Travel and expense reporting supplier KDS this week announced the addition of two modules to its tool that allow companies to capture data both from offline travel bookings and direct invoices from hotel chains, travel agencies and lodge cards.
The KDS Total Travel tool shifts offline booking—trips that need an agent because they are too complex to be booked by the traveler through the online booking tool—off the phone and onto an online request form that is routed to an agent, said KDS CEO Yves Weisselberger. The agent will then send back trip options to the traveler.
"They'll select along the recommendations made by the travel agent electronically," he said. "Even offline booking through the travel agency will go through the system."
The module allows companies to enforce their policies, capture data and apply the "visual guilt" factor to offline bookings, according to KDS. In addition, the module will alert travelers requesting offline bookings that are simple enough to be booked through the online booking tool, Weisselberger said.
The second module, KDS Invoice Reconciliation, automates the cost allocation and reconciliation for imported supplier invoices, putting them in the same database as traveler-paid costs. Expense managers then can view and match these invoiced costs against trip data.
Both modules are available immediately, Weisselberger said.
The Paris-based KDS integrated its online booking and expense reporting tools almost three years ago
(BTNonline, Oct. 4, 2006), but Weisselberger said that integration alone is not enough to provide an end-to-end tool. "Adding these two new pieces enable companies to have a 100 percent, 360-degree view of their spend," he said.