<B>Rosenbluth Inks TRX Deal</B>
By Megan Hjermstad
Rosenbluth International last week announced it signed a global contract with Atlanta-based TRX Inc. to use EnCoRRe, the mid-office quality control application developed and supported by TRX. Rosenbluth will route traditional and online reservations worldwide through TRX service bureaus in Dallas and London that use EnCoRRe's reservation-checking automation.
Although Rosenbluth in the past licensed some software from TRX, this is the first substantial agreement between the two companies. TRX already extends its EnCoRRe service bureau model on an international basis to WorldTravel BTI and BTI affiliates. American Express and TQ3 Maritz Travel Solutions also are adopting the application.
Rosenbluth CIO John Dabek sees no conflict of interest for TRX to support Rosenbluth, despite its former ties to WorldTravel BTI, from which it spun off in 1997. "As part of our evaluation and investment, we wanted to deal with a partner, as opposed to a competitor. We feel very comfortable that TRX has our best interests in mind," said Dabek.
Rosenbluth's decision to implement a common technology backbone in the mid-office demonstrates its commitment to deploying technology from a global standpoint. Rosenbluth previously used Aqua Software in North America and some additional proprietary tools inside and outside of North America, but wanted a more centralized application.
"We are very much driven to quality and accuracy on a global basis," said Dabek. "We evaluated all the tools and products available, and selected TRX to create a standard around the world."
"Most major corporations are looking at standardizing how they process travel services across the world," said Trip Davis, president and CEO of TRX. "Behind the scenes, agencies have got to be able to provide a standardized level of service."
Rosenbluth's decision to partner with TRX, as opposed to developing a product and supporting it internally, benefits it from an economic standpoint, in addition to "allowing us to get up and running a lot faster," said Dabek. "It allows us not to have to worry about all of the technical issues and training, and enables us to focus on implementation."
Rosenbluth is working on its European implementation and on the initial phase of the North American implementation, both of which will be completed within the next 90 days. Rosenbluth in the next six months will determine further rollout dates of EnCoRRe around the world.
TRX will provide the hardware, software and staff to support Rosenbluth. "We have the leverage in a relationship like this to add servers and staff incrementally," said Davis. TRX initially will not make any modifications to the application for Rosenbluth, although TRX "can provide specific customization on a client-by-client basis," said Davis.
The technology ultimately will be visible to Rosenbluth clients in enhanced pre-ticket reporting capabilities, e-ticket tracking and monitoring of policy compliance. Said Davis, "On a go-forward basis, there will be recognition of enhancements in searching for fares, applying policy and on an aggregate level in data and trends.