<B> Tech Talk</B>
By Mary Ann McNulty, Technology Editor
<B>United Outsources Res </B>
United Airlines last month signed a three-year, $21 million deal under which Lucent Technologies will support its 17 reservation centers, 4,900 reservationists and 686 voice mailboxes. Lucent will take over management of the systems and software supporting the centers, which already use a variety of Lucent products. The deal also calls for upgrading equipment to make it Year 2000 compliant and perhaps adding some new technology, such as interactive voice response. In outsourcing the business, United joins a rapidly growing trend. The call center market is growing at about 21 percent a year, and is expected to reach more than $15 billion by 2001. International Data Corp. predicts that revenues from call center outsourcing will climb between 15 and 25 percent each year for the next few years.
<a name="2"><B>Biztravel.com Still Looking For A Buyer</B>
Rumors about the future ownership of Biztravel.com continue to buzz through the industry, while company executives launch new technologies. Rosenbluth International CEO Hal Rosenbluth acknowledged to BTN that he's been talking to the online system and called its technology the "best we've seen." Rosenbluth made it clear that his interest in the product is for the "SOHO" and leisure markets, not corporate travel, for which Xtra Online is his agency's preferred vendor. "I'd be less than honest if I said I'm not interested in expanding, but I don't know what we're going to do yet. We're always looking for electronic options and this also complements our storefront offices," he said.
Biztravel.com has come into play as two top executives, CEO Jim Norrod and president John Williams, left in March. Executives told BTN that Norrod was scheduled to leave as he had completed the strategic planning tasks he was brought in to do. Executives have been looking at options, since the commission caps on online bookings have made it so difficult to make money. Meanwhile, Biztravel.com last month announced a new feature that issues tickets immediately upon purchase, and is expected to reduce the fare change errors that occasionally occur as a reservation sits in a queue waiting to be quality checked and issued.
<a name="3"><B>Accrue Analyzes Web Use</B>
If you've always wondered whether anyone ever reads their travel policy, Accrue Software of Fremont, Calif., has a product for you. Using its Accrue Insight Web analysis software, corporations can determine whether policy violators have ever visited the travel policy page of the intranet or read the expense reimbursement rules, or post a meeting agenda and monitor who reads it. Going beyond statistics on the number of hits to a Web site, Accrue is helping corporations perform business analysis on their intranet or Internet sites by studying cause and effect, the features users like best and whether response times are acceptable. In some unusual uses of the software, DreamWorks SKG has been analyzing the types of foods various departments order from menus posted on the company intranet.
<a name="4"><B>Internet Auctions Eye Travel Merchandise</B>
At least two of the rapidly growing Internet auction companies, FairMarket in Woburn, Mass., and FreeMarket of Pittsburgh, have been talking to travel suppliers and corporations about the potential for travel auctions. FairMarket made its trade show debut at Jupiter's @travel conference in Chicago last month, while FreeMarket has been calling on corporate purchasing departments to garner support for its auction products.