Cautious approach pays off during tough times

Inside Track Q&A:Des O'Mahony, chief executive of Bookassist

What distinguishes you from your competitors?

From our perspective, a competitor is anyone who is selling rooms for our hotel clients. To distinguish ourselves from them, we basically have to do a better job. The way we do this is by having a much more holistic service, and by having a more personalised approach to that service. We don’t view ourselves as a software company; we view ourselves as a strategic consultancy company that uses our own software to deliver on its objectives.

What’s been the biggest challenge you have had to face?

Scaling is a huge challenge. There is a comfort zone that comes with a small company where you have ideals, know all your employees and have control of everything. When you start to expand, it is very hard to envisage how that is going to happen. We’ve had to deal with different cultures and management approaches, as well as different clients in different areas.

What’s the biggest mistake you’ve made in business?

I wouldn’t think about specific mistakes but I do look at approach. There are times when you have to take risks in business, but you may not have the confidence in yourself and back away from it. You look back with regret and say, “I should have seized that opportunity”. Sometimes I have been over cautious. However our caution when we were expanding meant that we didn’t overstretch ourselves financially. When the crisis hit, we didn’t have any bank loans and we weren’t reliant on anyone. Our caution paid off.

What was the best piece of business advice you’ve ever received?

The best advice I’ve ever received was not necessarily from someone, but was “received wisdom” over time, which is that you need to surround yourself with the best possible people. When you are a small business it is easy to keep track of things, personally know everyone hired, but as you grow you don’t have that luxury. The key thing is to continue to require excellence in the people who come on board. Ideas are two a penny but good quality execution is what counts, and that is all about people.

And your major success to date?

On a personal level, it is the belief that my co-founders and I have created good quality jobs for people. It is very easy to talk about success in terms of money, but that does not get you out of bed in the morning. It has been very heartening to me and my co-founders that we have been able to add jobs, not remove them, during the crisis of the last few years.

Who do you most admire in business and why?

I’m in business but I’ve never really seen myself as a businessman. My background is in physics and I was an academic for a long time, so I admire many different people in a lot of fields. I always admired Steve Jobs at Apple, not for his personality or ability to make money but his ability to effect change. People like him really aimed at changing the game.

What piece of advice would you give to the government to stimulate the economy?

I think the Government needs to concentrate on restoring business confidence. As a nation, we gained a huge amount of confidence in the years before the crisis which helped to grow our economy. The economic crisis definitely dented that, but it will not ever take away what we gained during that period.

Do you think the banks are open for business at the moment?

No. Fortunately we haven’t had to go to the banks for funding, but I know a lot of people in our industry, and in other sectors, whose approach has changed with the banks. The requirements to get short-term loans has become so “by the book” that it has really frozen businesses out. I know of a number of companies that have gone to the wall for the sake of relatively small sums. That should not happen.

How do you see the short- term future of your business?

We’re in a business that is in constant flux. The nature of the business is changing more rapidly now than it has at any time over the last 10 years. I view the future of the business to be extremely positive and upbeat. Opportunities are increasing, but only to the businesses that are coping well with change. We have continually invested in technology that will improve the business. In March we will roll out a completely new platform that will help hotels optimise distribution online while improving margins.

What is your business worth and would you sell it?

I would be far happier to answer that question at the end of this year once our new platform is out. Currently, we manage hotel reservations worth around €120 million a year. Our revenues have risen over the last three years and we have been on a growth path right through the downturn. In terms of selling the business, everyone is always interested in the possibility but it depends on what it means. I am more interested in partnerships and strategic investment that would allow us to develop the vision we have for the business, rather than walking away from it.

In conversation with Robert Allen