try to convince managers to use the MIDCA internally owned travel agency and put a machine in the local facility," he said.

Travel technology consultant Richard Eastman, Newport Beach, Calif., is skeptical of a strategy that relies on ETDNs. "ETDNs have a very limited life because they will be replaced by electronic tickets. They may still serve as a delivery mechanism for some sort of confirmation document with an electronic ticket, but it would not be a ticket document," he said.

Docunet, however, believes "there will always be a role for a high-document printer," said a spokesman, adding that it is working with travel agencies and corporate clients to customize ETDN machines.

Why would Panasonic, with a highly evolved travel program--including a very narrow supplier base of air, hotel and car, and a travel page on the corporate intranet--use ETDNs instead of electronic ticketing or online booking? "We try to push the e-ticket as a first option," Cabibi said, "but a lot of our travelers still don't want to leave without a ticket in their hand--they feel more secure with a piece of paper."

While Eastman is critical of the use of ETDNs both as a substitute for e-ticketing and as an internal marketing tool, he said the travel buyer's purchasing option "has to be a business decision based on internal cost justification on the assumption that the recovery can be returned in the length of time of the contract."

Cabibi agrees. Thanks to the ETDN network, he said, he is trimming down the substantial overnight delivery costs of getting tickets to Panasonic offices that don't have a MIDCA presence.

Whether the plan achieves long-term strategic success remains to be seen, but in the meantime Cabibi has found a singular travel management strategy that fits Panasonic's unique management structure and corporate culture.