Interact Systems
Interact Systems, Inc. Mini Case
1. The trends developing in the hotel industry are that hotels are shifting from manual booking to electronic booking of room reservations, allowing electronic bookings to continue to increase as more reservations are made over the internet, and competitive pressures are forcing hotels to implement yield management programs and to increase customer service by integrating the central reservations systems and property management systems through Interact’s application integration server, to better manage inventories, improve yields and enhance customer service. 2. By allowing hotels to compete through various methods, hotels start to attract customers because of different reasons. One reason is that online reservations make it more efficient for customers to book their hotel rooms without having to be on the phone with a representative. This allows hotels to cut costs on expenses to increase profits and gives them access to a wider market, from a marketing standpoint 3. The Interact System will allow hotels to provide better customer service and be able to track their customer’s activity while satisfying them with hotel credits. 4. The company started as an idea of Greg Thomas’ which was in Development stage. Then the company moved to Startup stage by bringing Eric Westskow aboard and putting together the business infrastructure. The company endured through the Survival stage and reach Rapid-growth stage. 5. Different types of venture financing have been obtained for the company, starting from Greg Thomas investing his own savings of $50,000 plus another $50,000 from friends. First round of financing was obtained from two investors providing $200,000. An additional $1 million was obtained in the second round of financing from a venture capital firm named Katile Capital Partners. $5 million is being sought out to help fund sales growth in the mezzanine financing round. 6. The firm was financed through
1. The trends developing in the hotel industry are that hotels are shifting from manual booking to electronic booking of room reservations, allowing electronic bookings to continue to increase as more reservations are made over the internet, and competitive pressures are forcing hotels to implement yield management programs and to increase customer service by integrating the central reservations systems and property management systems through Interact’s application integration server, to better manage inventories, improve yields and enhance customer service. 2. By allowing hotels to compete through various methods, hotels start to attract customers because of different reasons. One reason is that online reservations make it more efficient for customers to book their hotel rooms without having to be on the phone with a representative. This allows hotels to cut costs on expenses to increase profits and gives them access to a wider market, from a marketing standpoint 3. The Interact System will allow hotels to provide better customer service and be able to track their customer’s activity while satisfying them with hotel credits. 4. The company started as an idea of Greg Thomas’ which was in Development stage. Then the company moved to Startup stage by bringing Eric Westskow aboard and putting together the business infrastructure. The company endured through the Survival stage and reach Rapid-growth stage. 5. Different types of venture financing have been obtained for the company, starting from Greg Thomas investing his own savings of $50,000 plus another $50,000 from friends. First round of financing was obtained from two investors providing $200,000. An additional $1 million was obtained in the second round of financing from a venture capital firm named Katile Capital Partners. $5 million is being sought out to help fund sales growth in the mezzanine financing round. 6. The firm was financed through