Interview with new Invenna customer Trippz, the lodging taxes platform

We welcome Trippz as our new customer. Invenna director Pieter Hallewas sat down to speak with Trippz CEO Ingmar Lambregts about what they do and the unique way in which they use the Invenna platform technology.

'Technologies like Invenna’s – that make data available to a broader user target group – offer many options for solving the challenges on all sorts of domains that use data.'

Ingmar, I’ll start with a challenge; describe what Trippz does in two sentences. "We have a Lodging Taxes Platform. We use it to automate the entire tourist tax chain."

What companies do you work with? "I’d love to shout from the rooftops which big, worldwide booking platforms we count as our customers, but we’re tied to non-disclosure agreements unfortunately. On the other hand; I think that people will be able to picture it."

'Customers that use Trippz data incorporate rules and rates of all jurisdictions within our scope of information, through one API. We are the sole provider.'

Our conversations started because tourist tax is very complicated. What is it that makes this world so complex? "The fragmentation and diversification of tourist tax rates are the major challenges. It’s a tax that lower-tier authorities, often municipalities, can determine with a high sense of freedom. Seen from the vantage point of a global booking platform, it’s incredibly complicated to deal with. By dealing with I particularly mean automated processing, while they find this increasingly important.

Trippz developed a data model in which this complexity doesn’t exist anymore. It gave our startup a flying start. Customers that use Trippz data incorporate rules and rates of all jurisdictions within our scope of information, through one API. We are the sole provider."

You use the Invenna platform technology in a different way and for a different purpose than other customers. Can you tell us more? "Tourist tax rules and rates are dynamic. Certainly on the scale that we register them. To acquire data, we rely on documents in many jurisdictions. Think of PDFs and original scans. There’s a lot of manual input involved, what inevitably causes data quality challenges. This is one of the things for which we use the platform technology.

We’ve established a DQ (data quality) Framework through the Invenna platform. We even created an internal name for it: TIDE. An abbreviation for Trippz Invenna Data quality Engine. At the frontend and backend of our application, we built in as much validation as possible to organize data quality ‘at the front end’. But this isn’t sufficient for us to anticipate everything.

This sounds theoretical, but a good example is making a rate input error; €1.64 what should be €1.65. It’s valid input because it doesn’t fall outside the range of the frontend validation, but it’s incorrect.

Via the platform we extract our data and all sorts of samples and control files are put in place for what we call human review. The example I just gave ends up in an odd-decimal report, which is the reason for an employee to check the tourist tax regulation. In this situation it leads to a rate correction to €1.65."

'… Move away from the classical RFI- and RFP-oriented thinking and start looking for solutions for small, data-driven organization problems.'

In what way does our organization and the platform technology suit you? "The platform allows data-savvy professionals to solve many data problems independently. Within a small team such as ours, it initially took a lot of time from developers. Time that we’d rather spend on product development. Moreover, the platform can handle a diversity of data types, which is ideal.

Regarding the team, Invenna is not a gigantic software vendor. Which is why we understand each other’s world better. Also, the short lines of communication ensure a pleasant cooperation."

Are there any future plans to apply Invenna even broader? "No plans yet, but plenty of ideas. First we want to implement the DQ Framework. After that, I see many application possibilities for customer contact, support and marketing operations. In any case, we won’t be sitting still any time soon."

'Create a flexible data-level solution. On top of that, you can make all sorts of applications work in the way you want them to. Not in the way the software wants them to.'

What tips do you have for organizations that consider platform technology? "My suggestions: move away from the classical RFI- and RPF-oriented thinking and start looking for solutions for small, data-driven organization problems.

Technology like Invenna’s – that make data available to a broader user target group – offer many options for solving the challenges on all sorts of domains that use data, such as marketing, sales and customer support. The major platforms also make this promise, but never live up to it. This is because at the backend, they became complex applications where the data model doesn’t allow room for changes. Perhaps understandable, but, regardless, it’s the flexibility that many organizations need.

Create a flexible data-level solution. On top of that, you can make all sorts of applications work in the way you want them to. Not in the way the software wants them to."