In 2002, when Will Matthews was hired as Office & Systems Manager at G.A.P Adventures, the travel company’s Toronto headquarters had just 25 employees. Today — with an explosion of interest in the company’s off-the-beaten-path journeys focused on culture and nature — that number has grown to 100, with another 200 employees scattered across the globe in offices in Argentina, Mexico, Peru, Ecuador, England, Barbados, and Kenya. Plus tour leaders taking small groups on adventures that span all seven continents — from hiking Inca trails in Peru, to biking the European countryside, to exploring the wilds of Patagonia and Antarctica.
“What’s unique about G.A.P Adventures is that, in the grand scheme of things, we’re still a fairly small company — but we have the same challenges as a typical multinational because we’ve got offices all over the world,” says Will, who until very recently was the sole IT support person on the payroll.
How does one man keep such a far-flung organization connected, communicating, and collaborating? “The one-word answer is: Mac,” he says. We asked him to elaborate:
Ease of use. “Rather than develop a culture of fear of pushing the wrong button, I’ve always encouraged our people to play around with the Mac platform. With Mac OS X in particular, it’s easy to grant people that kind of liberty. System administration issues can be tucked safely out of the way, leaving all the fun stuff for people to noodle with. They quickly gain the confidence to take care of their own technical issues. That makes my life a lot easier.”
Carefree training. “Even if they’ve never used a Mac before, I can train people quickly because none of the applications are particularly complicated. I’m just finishing up my second week of lunch-and-learn classes for Keynote 3. Everybody has been delighted by how easy it is to put together a very slick and professional presentation, with little or no technical skill. Once you have that positive experience, you’re inspired to tackle whatever else you need to do — to the point where Mac technology has become a core part of the culture here.”
Reliability. “There’s no question that you get a better ROI with the Mac platform. There’s certainly less time spent on troubleshooting and repairing things. Less time spent setting things up and putting networks together. In most cases, it’s plug and play. So ultimately we’ve spent more money on growing the business — as opposed to growing the infrastructure required to support the technology.”
After four years managing G.A.P Adventures’ rapid growth, Will has finally hired his first IT Support assistant. “Now that I have a little help, I’m hoping to travel more,” he says. “I’d love to see more of South America this year.”
“It’s one of the cardinal rules of the travel industry: You can’t convince somebody to go somewhere unless you’ve been there yourself,” says Will Matthews of G.A.P Adventures. “Almost every one of our staffers has been on a number of our trips, so they can speak knowledgeably when they’re describing the experience to customers. We have people in the office who haven’t turned 30 yet — but they’ve been to all seven continents.”
G.A.P Adventures’ globetrotters use Mac technology, and its iLife and iWork media tools, to package their experiences in compelling presentations that blend pictures, sound, video and more. A few examples:
iPhoto. “iPhoto is so utterly simple, virtually everyone in the organization has learned it. Some staff shoot upwards of 2,000 digital photos on a given trip, so they’ll travel with an iBook or PowerBook to organize their shots. By the time they get off their flight home, they’ve already crafted a great-looking slide show, completely automated and set to music. Then they export the entire thing to CD, for use by our wandering sales reps when they visit travel agencies in various cities.”
Keynote. “These days, a lot of our people are crafting their own Keynote presentations. The ability of Keynote 3 to import media directly from iPhoto and iTunes, and to pull multiple media together — It takes the slide show concept to the next level. Many of them are creating very slick and persuasive presentations, almost immediately after their trips.”
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G.A.P Adventures
Worldwide Small Group Adventures, Safaris & Expeditions
19 Charlotte Street
Toronto, ON, Canada M5V 2H5
800.465.5600
www.gapadventures.com
Real World Encounters
From the start, G.A.P has been committed to offering low-impact tours that benefit traveller and host alike. They work with local communities, businesses and individuals to develop sustainable tourism opportunities that help local economies while minimizing negative environmental and cultural impacts.
From treks through Ethiopian mountains to yachting excursions through the Greek islands, the company’s unique and varied styles of award-winning trips are ideal for people with a sense of adventure — who want to travel off the beaten path, immerse themselves in the local culture and environment, and experience the real world. This could mean traveling with local people on public buses rather than looking at them through the window of a private tour bus; or staying at a small, locally-owned guesthouse rather than a large, foreign-owned hotel. It also means traveling in small groups — often a dozen people or less — that are less intrusive and offer more opportunity for local interaction.
G.A.P Adventures is the proud owner of the M/S Explorer, an expedition ship that cruises to Antarctica, the Arctic, and various destinations. Through its commitment to responsible tourism, G.A.P Adventures has also developed the Planeterra Foundation as a way for travelers to give back to the communities they visit. Planeterra supports community projects, local non-profit organizations, and international charities that work in the places where G.A.P. operates. They focus on the areas of health, education, community development, environmental conservation, and employment skills training.
