Carlson Wagonlit Travel will convert its hundreds
of Horizon online booking tool customers to a customized version of the Rearden
Commerce platform as part of a reseller agreement it has signed with Rearden,
the companies announced Monday.
After the conversions, which CWT North America
vice president of client services Brian Hace anticipates will take six to nine
months to complete, CWT will phase out the Horizon product, which officially
launched as part of CWT’s Symphonie suite of technology tools in 2002. All
Horizon customers have been notified of what CWT North America president Jack O’Neill
called "an upgrade."
To create the new CWT Traveler Assistant product, the companies are integrating a
variety of proprietary CWT products, including portal sites, profile management
systems, messaging tools, and unused ticket tracking and reporting capabilities.
Rearden Commerce founder and CEO Patrick Grady
said that CWT was demanding in ensuring its customer needs were met by
integrating such capabilities and called the new relationship "a
validation and a true partnership." While Grady said that he has been
talking with CWT since 2002, talks about this new relationship began in earnest
about 18 months ago. Work on the product started about six months ago and is
planned to continue for at least a year.
Grady said he saw this relationship as an
opportunity to expand Rearden’s reach to travel managers, and Hace said CWT
would benefit by expanding its clout with procurement executives.
"We believe in Rearden Commerce’s vision in
delivering the best user experience to travelers while advancing online booking
beyond the traditional travel components of air, hotel and ground
transportation," said CWT president of suppliers, products and technology
Andrew Winterton in a prepared statement that also noted CWT will continue to
support its reseller relationships with Concur’s Cliqbook and Sabre’s GetThere online
booking tools and its customers’ choice in selecting the tools that work best
for them.