Travel Security Cos. Partner
New York-based risk consulting company Kroll Inc. and travel security firm IJet Travel Intelligence last week inked an agreement to combine by month's end their operations to provide more timely travel-related risk management support to their substantial base of international corporations.
Under the terms of the deal, Annapolis, Md.-based IJet, which contracts with self-booking tools, travel management companies and directly with corporations to alert business travelers of potential trouble on the road, will take over gathering and delivering of intelligence for Kroll. Likewise, Kroll will offer on-the-ground emergency services to IJet's customers. The partners expect the pieces to be completely in place within two months.
IJet made waves in March by striking deals to provide travel intelligence to both Sabre-owned self-booking behemoth GetThere and Atlanta, Ga.-based mega agency WorldTravel BTI. With its new partnership with Kroll, a publicly traded company and an established player in the field of risk management, IJet has cemented its position as a leader in business travel security, said CEO Bruce McIndoe.
IJet's alliance with Kroll triples its client base to more than 150 companies that contract directly with the travel security firm. IJet's existing customers include Cigna, Prudential Financial, Target and Texas Instruments.
"Kroll is outsourcing its travel intelligence to us because we can do it better, faster and cheaper," McIndoe said. "By the end of June, Kroll Intelligence Services will be powered by IJet, and we will serve Kroll's clients and have access to Kroll's services, including their on-the-ground security offices in 55 cities around the world."
Kroll customers will transition to an enhanced suite of services that integrate Kroll's historical information databases with IJet's 24-hour information collection, analysis and delivery capabilities, said Jeff Schlanger, COO of the security services group at Kroll.
Building corporate interest in travel risk management drove the partnership. "The market is booming, which is why we felt we had to update the way in which we get information to our clients and how we generate our intelligence," Schlanger said. Chiefly, Kroll wanted the ability to instantaneously transmit travel alerts over the Internet. "IJet had what we needed, the capability to provide information to our clients in real time," he said. "Our technology was dated."
Schlanger said that IJet's travel intelligence will fit in well with Kroll's other travel risk management services of executive protection, emergency medical support, crisis call centers and emergency evacuations.
"By partnering with IJet, we'll deliver better travel intelligence in a more timely manner," he said, which will arm clients with information about potentially disruptive situations.
Business travel industry sources report that interest in security remains high. Jeff Larner, corporate security investigator at Decatur, Ill.-based agricultural business Archer-Daniels-Midland, uses IJet to provide security alerts to between 1,000 and 2,000 travelers.
"We contract with IJet for two purposes: to provide travel intelligence to our travelers before they make the final decision to take a business trip and to have the ability to track and communicate with our employees in case there is an emergency," Larner said. For the foreseeable future, ADM plans to continue contracting with a travel security provider. Said Larner, "Concern with travel security is not waning a bit here."
Meanwhile, IJet's recent partnerships with WorldTravel and GetThere have paid off by providing the security firm with more recognition in the marketplace. "We are getting a lot of action in terms of clients that are either in trials or have already purchased our services through GetThere," said IJet's McIndoe, "Our partnership with WorldTravel BTI has spurred other travel management companies to consider offering standard security services with IJet. In the next month or two, we plan to announce some other major partnerships."