Global distribution companies in the past month made strides
toward releasing their next-generation agent desktops, with Sabre Travel
Network introducing details of its Sabre Red Workspace, Amadeus gaining an
agreement from BCD Travel to adopt its upcoming Amadeus One platform for some
agents and Travelport preparing the launch of its Universal Desktop in the
second half of 2010.
Long in development, the new desktops are built around
graphical user interfaces that scrap the cryptic green-screen environment and
add functionality to the point of sale.
Echoing claims made by competitors about their own products,
Sabre Travel Network said its new agent desktop is aimed at simplifying travel
agents' ability to shop and book through graphic displays instead of typing
code into traditional global distribution system screens. STN president Greg
Webb said the offering would benefit corporate clients by enabling travel
management companies to increase cost efficiencies by driving more bookings and
better quality control through call centers.
Various aspects of Sabre Red are being made available
immediately, but Webb last month said others would be introduced in the next 30
to 90 days, with more to follow in 2011.
Sabre Red Workspace is based on a more open architecture
that can integrate with mobile services and allow bookings to be made by agents
without knowledge of old-fashioned global distribution system formats. Sabre
claimed that in the six-month pilot, conducted with 250 agencies worldwide,
training time and keystrokes were reduced by 50 percent.
TRW Travel Consulting president Tom Wilkinson cautioned that
the next generation of agency desktops could make way for the next generation
of agents. "A major advantage for TMCs is they can hire less experienced,
less proficient staff who generally will make less money," Wilkinson said.
"That has been a major incentive, particularly in the large
call centers," Wilkinson continued, "but there is a major downside to
that, in that if you get people inexperienced in the world of travel, their
ability to make a reservation is almost irrelevant if they can't support the
traveler. To be able to book a ticket from Houston to Chicago is useless unless
you know where Chicago is and what the traveler needs to do when they get
there. You need to understand the industry, hubs and connections, car rental
inventory issues and limitations and know what to do in a sold-out situation."
Though it did not mention plans to replace its agents, BCD
Travel last month became the first mega agency to agree to replace some
desktops with new systems based on Amadeus One technology. BCD joins other
early adopters Balboa Travel and launch client Travel Leaders, by signing a
letter of intent to use the platform as the foundation for a new agency desktop
it plans to deploy to select agents in the United States next year. Amadeus and
BCD still are in discussions as to the scope of BCD's use of the new desktop
and the degree of customization the travel management company will require.
BCD, however, has decided that Amadeus One system would serve as the "baseline"
for a new system that will replace tools "used by central service groups
based in North America, such as BCD Travel's central fulfillment and
after-hours teams."
For those agents, the new platform will replace a set of
other tools that make up its largely homegrown desktop platform, BCD Travel
senior vice president April Bridgeman said. Depending on the level of
customization and extent of deployment, Vic Pynn, executive vice president of
Amadeus Americas, said he expects BCD to take the system live in the first half
of next year. Travel Leaders, meanwhile, is expected to be the first to go live
with the Amadeus One platform, Pynn said, with piloting slated to begin in the
back half of this year.
—Amon Cohen contributed to this report.
This story originally
appeared in the July 12, 2010, issue of Business Travel News.