Expense reporting suppliers CyberShift and Concur each announced alliances with online booking suppliers—NuTravel and Amadeus, respectively—to combine technologies for integrated offerings.
CyberShift and NuTravel are in the final stages of finalizing a combined tool that links pre-trip authorization, travel booking, expense reporting and employee reimbursement, CyberShift senior product director Craig Fearon said.
"We have created an innovative alternative for medium and large organizations who are tired of the rigid and expensive options offered by other firms today," according to NuTravel CEO Carmine Carpanzano. "We believe that our joint solution will prove itself to be a formidable competitor in the travel and expense management market for medium and large organizations."
CyberShift in recent years has announced partnerships with such booking suppliers as TRX and Rearden Commerce. NuTravel also has linked with other expense reporting suppliers, including Certify.com, which this month announced an integration agreement with Travelocity Business. Fearon said the agreement does not nullify any existing relationships and that CyberShift will continue to seek cooperation with other online booking tools, corporate card providers and travel management companies.
"We definitely are still an open system," he said. "We'll look at additional and expanding partnerships to round out the functionality that's not our core competency."
Earlier in the month, Concur and Amadeus IT Group announced a similar alliance, combining Concur's expense reporting capabilities with the Amadeus E-Travel Management booking tool. While Amadeus has established integration agreements with other expense reporting suppliers, including SAP and smaller regional players, this marks the first time Concur has agreed to merge technologies with a booking tool outside of its own Cliqbook offering.
The two companies plan to launch an integrated tool by the second half of this year, said Michael Hilton, Concur's executive vice president of worldwide marketing. Amadeus also will integrate its core distribution technology into Cliqbook, marking the first time Amadeus has done so with a third party.
"We've had a relationship with Concur/Cliqbook for a number of years, but this is really opening it up for value-added functionality," said Amadeus vice president of strategic planning and business development Stewart Alvarez. "The interface between Cliqbook and Amadeus will be much richer."
The alliance is a chance to broaden Concur's global scope, Hilton said, as was its 2009 acquisition of Etap-On-Line
(BTNonline, Aug. 17, 2009). The companies plan to market the integrated E-Travel/Concur tool in select markets, he said. "Europe and Asia/Pacific are two very important regions for this agreement, both where Concur and Amadeus have joint marketshare," he said.