Web-Centric Travel Management An End-To-End Solution

<B>Web-Centric Travel Management An End-To-End Solution</B>

The travel industry has been working to realize the vision of end-to-end travel automation. The goal is to flow reservations from the front-office CRS or online booking system, through agency systems to an automated expense reimbursement system. Data from PNRs and expense reports should be melded in a data warehouse, which would provide total management information to the corporation.

End-to-end automation would eliminate the disparate agency, charge card and financial reports that companies now have to use. Automated expense reporting, of course, would capture actual spending (since travelers never fail to submit expense reports). The system would reconcile fares and rates booked with amounts submitted for reimbursement. This would ensure that vendors charge correct rates and travelers don't circumvent policies. The warehouse could present any report or template in any format, either on demand or on a pre-set schedule (daily updates with graphical trending analysis would be a snap). Managers could drill into any data point for insight or clarity.

The obstacle to reaching this "Holy Grail" has been the incompatibility of two fundamentally different automation systems: the computer reservation systems and online travel booking systems, which use different, proprietary logic and formats than financial systems, which are standard database applications.

Emerging Web-centric travel management leapfrogs these issues. Webcentric programs put the gateway to all travel services right on the corporate travel Web page. In a Web-centric program, travelers have direct access to the information and services they need. They can make online bookings and access agency, charge card or preferred vendors. They also can get answers to questions about policy, meetings or local travel facts. Extranet links can make direct connections seamless to travelers.

Web-centric travel managers have unprecedented control over, and access to, real-time information. They also can distribute and control information about deals, policy, FAQs, meetings, maps and local destinations. A preferred hotel or airline can be changed, effective immediately, with a few keystrokes. Travel managers (or even better, budget managers) can get instant notifications about travelers who don't follow the rules.

If it's good, they will keep coming back. Perceptions and definitions of good service will change. Better information will shift market share to preferred vendors, increase use of deeper discounts and lower travel costs. Managed online bookings are faster and cheaper than phone calls. It also lowers booking/process costs.

Web-centric travel programs require new relationships between agencies and corporate clients. Smart companies now see the online booking system as the backbone of managed travel.

Tiered pricing for online booking is essential and economically rational. Agencies are compensated when they add real value. File finishing has less value and should cost less than managing the entire booking.

Web-centric management is bigger than online bookings. Multi-channel extranet access to vendor inventory and proprietary Web sites is coming. However, online bookings create the mindset and grab the low-hanging fruit. Web-centric management built around an online booking system provides the infrastructure for the evolution.

In a Web-centric model, end-to-end automation is subsumed as policies are integrated in to the booking process and data integration occurs in real time. All information goes through the center of the circle (the Web page) that is controlled by the travel manager. TCP/IP and XML will share all the resources and information.

Travel managers will focus on defining and managing the look and feel of their travel Web portals. They will source and provide "best in class" applications (including human services) from separate vendors. Travel managers will require and ensure that these vendors and services work together, and that they remain best in class as all the rules of distribution change.

Travel distribution has been stood on its head. Smart companies need to take aggressive and very different approaches to purchasing travel services. We all recognize that if you pull an RFP out of a magazine or off a Web site, it won't even be asking the right questions. You certainly won't get the right answers.

<I>Tom Wilkinson is president of the Travel Management Group, an Alexandria, Va.-based travel management consulting firm.