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GDSs Are Advancing The Next Generation Of Travel Agent Desktops

By Jay Boehmer / August 05, 2010 / Contact Reporter
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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.

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