TourTech: How to Choose Your Technology — Key Takeaways from our Livestream with Tourpreneur

What are the common needs or concerns tour operators are coming to you with?

The first thing I’d say is that tour operations are inherently complex. Especially in multi-day or custom tours, you’re dealing with high-ticket items, multiple touchpoints, and lots of moving parts. For operators, the pressure is on to get everything just right. You’re juggling logistics, timing, suppliers, guest communication—all of it.

A lot of operators I speak to are looking for structure, organisation, and to get time back in their day. Often, they’ve outgrown what they can manage in their heads or through disconnected tools. There’s a real desire to centralise information, streamline repetitive work, and reclaim time—while still delivering the same high standard of tours.

And underlying all of this is the drive to deliver a consistent, high-quality customer experience. That means building systems and using tools that make things repeatable and reliable—not just once, but across every trip and every team member involved.

Are tour operators getting lost in too much tech?

I think it really comes down to how complex your business is. Context matters. There are operators managing their businesses with a dozen or more tools—sometimes even 20+. That might be okay for a large, complex business with a big team, but for smaller operators it can easily become overwhelming.

The issue is that it’s easy to fall into the trap of adding tools to fix minor pain points, without stepping back to ask: is this the best use of my time? You might spend hours researching a tool that saves you 30 minutes a month, when putting that same energy into sales or marketing could grow your business significantly. What’s the opportunity cost?

One of the principles I come back to is: your tech stack should match your business complexity. If your business is relatively simple, your tech should be too. But if you’re running a large operation with lots of moving parts, then yes, having a more layered stack makes sense.

There’s also a personality element here. I’m a tinkerer—I love testing new tools (and I know Mitch does too). But I’ve learned to be more disciplined. Just because something is new or exciting doesn’t mean it adds value to the business. It’s about understanding your tendencies and balancing curiosity with focus.

What’s the “jobs-to-be-done” approach to evaluating software?

The “jobs-to-be-done” framework comes from product design. When we build features at Fieldbook, we don’t start with “What can we build?” We ask, “What job is this solving for the user?”

That mindset is just as useful when buying software. Think of software like hiring a team member. You wouldn’t bring someone on board without a clear job description—so when you’re evaluating a tool, ask yourself: what am I hiring this software to do?

Be specific. Is it to generate itineraries faster? Automate payment reminders? Manage internal supply requests? Once you’ve defined the job, you’re in a much stronger position to assess fit, test the product, and ultimately decide if it’s worth keeping.

It’s also a way to stay focused. Most software can do a dozen things. But if you don’t know the one thing you really need it for, it’s easy to get distracted—or disappointed.

How should operators assess the platforms they’re using?

It depends on where you are in your journey. Early on, the focus should probably be on sales and customers—do you have a product that sells, and do your customers love it? You need to be getting bookings and validating your product. So naturally, your first tech investment might be a booking platform—or even just a simple form on your website if that gets the job done.

As your business matures, and you’ve got solid sales and a product that works, you’ll start hitting a point where the operational side becomes more important. You want to grow without burning out—lowering costs and reclaiming time. That’s when operators usually come to us, looking to streamline how they deliver tours: managing bookings, assigning guides, building guest documents, and so on.

Some operators start by cobbling together systems in tools like Notion or Airtable. There’s nothing wrong with that. In fact, it can be a smart way to learn what your needs are—but you do need the patience for it. Over time, the need for something more purpose-built grows—especially if your business is scaling, or you’re building a team and need more consistency.

How do you avoid endlessly chasing the “perfect” all-in-one tool?

This is a trap I see a lot of people fall into—the idea that there’s a magic tool out there that will do everything perfectly. But the truth is, software (like people) tends to specialise. One tool might be great at customer communication but not so great at backend admin. Another might excel at managing suppliers but fall short when it comes to sales.

