In response to a perceived need among buyers for a fully integrated and seamless end-to-end travel management solution, vendors are returning to the market with revamped attempts to reach for what some have called a "pie in the sky."
While end-to-end solutions in theory integrate all segments of the travel management process, travel booking and expense reporting have been two of the most likely candidates for integration. Three of the six expense reporting vendors at this year's Corporate Travel World conference in New York touted recently designed platforms that link booking tools with their expense reporting products. Through this integration, Outtask, Extensity and Concur have helped resurrect the end-to-end concept.
Meanwhile, the federal government is moving to put an end-to-end system in place by year-end.
"It's technology that everyone's been hoping for, but even for those who supposedly have it, we don't see anybody using it," said Carol Salcito, president of consultancy Management Alternatives.
Outtask has been among the most vocal in extolling the virtues of linking booking with expense with the claim of taking the "&" out of "T&E." When Outtask early last year added its Cliqbook self-booking tool to its small stable of office solutions, the company set its sight on integrating booking with its Vinnet expense reporting tool. Outtask said the two products are aligned closely because they have similar underlying technology. So far, Outtask has made strides in mustering customer interest and implementation—albeit limited—in the combined solution from such companies as Ciba Specialty Chemicals, Jackson Products and Vought Aircraft Industries Inc.
"We're still seeing a very segmented buyer," said Ross Atkinson, Outtask vice president of sales and marketing. "The CFO doesn't say, 'I want an end-to-end solution.' The travel manager, on the other hand, usually says, 'I get it, let's bring in the finance department and have one conversation.' "
Ciba, which has been using Vinnet for several years and late last year began piloting Cliqbook, is still in the early stages of rolling out the combined system companywide. James Lenehan, manager of business and technical support for the Tarrytown, N.Y.-based chemical company, said Ciba has about 1,500 people on Vinnet and an estimated 130 travelers signed onto Cliqbook. The company is aiming for 50 percent adoption of the booking tool by year-end.
Other vendors have stuck with their core competencies and linked with partners to facilitate an end-to-end solution. Concur and Extensity both have struck up relationships with booking vendors to build an interface that allows users to access corporate booking within the expense management platform, resulting in itinerary prepopulation into expense reports and an easier user experience. Concur this month announced the option to access corporate booking and facilitate pre-travel authorization within its expense management software. The company now is demonstrating such integration with Sabre's GetThere booking product, though Concur said the expense platform can be linked to any major booking tool.
"At this point, based on the range of the booking tools, we've tried to make this as agnostic as possible," said Chris Juneau, Concur senior director of product management. "We specifically integrated with GetThere initially because it represented a large number of customers."
Concur said it is not actively marketing the product with any particular booking provider, but it is using the integration option to add value to its own expense reporting product. The company has yet to bring customers into the fold for its integrated offering.
Extensity offers integration with GetThere and TRX's ResAssist booking tool. The expense management provider this week will launch its integration with TRX ResX at the Association of Corporate Travel Executives tradeshow in Las Vegas, according to A. G. Lambert, Extensity senior vice president of product marketing. Thus far, Extensity said it has brought up one customer with GetThere and is integrating another with ResAssist.
GetThere said its system also links to IBM's Expense Reporting Solutions, which has garnered customer interest from such companies as Xerox, one of the handful of companies that can boast a working end-to-end system
(BTN, Jan. 29, 2001)."We have a link called Direct Data, and that's our XML interface. So, we've created a standard application programming interface and typically work with the different vendors to use that API," a GetThere spokesperson said. "It's an open standard to synchronize the data that goes between two systems."
"The big thing that's going to restrict corporations from implementing end-to-end solutions quickly is limitations on capital expenditures," said Bob Lichtman, Santa Clara, Calif.-based consultant with Corporate Solutions Group. "That's the biggest stumbling block right now. As the economy gets better and more capital expenditures occur, travel managers will look toward implementing truly end-to-end solutions."
While implementing such a solution companywide requires significant investment in money as well as IT resources, the ability to link together components already in place can put less of a burden on a company's treasury than purchasing a new system, some sources said.
"If you already have a solution in place, integrating can be cheaper," said Lori Whitted, Worldspan vice president of corporate and government e-commerce solutions. "We don't find integration is cost-prohibitive. Overall, it's a good ROI."
