Faced with an oligopoly situation in an increasingly price sensitive and mature B2B market, a major business travel agency wanted to improve their revenue streams.

The company had already derived significant cost efficiencies by restructuring and streamlining their sales and account management effort. In addition a considerable investment had been made in "remote" booking and servicing platforms, designed to increase cost competitiveness and produce greater operating margins.

Although a large percentage of operating costs and overheads had been taken out of the business, this in itself would not be enough to ensure a long term sustainable competitive advantage in an industry increasingly viewed as a commodity.