Agencies Expand Their Expense Reporting Roles

As they scan the landscape of more than two dozen automated expense reporting packages, a number of companies are looking no further than their travel agency for solutions.

At the same time, an increasing number of travel management companies today are positioning themselves as total solution providers and doing whatever it takes to deliver on the promise. From building their own T&E expense software to private labeling a third-party system to serving as value-added resellers to acting as technology consultants, travel management companies are expanding into expense management and systems integration.

One reason, agencies contend, is that customers are demanding it.

"Every single RFP today asks, 'what is your expense reporting product?' " said Laura Lane, manager of technology solutions for BTI Americas in Northbrook, Ill.

End-To-End Products

For agency and card vendor American Express, the decision to build a T&E package was clearly client driven, said Steve Norman, vice president of marketing for Amex Corporate Services. "We had reams of client requests for this."

Amex and Carlson Wagonlit Travel contend that their unique positions as both agency and card vendors allows them to offer clients software that automatically integrates booked and charge data. The intent, both have stated, is to offer all travel-related services a client wants, so they need look no further for other suppliers.

"We think they get more value for the dollar with our entire suite than if they would put it together on their own," said Andy Williams, the new vice president of interactive marketing and advanced technologies for Carlson Wagonlit Travel, Minneapolis.

Amex's Andy Mantis, director of expense management products, said each component stands on its own. "But we are in a very good position to have the whole greater than the sum of the parts by combining it all," he said.

As he looks at the market, Danny Hood, president of corporate travel and technology for WorldTravel Partners, contends that corporations with $2 to $50 million in air volume are typically the ones looking to agencies for systems. Some even are asking the agencies to include the offering in their proposal because they don't have a big capital budget for outright licensing. "Others with larger volumes are looking at various systems, testing them and buying best of breed," Hood said.

Consultant Shimon Avish of The Travel Management Group, Alexandria, Va., said the agency products "offer a price advantage in exchange for some decreased functionality, whereas the third-party products are routinely more expensive, offer greater functionality and a greater track record with clients."

Necho Systems Corp. in Mississauga, Ont., Canada, has relationships with sister company Rider Travel, as well as WorldTravel Partners and another U.S. agency, but "the reality is that the agency relationships really aren't the most important ones for customers," said Kim Layne, director of marketing. "We recognize that these relationships are important to the agencies, but clients want strong relationships with card vendors." Consequently, Necho is focusing on developing stronger relationships with card issuers.

What services are they offering? What value-add do agencies bring to the table? At what price? The answers vary, depending on which of four strategies agency executives are employing to offer T&E solutions.

For American Express, Carlson Wagonlit Travel, Travel One and Garber Travel, the strategy is to build proprietary T&E packages that are tightly integrated with booking and reporting. And, in the case of Amex and Carlson, tightly integrated with their card offerings, as well.

Over the past year, Amex has rolled out components of its Expense Manager package, picking up more than 140 customers along the way. Only a handful are using the auditor module, released in January, that allows corporations to automate auditing and policy compliance checks. The final component of the expense offering will debut this summer in the form of Expense Power, a powerful reporting tool that will allow users to analyze all data, including what was booked in the Rome automated booking module. Later this year, Amex intends to debut an Internet- and intranet-enabled version of Expense Manager to meet the growing demand for that platform. The product is priced on a per-user basis, ranging from $7 to $20 depending on volume, plus a one-time setup and customization fee of $2,500. The auditor module costs $7,500.

Carlson Wagonlit Travel rolled out its product in phases, with the release of the latest version of TransAct coming just last March. The reporting and card feeds from Carlson's Corporate Card became available earlier this year. Fewer than 10 customers are using the offering, but Williams said "a lot more are in planning stages."

As customers are using the product, they're increasingly asking for more features, better integration with the SoloAct booking and reporting modules, and a Web version, Williams said. Enhancements--including Web- enabled versions of all three modules--will begin debuting in September, he said. Countering critics who note that agency expense offerings are typically free, Williams said his offering has a price tag more in line with third-party vendor systems costing upwards of $100,000.

Rosenbluth International, meanwhile, opted to partner with third-party vendor Captura to customize and private label the option as Rosenbluth's Expense Management. The two companies have been working on customization that clients want and integrating the T&E software with the agency's E-Res, an e-mail based reservation request system, said marketing manager Kellie Epstein. The software accepts data feeds from the Amex and Rosenbluth corporate cards. Implementation is beginning now, with the first customer expected to be running the software by this summer or fall.

Like several other agencies, Rosenbluth offers a consulting practice that helps clients select and implement T&E solutions, among other things. "We want them to pick the system that's best for them," Epstein said. "If appropriate, we'd love them to choose ours, but if they want to choose another system, we'll work with them."

BTI Americas is forging marketing relationships with several vendors, but at press time was still working out the details, according to Lane.

"There are 10 products I would consider best-in-class to day, but who's to say they'll be around next year?" Lane said.

As part of Lane's consulting work for clients, she has been analyzing existing expense reporting processes, identifying what the client needs in a system and then developing a matrix showing which of the third-party systems best match those needs.

Although WorldTravel Partners has a strategic alliance with GE Capital and its partners, Portable and Necho, to offer an end-to-end solution, "we pray in all churches right now," said Hood. "We'll provide solutions and support, but remain pretty much charge card-independent and expense reporting-independent," he said.

However, WTP is certifying a handful of vendors it believes are offering "realityware, meaning they work and have real customers," Hood said. They include ADP, InterPro, Necho, Portable, Workflow and IBM. Beyond looking at the systems, WTP also is signing agreements with these vendors, and a few others including Amex, to provide data files from its CoRRE quality control system. The files contain booking data from all reservations.

In lab tests, WTP can export a company's $90 negotiated rate from a profile, along with the $110 rate booked and marry it to the $125 rate the traveler paid when he upgraded to a suite, Hood said.

Maritz has decided to stay out of the "build or buy" fray for now, opting instead to serve as consultant to its corporate clients by identifying the best system for their needs. The company will develop requests for proposals, evaluate bids and vendors and recommend options to customers, said Vic Havens, director of the new Maritz Travel Consulting Services unit.

Like BTI, Maritz is in the process of signing relationships with three or four vendors to make it easier to integrate products.

Omaha-based Travel & Transport has likewise begun to analyze vendors to determine which one or two they want to forge a relationship with, said vice president Patty Corbino. Only this quarter did T&T's top customers express an interest in such systems, she said.

Regional and super-regionals are offering clients expense software, with more than two dozen aligning with one vendor or another. Travel One and Garber were early adopters of expense reporting, both building systems last year. But only a handful of customers are using the products to date.

Workflow Solutions, which just released the configurable version of its NetExpense, has signed up 14 regional and super-regional agencies to market its product.

Portable Software earlier this year inked partnerships with Mutual Travel, Associated Travel International, QST Travel Group and FPT Travel Management Group.

VIN.net has forged three types of relationships with agencies, with the strongest being a partnership in which agency employees are trained to use and market the software. Agency groups participating at this level include McCord Travel Management, Chicago; First TravelCorp, Raleigh, N.C.; Northwestern Business Travel, Minneapolis; and the Alliance Group of Agencies, which includes Sea Gate, Robustelli, WorldTech, Austin, Fugazi and Stratton Travel.

Not all agencies believe they need to offer expense solutions. Mike Premo, president of SatoTravel, said "our belief is that most corporations in our strategy already have some sort of T&E system. But with that said, we don't think others will look to an agency as the source of a system.