[February 10, 2005]

Market Designs Partners With NetByTel

By David Sims, TMCnet CRM Alert Columnist

Global marketing, financial and technical analysis consulting firm Market Designs, LLC today announced that it is partnering with telephone self-service solutions vendor NetByTel.

Under terms of the partnership Market Designs will act as NetByTel's authorized referral executive in the North American travel and hospitality space, according to Vela McClam-Mitchell, president and CEO of Market Designs: “We will identify and contact industry targets and refer these prospective new customers to NetByTel, while also assisting with the sales process and closure of the deal.”

Atlanta-based Market Designs expects to use NetByTel's portfolio of telephone self-service solutions to let travel and hospitality companies accelerate and simplify the booking and customer service process.

Market Designs earns their bread by helping clients to enter a market, reduce the cost of serving a market, accelerate their revenues from existing business, expand their customer base, and exit a market in a financially successful manner. Their travel industry clients include online travel Web sites, travel agency consortia, low-fare airlines and a travel distribution network.

As Ken Jackowitz, executive vice president and chief customer officer of NetByTel notes, even in today’s multi-channel business environment "the telephone is still the most ubiquitous, most frequently-used means of communication.”

Last December Market Designs partnered with Baltimore-based Travel Technology Source, LLC to co-own and co-produce ResExpo, a travel industry annual business and technology conference. Themed "Big Ideas in Travel Distribution - From Revolution to Execution," ResExpo 2005 will be held March 1-3 at Atlanta's Omni CNN Center.

Market Designs is a new kid on the block, being co-founded just last year by ex-Worldspan talent Vela McClam-Mitchell (“Oh, that Vela McClam-Mitchell…”) as president and chief executive officer, and Terriann Shockley as vice president of operations. The founding partners and their team of consultants include former executives and directors of Worldspan, L.P., the Atlanta-based global distribution system and Bank of America.

According to McClam-Mitchell, "There is plenty of general market data available, particularly in the travel industry, but a lack of private researchers and market designers.” She sees Market Designs’ strategic niche as providing clients “target-specific research so that they can enter or expand in a market with considerably more knowledge of potential competitive, political or market actions that could affect their success.”

David Sims is contributing editor and CRM Alert columnist for TMCnet.