Meet Yvonne Rascan

Director of Implementation, Midoco Mid- & Backoffice

First something about you

Who is Yvonne?

... a very multi-faceted person: I do things my way, I'm determined and strong-willed, but I also like to laugh a lot. In my immediate environment, I'm often referred to as a stickler for principles - which (unfortunately) actually describes me pretty well, because I always have to be fair and honest and keep my word. I don't like dishonesty and unreliability at all, almost less than beet or tomatoes.

I am particularly grateful for my ruthlessly honest mirror - my 9-year-old son - because there are so many situations that can be abstracted from dealing with children, the lessons of which can help you in your professional life. I'm interested in so many things, but especially psychology and spirituality, I don't believe in coincidences but in destiny and I'm a music fan of all styles through all eras, so the adjective I started with fits again: multifaceted.

How did you get into tourism?

Rather unplanned - I didn't actually want to come here...
My plan was either to go to music college or to study to become a teacher - but as you can see, neither of those things happened, luckily, because otherwise I wouldn't be answering the questions here :-)

I graduated at college in the south of England, but in order for this to be recognized for studying at a German state university, you need a natural science, among other things, and unfortunately that's not my thing at all. As an aimless 18-year-old without a German university entrance qualification, I was persuaded by my mother to work at check-in for Airberlin at Düsseldorf Airport, but to be honest it was only because the job looked glamorous and the ladies were always dressed so smartly - I wasn't interested in tourism at the time. At some point I realized that a life with an hourly wage of EUR 5.83 was anything but glamorous and so I went to a private university to study tourism management and foreign language correspondence.

After graduating, I worked for a few years at a tour operator in product management, which wasn't varied enough for me personally, so I ended up at Midoco in search of more of a challenge. The job advertisement said "varied tasks" (or something like that). So today, in my thirteenth year here, when I come across a challenge again, I (usually) accept it with a smile, think of the job advertisement from back then and say to myself soothingly "that's what you wanted"...

You are Director of Implementation at Midoco Mid-& Backoffice. What does that mean? Do you have any examples of your day-to-day work?

Each day brings a unique set of challenges—no two are ever the same—and this, for me, is where the real value lies: flexibility. Successful implementation isn’t about strictly following a preset process, but rather about having the intuition and adaptability to respond to shifting requirements and evolving situations.

I often liken the transition to a new mid-office system to delicate, precision work—akin to heart surgery—where every detail matters and there is no room for error. It's understandable that such a significant change can bring uncertainty for those involved. That’s why one of our core responsibilities is to offer guidance and reassurance, supporting our customers throughout the process. This requires us to truly understand their business, daily routines, unique challenges, preferences, and even concerns. Because each client is different, there is no universal blueprint for implementation; instead, we must approach every project with openness, constantly reassessing and adapting our steps as needed.

Such a process calls for agility, transparent and ongoing communication, and a foundation of mutual trust. Sometimes this means advising an alternative path if we are confident it will deliver better results. For our clients, it often takes courage and trust to embrace new ways of working and commit to the journey of innovation. Witnessing a client reflect at the end, "I'm glad we made this change," is always gratifying. Change, after all, requires courage.

Say a few words about Midoco Mid- & Backoffice.

Why is it so useful for travel agencies?

There are so many administrative tasks and processes that are recurring and always the same in our industry, which often don't require people at all, but a well-defined rule and technology that takes over the necessary automation. Midoco not only automates these recurring administrative tasks, but also leaves no room for human error.

A good example of this is one of my customers who reported that before he deployed Midoco Mid- and Backoffice a 5-figure sum was lost every year due to errors in the calculation of service fees. A well-defined service fee rule that is then automated, on the other hand, costs a few hours of working time once. As soon as Midoco takes over these recurring administrative tasks, the employees can of course focus much more intensively on the sales process and the customer, which has a direct impact on the quantity and quality of sales.

Are there any things you would like to emphasize in particular?
Absolutely! Much of the above probably applies to mid-office systems in general. However, since the question was not why mid-office systems are so useful, but rather why Midoco is so useful, a brief digression to a key point that I have already used before: Flexibility.

There is no rigid "The Midoco", rather Midoco is different and unique for each customer, just as it is helpful for the respective company. For some, Midoco automates the dispatch of travel documents, for others the calculation of complex tax issues. I'd like to ramble on, but unfortunately the instruction was "say something".

The question must not be omitted

Where does Midoco Mid- and Backoffice stand in the age of artificial intelligence?

Once again, this is a wonderful bridge to one of the previous questions, because it is equally true for us that many things in our day-to-day work no longer need to be done by a human. This ranges from taking meeting notes and documenting a complex topic to creating software code. There are many things where we are already using AI internally to help us become more efficient for our customers. Who knows, maybe one or two functions will soon be included in the system ...

Would you like to paint a picture of the future/forecast for Midoffice? Where is the journey heading?

There are still one or two companies that get by with Excel and Word. I think that this will become even less common in the future and at some point it will be essential to use a mid-office system. There are more and more legal requirements that make it almost impossible to keep up without technology or only with immense administrative effort, which again comes at the expense of quality and quantity in personal contact with customers and sales.

Finally, do you have any advice for travel agencies?

I would like to quote one of my previous answers "Change means courage" and echo what my wonderful colleague Alice said in response to the same question: Willingness and courage to change, as well as openness to new things (technology, circumstances) and also flexibility can make a huge difference (and I actually haven't heard anyone who regretted it in the end).

Who should we introduce next?

Let's switch continents and hear what Sheila Thorp from Umbrella Faces has to say!