Travel technology firm TRX late last month began a two-week beta test with six corporate customers of its new TravelTrax standard offering, which provides simplified reporting using Web 2.0 architecture.
TRX plans to incorporate feedback from the beta test into the product in time to go live with it at the CFO Rising conference in Orlando later this month, when it will make it available to new customers. It plans to give existing customers access to the new tool by the end of June.
"What we're talking about is the simplification of reporting and the ability to make some decisions based on comprehensive data," TRX CEO Trip Davis said. The new corporate data reporting tool initially will provide an eight-report summary on the traveltrax.com Web site, which customers can use to get high-level insight into their air, hotel and other travel-spend patterns and drill down for further detail, said Greeley Koch, TRX vice president for corporate solutions.
Koch said TRX initially conceived of the tool about one year ago to provide information for executives at companies without dedicated travel managers and with U.S. air volumes of about $2 million and smaller. All of the companies beta testing the product are of this size. Since acquiring Travel Analytics
(BTN, Aug. 14, 2006) and Hi-Mark Software
(BTNonline, Dec. 7, 2006) last year, however, Koch said TRX realized larger companies also need this kind of summary report tool. He said TRX would work to incorporate feedback from larger companies over the next few months.
Meanwhile, the tool has been strengthened by Hi-Mark's advanced data-stream capabilities, he said, and Travel Analytics' tools that show buyers the kind of programs that they possibly could negotiate. Those major enhancements, in fact, are what motivated the acquisitions of Travel Analytics and Hi-Mark, Davis said, explaining that TRX decided to develop the tool during its strategic planning process last spring. "This was a deliberate plan and effort to focus on corporate travel data reporting and management," Davis said.
While working with agency distributors is critical, he said, "We won't be shy about selling this directly to corporations."
Pricing for the standard offering has yet to be resolved, but TRX said it will offer the tool through an annual software license. TRX also soon will deliver a more high-powered "professional" version, and a version for travel agents that it calls an "enterprise" version.