Building on the launch last week of Onyx CenterSource as our new brand name to unify our brands and better communicate our growth and expanded focus, I am pleased to announce today that industry pioneer Bill Nicholson has joined Onyx CenterSource as executive vice president & chief product officer.
As many of you know, Nicholson was a founder of Onyx CenterSource’s predecessor, Pegasus Solutions, and was responsible for the development of CA$H, the legacy Dallas-based payment engine. He was also instrumental in the early stage development of HomeAway, the sharing-economy vacation rental and booking engine. Additionally, he was the first managing director of Sabre Hospitality Services and, most recently, a member of the strategic advisory board for Lanyon, which develops software solutions for the meetings and events industry.
I asked Bill to tell us more about his new role and vision for our future. Please welcome me in joining him, and let us know what questions you have about the exciting changes going on here at Onyx CenterSource.
–CEO Mark Dubrow
Q: You’ve been involved in some pretty big-name, successful startups over the years, including our founding company, Pegasus Solutions. Why shift your focus to a well-established, 25-year-old company?
Nicholson: Not all innovations have to come from startups. Onyx is a widely known and respected leader that has positioned itself well over the last few years for growth and expansion into and beyond the hotel and travel agent commission recovery and payment arenas. This area is rich with opportunity, and the leadership at Onyx CenterSource has shown its commitment to moving responsibly, but aggressively, into new markets around the globe.
Q: Can you be more specific about some of the new products Onyx is working on?
Nicholson: It’s a little too soon to share details, but we are in the final stages of some exciting new product launches, both in our traditional spaces and beyond. In addition to hotel and travel agent markets, we are developing solutions for the meetings and events markets as well as new payment technologies.
Q: Will the company’s focus remain on hospitality, or do you envision expanding the company’s focus to include payments and finance solutions for other sectors?
Nicholson: For now, our focus is on developing the best next-generation payments solutions for hotels and travel agents. But we are looking at expanding into other areas of the travel economy, building on both our commission-payment and recovery systems as well as our other finance and accounting solutions. For example, Onyx recently introduced InvoicePro for travel agents, which provides a comprehensive invoicing solution, including the application of value-added tax, or VAT. We also offer PayRoute, which can facilitate the distribution of payments from online travel agencies, brand.com websites to individual hotels, and any affiliate payments as a cost-effective alternative to virtual credit cards.
Q: What are the biggest challenges the company faces as it embarks on this expansion, and what areas is it best positioned to lead?
Nicholson: One of the biggest challenges facing any company in the hospitality space is adapting new products to work with both the advanced and modern systems of inventive startups as well as the often-decades-old legacy systems of well-established hotel companies and travel agencies around the world. We have a solid track record in bridging these gaps and a strong commitment to continuing to help our customers tap into the latest and greatest technologies. We also have a wealth of data about hotel payment and travel trends around the globe and see significant opportunities for using our data to develop solutions to help our customers improve and grow their businesses.