Worldspan and Ariba last summer partnered to integrate Worldspan's Trip Manager booking tool with the Ariba Buyer procurement technology for joint client PNC Bank. The integration did not have an expense reporting component. However, Jennifer Chang, Ariba marketing manager, said PNC is seeking to add such a component. "It gave them the capability to procure travel very much like procuring anything else," Chang said. "The advantage there was to streamline usability and leverage the same platform, allowing PNC Bank to manage the entire enterprise spend through one platform."
Ariba said it also is in design development with Worldspan, as well as such other partners as KDS and GetThere, to provide a travel end-to-end solution for general use. Chang expected a prototype to be ready this month, with availability by year-end.
Integration Is Not Everything
While some vendors continue to extol the virtues of booking and expense integration, others are not as keen on the idea and have chosen not to make it a selling point for their offerings. Gelco, which provides an expense reporting solution and offers integration into financial and human resources systems, has found little value in linking booking with expense and will not explore such a solution for the corporate sector.
"I don't think it's taken off for corporations because what is the significant value?" said Dave Rotman "It sounds great, but it falls short in delivering a large value. The reason for that is you're combining two different types of transactions: a financial transaction—in terms of an expense report being submitted like an invoice to your company—with a booking and travel procurement activity, which is not finalized. The two are close, but it does not create a huge value.
"Does the online booking tool provide taxes? Does it provide any fees the hotel might charge?" Rotman continued. "So, you've prepopulated my expense report with something I already get off my corporate card. Where is the value?"
As online booking adoption remains at under 20 percent across the board, a BTN survey of 410 travel managers from companies of all sizes conducted last year found that only about 24 percent of companies were using an automated expense reporting tool. Rotman concluded that the merely partial penetration of both tools among businesses of all sizes further questions the value of linking them.
"End to end was an exciting concept for most travel managers," Lichtman said. "The logic just seemed natural to move to that type of environment, but the hype and excitement was quelled because systems were having trouble integrating together."
While Gelco said it does not see value in end to end for corporates, it does see purpose for an integrated solution in the public sector. The company currently offers an end-to-end solution to the government, officials said.
"The reason why it has taken off in the public sector is that it is mandated. It isn't joining a financial system for a corporate entity, rather it's joining a government-mandated travel process. It doesn't necessarily have a financial component the way it does in Corporate America. In other words, I'm not reimbursing an individual per se, I'm following government-mandated travel policy. In that case, you do have a market that's different and a market that's been very receptive to our end-to-end solution."
It is in the public sector that the biggest strides in end to end are being made, as the federal government this year latched onto the approach with its e-travel initiative. The program, which is part of the Bush Administration's e-gov initiative, has set the goal to implement a governmentwide end-to-end travel management system by year-end. The government's end-to-end vision comprises the interfacing of several functions in the travel management cycle, including pre-trip authorization, online booking, expense reporting as well as integration into financial systems. In February, the General Services Administration released its request for proposals to the widespread interest of vendors, all of which are seeking a piece of the $10 billion contract. GSA expects to see bids both from single suppliers as well as alliances.
Despite a large response to the RFP, vendors are unsure what impact, if any, the government's e-travel initiative will have on the commercial segment. "Hopefully, this will cross over to the commercial segment sooner versus later," said Lichtman, who is working on the initiative as a consultant to GSA.
While some government travel initiatives in the past have provided to vendors research and development money that ultimately benefits corporate programs, many are skeptical that will be the case here. "We don't think the government thing will be a roaring success," said Dan Bohan, COO of Omega World Travel. "There are different agencies and to standardize will be difficult." Omega World Travel is among the vendors bidding for the GSA program.
Zegato, a public sector travel technology provider, in January deployed a six-month pilot for the e-travel initiative in the Department of Veterans Affairs. Zegato, which currently supports upward of 25,000 government employees on its system, said it provides one of the only truly end-to-end proprietary travel management solutions, where all the components come from one vendor. While the company currently is focused on the government, CEO Don Bailey said that by year-end Zegato would bring its Web-based end-to-end solution to the commercial segment. "We've already been able to prove this solution on the federal side," Bailey said. "It goes beyond booking and expense, and combines all the components of end to end."