CSI GlobalVCard WIll Launch Booking Tool as Part of Mobile App
Phase One of CSI GlobalVCard's mobile app relaunch will
offer some nifty improvements. Phase Two will offer a totally new travel booking
capability targeted to small and midsize organizations.
In April, CSI GlobalVCard will launch a white-labeled
booking tool, powered by AmTrav. CSI GlobalVCard's application programming
interface integration with AmTrav will automatically pull a virtual card to pay
for a booking, so no one will have to enter a virtual card number manually, CSI
SVP of travel Juliann Pless told BTN. The booking tool initially will be
targeted to CSI's small and midsize clients that use its accounts payable
products but not the virtual card travel product. Pless said the company is
very much targeting the small user "who may not think they need to use"
a travel management company.
Later this year, however, CSI GlobalVCard will roll out a more
robust booking utility within its mobile app that will allow the user to
request, receive and use a virtual card for booking travel, Pless said. The
company is evaluating whether it will offer the booking capability by
connecting to a global distribution system's API or through a TMC's booking
tool. "We are keeping our options open with regards to the booking
mechanism, as there are a lot of potential integration points and we want to
evaluate which one makes the most sense while keeping us as agnostic as
possible and enabling the greatest connectivity across the market," Pless
said.
Payments provider CSI GlobalVCard has opened a London office
to support its multinational clients in Europe and will offer as many as 120 currencies
through a partnership with corporate prepaid payments firm PrePay Solutions,
CSI GlobalVCard SVP of travel Juliann Pless told BTN. The London-based PrePay
Solutions—70 percent owned by France's Edenred and 30 percent owned by
MasterCard—offers virtual, prepaid, loyalty and gift cards, among other products.
CSI Enterprises has offered payment solutions since 1989, including purchasing
and fleet card solutions, for verticals like advertising, media, sports and
entertainment. In 2013 it expanded into business
travel by partnering with travel management companies and offering GlobalVCard
to customers. It partners with 15 TMCs, primarily in the U.S., and brands the
company as CSI GlobalVCard.
CSI GlobalVCard, which issues in Canadian and U.S. dollars,
will add euros and British pounds and gradually expand to other currencies,
Pless said. "The driving reason for us going global was: Our clients in
North America who use virtual cards for accounts payable … wanted to mirror
what they were doing in the States with all of their global offices and
locations and didn't want to use multiple providers," she said. CSI
GlobalVCard will tap into PrePay Solutions' currency capabilities and utilize its
technology on the back end, and CSI GlobcalVCard will serve on the front-end
with customer-facing technology.
Expanding Virtual Card's
Use
In 2016, CSI GlobalVCard's processed volume grew 4,000
percent year over year, resulting from an increase in hotels that accept
virtual cards, partnerships and the types of travelers using virtual cards,
according to Pless. "Instead of just using virtual cards for contractors
or recruits, customers are seeing the benefits and rolling it out to all their
travelers and employees, including executive-level travelers."
Clients also have expanded use cases to airline tickets and
are evaluating others. Previously, clients used virtual cards primarily for
lodging, she said. Last July, CSI signed a partnership with Avis Budget Group
to enable virtual payments for car rental; CSI will integrate directly with Avis
Budget's website and several TMCs, but the companies are still working out the
logistics.
CSI GlobalVCard also is exploring the use of virtual cards
in meetings. While some of its customers already use virtual cards for booking
meetings space or holding blocks of rooms, Pless said that's not done through direct
integrations with partners. A direct integration could improve, for example, the
process of sending guest names for room blocks, now typically sent to hotels as
Excel spreadsheets. "We'd look to automatically send that out by
[developing] a way for our system to ingest that information from either a TMC
or another partner," Pless said.
CSI also is integrating its purchasing card and virtual card
data with Certify.
Revamped Mobile App
CSI globalVCard soon will relaunch its mobile app, Pless said.
Two features will remain after the app redesign. Program managers will continue
to be able to send virtual cards to the app so travelers can display card images
and numbers at check-in. And travelers will continue to be able to resend fax
confirmations for the cards.
Additionally,
the app will feature a user display with local weather and images of the city a
traveler is in, based on geolocation. It also will offer links to Uber and
expense management systems, Pless said. The company plans a soft launch at the
end of March to hundreds of end users at 75 companies.