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, the companies announced last month at
the National Business Travel Association International Convention &
Exposition in Houston.
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 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 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," claiming "we could not be more integrated across every
part of our organizations, field operations, new sales, account management,
product management and marketing."
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.
The companies expect CWT customers will begin to implement
the new platform in the fourth quarter of this 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 noted CWT will keep supporting its online booking
reseller relationships with Concur's Cliqbook and Sabre's GetThere and its
customers' choice in selecting the tools that work best for them.
This report originally
appeared in the Sept. 6, 2010, issue of Business Travel News.