E-Travel Upgrades Focus On The Agency Distributor
<B> E-Travel Upgrades Focus On The Agency Distributor</B>
By Cheryl Rosen
<I>Concord, Mass.</I> - E-Travel Inc. this month is rolling out a new version of its automated booking system that focuses on simplifying the process for travel agencies distributing the system and for corporate travel managers buying it.
The new version makes it possible for travel agency salespeople to set up a new corporate account on the system--including travel policy parameters for different classes of travelers--in the course of their sales calls to travel managers, said E-Travel president John Ackermann.
"Our success is going to depend on the success of our travel agency distributors, so our goal was to make it a whole lot easier to roll out the system and add new users," Ackermann said. "The set-up process for automated booking systems is often a long and complicated--and costly--process, but we made it possible for salespeople to turn on new corporate accounts and set up travel policy and user classes in a matter of minutes."
Changes to the user interface also cut down the number of clicks needed to look up and book travel reservations.
Ackermann said E-Travel sees its niche as being like the "Intel inside the computer," the behind-the-scenes engine of travel software marketed by others. The E-Travel system forms the booking piece of end-to-end solutions being offered by Unisys Corp., Automatic Data Processing, and corporate travel agencies like Northwestern Travel Management, Omega World Travel and Travel One. Those companies, in turn, support corporate customers including Coca-Cola Co., Fidelity Investments, Time Inc. and Watson Wyatt. Distributors pay a flat fee (rack rate, $5,000 a month for 1,000 users) and in turn package and remarket the system at whatever cost they choose.
Because it is aimed at distributors, E-Travel is "not interested in changing our system every month," but rather "is down to three or four new versions a year"--a schedule heading in the opposite direction of competitor Sabre BTS, which is focusing on speeding up its product development cycle this year (see story, page one). The slower schedule is designed to "allow plenty of time for our distributors to train their salespeople and support staff, and roll the system out to customers," Ackermann said.
As proof that the approach is working, Ackermann cited a recent poll of 325 travelers at three corporate user sites with a combined air volume of $1.5 million. They accessed the system 697 times and booked 140 trips in a two-month period.
The venture-capital backed company "can see an IPO in the future, but we are in no rush," Ackermann said. "What we are intersted in now is delivering high-quality, reliable products, and building relationships with distributors who stay on as participants in the process.