I find it useful to think of your business in layers:

• Front office – tools that handle customer-facing tasks like bookings or enquiries
• Mid office – tools that manage operations, like planning and delivering the tour
• Back office – tools for finance, HR, reporting, and internal admin

No single tool does all three well. And even so-called “all-in-ones” usually do one or two of these layers better than the others. Understanding this helps you evaluate tools more realistically—and avoid trying to make a front-office tool do back-office work.

What role should customer experience play in tech decisions?

Like any decision in tech, it starts with the problem you’re trying to solve. Your customers don’t see your internal systems—they just experience the result. What they care about is responsiveness, professionalism, and quality.

Mapping the entire customer journey—from first enquiry to post-tour follow-up—can reveal where tech has the biggest impact. It helps you spot friction points and see where improvements could elevate the overall experience.

Ask yourself: Is this the experience I want to offer? Are we replying quickly enough? Are our itineraries clear and impressive? Are payments smooth? Does the handoff between team members feel seamless? These are the kinds of questions that highlight where your tech stack is supporting—or undermining—the experience you’re trying to deliver.

How does a CRM fit into the tech stack?

The term “CRM” gets thrown around a lot, but it means different things to different people. Some CRMs are built for long, complex sales cycles. Others are simple databases with contact fields.

So don’t just buy a CRM—buy a solution to a problem. Are you trying to keep track of who enquired and when? Do you need a record of past conversations? Are you looking to centralise your sales activity? If your sales process is fairly simple, you probably only need a simple CRM.

Start small if you’re just beginning. A shared inbox, Notion board, or simple Trello setup might be enough. But as your team grows, or your sales process becomes more complex, then yes—investing in a proper CRM makes sense. And having tried to build something yourself first often gives you a much clearer view of what you actually need.

Where does AI fit into all this?

AI is evolving quickly and is increasingly being built into the tools we already use, rather than existing as a standalone solution. It’s not a magic bullet that eliminates all admin work, but it can definitely boost productivity.

As with any tool, it comes back to the problem you’re solving. What specific need are you addressing?

One tip: think of AI as an asset that becomes more powerful the more data you feed it—especially your own. For example, we use AI to support our help documentation, and the more we feed it—chat logs, help articles, product info—the better it becomes at surfacing useful answers. The big takeaway? Start treating your internal knowledge and data as a valuable resource. Document your processes, build a wiki, and log key conversations. Even if you’re not using AI yet, that data will strengthen the tools you adopt down the track.

How can operators respond to rising customer expectations for speed, especially as AI raises the bar?

Speed has always mattered—but now, with AI and instant apps everywhere, it’s become a baseline expectation. People don’t want to wait days to hear back from you. And if your competitors are faster, they’re going to win the business.

Improving speed doesn’t always require new tech. Sometimes it’s about better internal processes. For example, if an enquiry comes in, do you have a system for quickly routing it to the right person? Do they have the tools they need to send a polished itinerary within hours, not days?

It’s worth mapping this out: from enquiry to response, what steps happen? Where are the delays? What can be improved—through tech, process, or both?

How important is it to evaluate the company, not just the product?

Crucial. A good product today isn’t enough—you want to know where the company is going tomorrow. What do they care about? Who are they building for? Are they making decisions that align with your needs? At Fieldbook, we obsess over the operational layer. That’s our focus, and we make hundreds of decisions every day through that lens. When you commit to a tool, you’re not just buying software—you’re investing in the company’s vision and their ability to grow with you.

Final thoughts: what are the most common mistakes to avoid?

Two things I see regularly:

• Tech whiplash – investing heavily in a tool, realising it’s not the right fit, and burning out your team by switching again. The cost of getting it wrong isn’t just time and money—it’s morale.
• Overstretching your booking platform – trying to make it do things it wasn’t designed for, like managing suppliers or building itineraries. That’s often when people come to us—after running into limitations and patching things together with spreadsheets.

So go slow, be intentional, and make sure the tool fits the job before you commit.