ADP Rolls Out Agent Software For Midsized Accts.
<B> ADP Rolls Out Agent Software For Midsized Accts.</B>
By Sarah Welt
<I>Roseland, N.J.</I> - Automatic Data Processing's new travel agency-oriented program will give small to midsized corporate clients access--through their travel management companies--to the same booking and expense reporting tools that it markets directly to large corporate clients.
ADP this week is rolling out its Travel Agency Partnership Program, through which it will handle travel booking and expense reporting processes for travel agencies. The payroll company is in negotiations with 10 agencies in the $50 to $200 million range across the country and plans to close the first five deals by the end of March. Its goal is to sign up 50 travel agencies between now and the end of '98.
With the program, customers gain access to E-Travel's electronic booking solution and ADP's private label expense reporting software, e-Xpense, as well as an expense report receipt handling feature.
ADP set up TAPP "because it is obvious that the travel agency is the key other piece of this thing," said Robert Brandes, vice president and GM of ADP's e-Xpense business. "We are not looking to become a travel agency. We want to be a data processing company--that is what we are good at."
However, partnering with travel agencies is beneficial to both sides, according to Brandes. He said that the program is not designed for the mega agencies, but is a good fit for those agencies that do not want to invest in their own electronic reservations system.
To its agency partners, "ADP can provide back office and also introduce them to our client base," Brandes said. "That is really our strategy--to help our corporate customers. And how better to do that than to hook them up with good travel agencies and a good e-res system?"
Tapping Into Travel
ADP got into the expense reporting and travel reservations business because it felt they were a growing market of untapped revenue streams.
In April 1996, it bought an expense system from a third party developer, private labeled the product and began rolling it out to clients in a service bureau configuration. When ADP's client base requested that the company handle the front end as well, it partnered with E-Travel to provide the front-end booking system.
"E-Travel customized its software to really work well in a service bureau environment and to allow for more efficient access of CRS data across multiple clients," said Brandes. "It's also one of the few systems that is truly multi CRS." The booking tool works with Apollo, Sabre and Worldspan.
To facilitate the use of all products offered through ADP, the company will provide several ways to connect to the E-Travel server. Users can get basic Internet connectivity, but ADP also is setting up a virtual private network.
"This communication network will make it easy for remote travelers to dial into a local number and get a secure connection to the E-Travel server," he said. The company plans to offer local dial-in and a toll-free 800 number and dedicated link.
"If a big company has its own intranet and it wants to hook to our server, we can do that as well," Brandes said.
On the expense reporting side, ADP does the processing, and reimbursement goes directly back to the travelers' bank accounts. Then ADP provides files to allow the company to update its general ledger and accounting system.
ADP will sell customers any one of its three software pieces, but to participate in TAPP, agencies must commit to working with E-Travel's booking front end and to sign up a minimum of 100 users.
E-Travel's prices are based on access and booking. There is a basic access fee for each traveler, varying from $2.50 to $4 a month, a separate $2 to $4 fee for each completed booking, and a fee of $2.75 to $3.50 for each expense report.
There is also a one-time implementation fee for the booking system, typically a few thousand dollars, and another to have offsite expense reporting.