{"id":13334,"date":"2021-09-14T11:19:18","date_gmt":"2021-09-14T11:19:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pulseonline.co\/?page_id=13334"},"modified":"2021-10-13T17:09:13","modified_gmt":"2021-10-13T17:09:13","slug":"abrahams-aim-to-re-establish-our-leadership-position-across-all-our-lines-of-business","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/pulseonline.co\/index.php\/abrahams-aim-to-re-establish-our-leadership-position-across-all-our-lines-of-business\/","title":{"rendered":"Abraham&#8217;s Aim &#8212; To Re-establish Our Leadership Position Across All Our Lines of Business."},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/pulseonline.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/thumbnail_Abraham-Alapatt_02.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-13514 alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/pulseonline.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/thumbnail_Abraham-Alapatt_02-300x249.jpg\" alt=\"thumbnail_Abraham Alapatt_02\" width=\"539\" height=\"447\" srcset=\"http:\/\/pulseonline.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/thumbnail_Abraham-Alapatt_02-300x249.jpg 300w, http:\/\/pulseonline.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/thumbnail_Abraham-Alapatt_02-361x300.jpg 361w, http:\/\/pulseonline.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/thumbnail_Abraham-Alapatt_02.jpg 756w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 539px) 100vw, 539px\" \/><\/a>We asked some of the CEOs and Heads of our Company to tell us how they and their teams dealt with the long hiatus; the work-from-home situation; the vast changes that took place from March 2020 onwards.\u00a0 The pandemic hit us, but it also unlocked our strength.\u00a0 And our executives kept the organisation together, never failing to motivate their teams and taking\u00a0 care of their staff.\u00a0 Here we have Abraham\u00a0Alapatt, President &amp; Group Head &#8211; Marketing, Service Quality, Value Added Services &amp; Innovation, sharing his views with us.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>What, in your opinion, are the top three challenges that you and your team faced in business due to the Covid-19 pandemic?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><strong>Professionally:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Total loss of business and category demand \u2013 for the first time in our lifetime<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Avoidance of Travel and even a negative perception for those considering non-essential travel<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Heightened concerns above health, safety and hygiene, discouraging even potential travellers<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><strong>Personally:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Uncertainty and concerns among the teams about their jobs\/future<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Extended WFH \u2013 and the multiple related issues around this.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"> Co-ordination, connectivity, blurring of work-life balance etc.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Cost cutting measures meant we had to stop our support partners like advertising, PR, social media agency services \u2013 and had to do everything ourselves<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>What measures did your management take to meet these challenges? What were\u00a0<\/strong><strong>the major changes you had to incorporate to hold it all together?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">At TC and SOTC we have also been leading from the front since the pandemic struck, staying in touch with customers and partners, launching several new initiatives and offerings in line with the new realities and market needs and restrictions\u00a0 \u2013 such as staycations, nearcations, workations, private villas, camping, biking, wildlife oriented experiences etc.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">You may also have noticed that we have been the first to bounce back to active marketing and launches after the first wave last year and again now, after the second wave.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">During this time, we also embarked on several market-leader initiatives including our benchmark \u201cAssured\u201d Safe Travel Program \u2013 the only comprehensive set of travel safety protocols in association with, and endorsed by, Apollo Clinics in 2020, which not only covered the best in class protocols for our distribution and delivery teams, but also of our partners in the travel ecosystem.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">In 2021, on\u00a0the back of vaccinations and enhanced safety requirements we upgraded Assured in the form of what we call \u201cTravShield\u201d &#8211; a 360\u00b0 safety program that also includes only vaccinated staff and co-passengers among many others, and made this a pan-organisational cornerstone across both TC and SOTC, and each of our lines of business,\u00a0 to ensure traveller safety in the pandemic era.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>What were the key messages to your teams during the lockdown, and how did it keep the team morale high?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Internally, we moved swiftly to a smooth WFH environment and stayed connected, both as senior management (with calls every alternate day), and with our teams, regularly to ensure the pace of work and the discipline did not ebb.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">This also helped keep our teams mentally connected and more reassured and motivated during the uncertain times. This also helped keep the mood positive and constructive.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">We also regularly published inspiring stories of work and non-work related examples of excellence with our Heroes series \u2013 sharing these across the organisations.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">We also were actively involved with ensuring our teams were\/are vaccinated with both a third part \u2013 app based national service provider, as well as camps in cities like Mumbai, Bangalore etc., and are close to a 100% coverage for vaccination among the eligible population.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>The pandemic revealed our vulnerabilities, but it also surfaced extraordinary human resourcefulness and potential. Do give a couple of examples\/illustrations., inspiring stories\u2026. Of staff\u00a0who shone in the face of adversity.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>\u00a0<\/strong>There are multiple examples with our Heroes series. Check out this section in the magazine!<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>List five words to describe how your teams rose to the occasion.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>\u00a0<\/strong>Faith, confidence, positivity, strength and empathy<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>What do you feel is the way forward, and what message would you give your staff?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>\u00a0<\/strong>We recognise that the last 18+ months have been very challenging for all of us in the travel and travel related services industry both professionally and personally.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">We are just beginning to see the early green shoots of sustained recovery on the back of the ebbing infections and rising vaccinations, and we should be truly proud of ourselves for the way we have weathered this once in a lifetime black swan event.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">As we have now moved into an endemic stage where the world is now coming to terms with co-existing with the virus, we have a unique opportunity to leverage our strong brands that enjoy unparalleled trust, and with our leadership position with TravShield, and its benchmark 360 degree safety commitment, to ensure we are the first choice for discerning travellers as travel quickly recovers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Our customers are going to be more keen to travel with us, and have us ensure we keep them safe and take care of them in this new environment where there are more variables than before.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Our smaller and less capable competitors both nationally and regionally are less likely to recover as fast and well as we have, and we need to make the most of this opportunity to re-establish our leadership position across all our lines of business.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We asked some of the CEOs and Heads of our Company to tell us how they and their teams dealt with the long hiatus; the work-from-home situation; the vast changes that took place from March 2020 onwards.\u00a0 The pandemic hit us, but it also unlocked our strength.\u00a0 And our executives kept the organisation together, never&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"http:\/\/pulseonline.co\/index.php\/abrahams-aim-to-re-establish-our-leadership-position-across-all-our-lines-of-business\/\">Read More<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/pulseonline.co\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13334"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/pulseonline.co\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/pulseonline.co\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pulseonline.co\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pulseonline.co\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13334"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"http:\/\/pulseonline.co\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13334\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13516,"href":"http:\/\/pulseonline.co\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13334\/revisions\/13516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/pulseonline.co\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}