<H1> Industry Goes Intranet</H1>By Cheryl Rosen
<I>Dallas </I>- The travel technology at the National Business Travel Association conference last year was back again this month with a new tale to tell. If the 1996 conference had a buzzword, surely it was "intranets."
Not even mentioned at last year's show, the concept of using corporate Internet sites as the simplest and cheapest platform for automated systems (<I>BTN</I>, Feb. 12) was hotter than Dallas in August-offering travel managers both a new solution and a cautionary example of how quickly "the right answer" can change when you are talking technology.
From Microsoft to Sabre, from Worldspan to WorldTravel Partners, from Rosenbluth to BTI Americas, intranet solutions will soon be rolling out like Texas tumbleweed. Virtually every supplier was offering the client-server system it promised last year-as well as a new version, accessible by dialing into the Internet, but on a private and secure Website for corporate employees only.
More than two months ahead of its original schedule, Sabre is rolling out an intranet-based version of its Business Travel Solutions to its first corporate customer, Vicki Smith at Cisco Systems of San Jose. The product, dubbed Laredo, will be priced the same, and use the same engine and core technology, as the distributed version of BTS.
TravelNet Inc. will roll out an intranet version this week, and add the ability to access Sabre as well as Apollo for CRS data. Internet Travel Network, whose itn.com Website is among the most popular booking sites on the Net-and forms the basis for the Internet sites of a number of large corporate agencies-is moving into the intranet business with its new Internet Travel Manager.
The idea of offering automated booking systems over internal, private Internet sites accessible only to corporate employees began to capture the interest of corporate travel managers this year (<I>BTN</I>, Feb. 12), and, six months later, 40 percent of potential customers are considering such a solution, said BTS vice president and general manager Sam Gilliland.
"The demand for intranet products began in mid-February and continues to grow," Gilliland said. "Such a system provides the same functionality to every desktop, and avoids the age-old problem of client-server technology: that you have to load new products on every hard disk. A lot of companies are saying that when they buy something, they want everybody to have it. So we decided to go out and build a system that would do just that, and drove the product to testing two and a half months early."
BTI Americas also will roll out an intranet version of its Portico system in early 1997. "I'd say that 25 percent of our biggest customers, the Fortune 500 customers, have intranets, and every single one of them is talking about putting a booking product on it," said account management and sales executive vice president Lee Turner.
"Whatever the number of our customers asking for an intranet solution, there's no question the number is increasing," said TravelNet chief executive Randy Malin. And even while stopping short of saying that intranet is the best way to go, Malin seemed to be hinting at just that.
"It would be presumptuous of me to tell customers which way to go," he said. "We built our system in client-server mode because that was the technology of the day-but based on corporate issues like firewalls, security and the various hardware platforms within the corporation, we think intranets are going to be very viable solutions, and that there's probably going to be as much or more call for Voyager in that form as in its traditional client-server environment."
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A number of travel managers with fee-based agency deals were fuming over Northwest Airlines' online commission cap (<I>BTN</I>, July 29), which threatens by the end of this month to cut commissions booked via the very intranet systems travel managers were at the show to find. "It's a disincentive to use Northwest," said Hewlett-Packard travel manager Phil Wilson. "It's only one small change, but it sets a precedent."
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While many travel managers are not yet ready to commit to systems that are still for the most part in beta, or even alpha, testing, a luncheon poll of the NBTA audience using the instant-feedback IRIS response system revealed a greater eagerness for technology than even most vendors had been predicting. A resounding 82 percent said they are evaluating automated systems, and a surprising 32 percent are ready to pick a product right now, despite the fact that many promising products are not yet ready for harvest.
Clearly, much of the push is coming from travelers. Two-thirds of the travel managers polled (68 percent) said they are concerned about losing their travelers' loyalty-and their market shares-to Internet and disk-based systems already available to individual and frequent travelers. Of the 26 percent of respondents who already have added codicils to their corporate travel policies specifically asking travelers not to book through automated systems outside the company, 29 percent reported problems in getting their travelers to comply.
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NBTA members voted down a proposal to allow travel agencies into the organization for the fifth year in a row. After six years in this organization, I still don't really understand why," said Connie Freeman, manager of travel services at Pitney-Bowes. "I'm a member of the Connecticut/Westchester chapter, where travel agencies are full members and an integral part of our growth and development." One insider noted that as members rather than simply exhibitors, travel agencies would pay much lower fees-and the annual conference would therefore make much less money. Others pointed to ongoing competition between travel managers and agents, and fears of having NBTA overrun by overwhelming numbers of agents.
With big bucks invested in sponsoring events and taking booth space at the show, several participating mega-agency executives were not overly pleased. Said one: "See this badge? It says non-member. I have to wear it. You know what it really says? 'You're outside. You don't belong.' "
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At its first-ever NBTA show just two weeks after announcing its alliance with American Express (<I>BTN</I>, July 29), the new Microsoft Travel Group demonstrated an early version of its automated booking system, code-named Rome. Notable features were the system's colorful interface, and its ability to bring up the best five itineraries. Microsoft plans to offer free text listings to hotels, but to charge for "enhanced listings" that include pictures of the property.
"The Internet is Microsoft's number-one priority, and travel is probably the most logical application," said product unit manager Greg Slyngstad. "We have 80 people working on this project, and management all the way up to Bill Gates sees this as a tremendous opportunity."
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Association president Judie Shyman was enthusiastic in her appraisal of this year's winner of NBTA's President's Award, which went to Peter Buchheit, director of travel and meeting services for Black & Decker. She noted that Buchheit, an association member for nearly two decades, "did a lot of work getting new members for the association," and isn't slowing down. "He's now chairing the airline committee, and he has taken on international responsibility with Black & Decker, so he's doing some globalization issues."
Walking away with comparable honors as Allied Council Member of the Year was Don Dailey, president of transportation corporation Carey International.