Customized CRS To Slash Corporate Costs

<B> Customized CRS To Slash Corporate Costs</B>

By Gayathri Santhirasegaran

A Malaysian agency is investing in a customized reservation system to save corporate clients travel and entertainment costs.

Sime Darby Travel will launch Megawise this month. The move signals the coming of age of Malaysian travel management companies, which increasingly are turning to tailor-made computer reservations systems.

Megawise features hotel and ticketing reservations. The ticketing module runs concurrently with Abacus International, providing instant and in-depth analysis of Sime's corporate clients' flight patterns. Sime Darby branch manager P.J. Martin said a growing number of corporate clients are using such information to evaluate ways to minimise travel costs. Clients are asking about "the number of flights their staff have taken in a month, on what sectors, and on which class. Megawise gives us those answers at the press of a button."

While the agency is "not looking at arbitrarily generating revenue from our clients, we want to help them save costs. That is our primary function as a travel management company," he added.

Megawise's hotel module, meanwhile, features room availability and contracted room rates at all Sime's designated international properties. It and the ticketing module will be the first two to be implemented.

Mayflower Acme Tours general manager Ngiam Foon said it is evident that the demand for agency technology is on the rise, and "it is only a matter of time" before all all agencies offer them.

He also said the burgeoning interest in the Internet is causing corporate clients to circumvent travel management companies, something Megawise could help prevent. "We cannot discount the Internet issue and the strong possibility that we will lose bookings to Internet applications," he noted.