As an EECS student, today was the day I had been looking forward to for the whole trip. First on the itinerary was a visit to the Google Bangalore office followed by time at Sabre Holdings in the afternoon. Both companies are heavily involved in growing markets and we were able to hear about their strategies in the emerging Indian economy.

We started the day at the hotel and departed around 8:30 for the Google Bangalore office. We arrived a bit early and spent about 15 minutes in the lobby taking pictures of each other with the Google logo in the background. Once our host came and picked us up, we headed to the conference room they had reserved. In a small mix up, there was already a different group using the room for a meeting so while our hosts found a different room we waited in their snack area. Being the SELF Fellows we are, we started raiding all of the breakfast food and coffee in sight, making our hosts regret their hospitality. Next, we headed to the conference room and were given a short presentation on Google’s mission, philosophy, products, and an overview of the Bangalore office. Our host, Mr. Mysore, is the project lead for Google Maps in India and explained how Maps is evolving in a developing country like India. Specifically, he spoke about a lesser-known Google product Google Map Maker. This tool was described as the “Wikipedia of map making,” meaning that it allows individual contributions to maps if important information is missing. This is especially helpful in developing countries where it is not economical for Google to acquire all the data necessary to make the maps themselves. So, for example, the maps in countries in Africa and southeast Asia will be almost completely contributed by volunteers who will name the roads, bridges, and main locations in each city. Google encourages these contributions by hosting monthly “hangouts” with the sets of volunteers and helping them with any issues that pop up.

            Next we had a lengthy discussion about Google’s unique products and challenges, with two additional Google engineers. After our discussion, we were given a tour of the offices and unique amenities that Google offers. It would be an understatement to say we were completely amazed. A short list of what they offer includes: a cricket batting cage, massage room, nap room, video game lounge, free cafeteria, coffee bar on every floor and just incredible interior design from offices to conference rooms. Finally, (and reluctantly) we left the office for lunch at a restaurant called Herbs and Spices.

            We went straight from Herbs and Spices to Sabre Holdings’ Bangalore office. We started off by getting an overview of International Technology Park, where Sabre’s offices are located. We had a huge surprise waiting for us when we arrived and saw Simon McPherson standing in the lobby. Simon has been a friend of the SELF program for the last four years and has made the travel arrangements on all of the capstone projects. He has been a big part in shaping the amazing experience that the capstone provides to SELF students and we cannot thank him enough for his hard work the last four years. Fun fact: this was Simon’s first time in India too!

Next, we were given a tour of Sabre’s offices, which operate under an open-office style very similar to what companies are moving to in the U.S. We were really surprised by the age of the employees who all appeared to be under 30. Our guide, Mr. Joseph, explained that when Sabre opened the office they took the opportunity to hire young people who would shape the company culture moving forward. We were then moved to a conference room and given a company overview with three different product demonstrations. Sabre’s business entails providing unique software solutions for travel agencies, airlines, hotels, rental car companies, cruise lines, and even railways. In essence, they strive to link travel providers with customers in a way that benefits both parties. Sabre is a very large company with over 10,000 employees and is large in the travel industry conducting over $75 billion in transactions last year and accounting for 36% of all global travel transactions.

            As I mentioned, we were given three product demonstrations which included Flight Plan Manager, Travelocity, and Market Intelligence. Flight Plan Manager, as the name suggests, is used by pilots to help plan the flight of the aircraft. It takes into account: weather, the aircraft itself, regulatory requirements, and cargo/passenger information to help create the optimal plan in flying the aircraft. The demonstration we were shown was a flight from Kansas City (MCI) to Vienna. All of the information that this software made available to the pilot was truly incredible and I had no idea that all this work and calculations went on behind the scenes. After the demonstration a few fellows remarked that they felt much safer flying knowing that pilots have access to all this information.

The second product we saw was much more familiar to us, which was Travelocity. We were given an overview of how Sabre obtains the rates for hotels and flights, which is extremely complicated. There is an immense amount of work that goes on behind the scenes and Sabre writes all of the software to help process the data they receive on rates. With their direct connections with hotels and airlines, Sabre can update its prices for customers in as little as five minutes. The final product we saw was Market Intelligence which takes “big data” and creates a visual for all kinds of travel information. This simplifies the huge array of data which would otherwise be impossible for a person to read.

            As we headed out the door, Sabre gave us all (another!) goodie bag and we took some pictures in the lobby. We can’t thank Sabre enough for their generosity in making our capstone vision a reality. From the travel arrangements, to the goodie bags (sunglasses, pens, flashdrives, water bottles, etc.) and everything in between we sincerely appreciate their contributions to the SELF program. Our capstones over the last four years would have been immensely more difficult without their help and support.

            We then traveled back to the hotel on the bus and luckily Simon came with us. In the short ride, he told us some of his best traveling stories including many once in a lifetime experiences that made us all very jealous of his job. When we arrived, the hotel had planned a cocktail hour for us which lasted until we left for dinner. Around 7:30pm we left for the Barbeque Nation Restaurant. The restaurant was very unique in that it had two small grills in each table with charcoal in the bottom. Various foods from shrimp to pineapple were then brought in on skewers and placed over the charcoal. Only after stuffing ourselves for 30+ minutes did the restaurant staff tell us that the skewers were only appetizers and the main courses were on a table about 10 yards behind us. I don’t think any of us even touched the main courses because we were all so full. Luckily they did have ice cream and brownie pieces which made everyone happy. Finally we headed back to the hotel around 9:30pm and called it a night.