Business Travel News - December 15, 2008 - (Page 20) TRAVEL MANAGEMENT HRG Accelerating Efforts To Build Common Tech Platform BY SETH HARRIS office systems, invested in new U.K.-based multinational travel telecommunications and further demanagement company HRG is refo- ployed components of its overarcusing its technology development ching Universal Super Platform efforts, redeploying resources and technology infrastructure, now moving product upused by some of its grades up the prioragency partners ity list to accelerate and clients. its move to an enIn Europe, HRG hanced, common has further invested technology platform. in its business travel “As far as we are capacity manageconcerned, now is ment project by upthe time to bring tograding telephony gether resources,” systems, which ensaid HRG CEO David ables calls to flow Radcliffe. “That is around Europe and where they are getmore agents to miting that value and grate to home ofHRG CEO DAVID RADCLIFFE that’s where they fices. In the United Building common tech platform won’t mind paying us Kingdom, there are for the value. I’m not now 14 business looking at huge technology reduc- travel centers, down from about 45 tions. I’m looking at redirecting it and five years ago, and more than 200 making what we’ve got even better.” home-based agents, according to The travel management compa- Radcliffe. “That is a natural conseny this year combined some back- quence of technology,” he said. HRG technology in Hong Kong and Singapore links with its regional financial center in Melbourne, which now houses a centralized round-the-clock multilingual travel alert team to “provide scope to rationalize our operations across the region,” according to the company’s half-year interim results, released late last month. With agency partner Dnata, its largest shareholder, the travel management company in 2009 will roll out a common technology platform in the Middle East, including elements of the super platform now being deployed in other regions. Deployment of such Universal Super Platform components as the HRG Point of Sale agent desktop and HRG Online is accelerating and heavy upgrade work is underway on a proprietary data suite. North American back-office operations have merged and “there is a big drive at the moment to put our new desktop technology on board,” Radcliffe said. Other initiatives include integrating its online booking products, including its hotel booking tool and HRG Online, with other self-service reservation applications, as is being done for one large U.K.-based client. Such technology can accelerate system consolidation and enable more standardization across products, according to Radcliffe. “When self-service reservation technology first came on board, a lot of people shrieked eureka and started to put it in, then in two or three years time realized it was costing them more to have highly paid employees do what our lower-paid employees can do for them,” Radcliffe said. “This is the issue where we have to get better as an industry in standardizing some of our products and get the message to clients that there is a common base here with common minimum standards.” ■ sharris@btnonline.com ■ Amex Business Travel Taking Targeted Approach To Tech Investment BY SETH HARRIS American Express Business Travel, amid a companywide cost-cutting initiative, is taking a more cautious technology investment approach by reducing nonclient-facing staff and closing infrastructure gaps in its global standardized call center operations in emerging markets. Meanwhile, in the United States, the company plans to complete converting the Sabre and Apollo agent desktops to its internally developed Gateway agent workstations next year, according to American Express Business Travel COO Priyan Fernando. With most of the call center and global technology infrastructure heavy lifting done, including converting to a common global distribution system in Australia, Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom and the United States, the company now is “investing very judiciously,” said Fernando. “This is the time when we can gain marketshare, so we Access the 2008 Corporate Travel Index see btnonline.com/perdiem are not shying away from investing where there are opportunities,” he said. “We are very pointed in the areas that we are investing in.” In late October, following a third quarter in which net income dropped 24 percent year over year, American Express announced plans to cut $1.8 billion in costs in 2009, including the reduction of 7,000 jobs or about 10 percent of the global workforce. Other announced plans include reducing investment spending on technology, marketing and business development. The business travel division has begun staff reductions in several such non-client-facing areas as technology, marketing, finance and human resources. While nearly all travel management companies are reviewing their staffing levels and operating expenses these days, Fernando said the company’s completion of the global operations and services standardization (BTNonline, Sept. 24, 2007) has put the company in a favorable position to handle slipping travel demand and a worsening economic climate. COO PRIYAN FERNANDO Looking to gain marketshare “We always have to have flexibility in our expenses, and one of the reasons we invested in common plat- forms around the world was to create that flexibility where we can flex up and down depending on volumes,” he said. “Because we now have the ability to transfer volumes from one center to the other, we have been able to thus far handle the reduction in volume, taking advantage of attrition and the flexibility of our workforce.” The company also experienced sliding global corporate travel sales in the third quarter, in which sales volume decreased 17.7 percent from the second quarter to $5.1 billion. To partially offset that, Fernando said, “We are very confident that we will meet new wins to about $3 billion.” ■ sharris@btnonline.com ■ 20 Monday, December 15, 2008 www.BTNonline.com Business Travel News http://www.btnonline.com/perdiem http://www.BTNonline.com
Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Business Travel News - December 15, 2008 Business Travel News - December 15, 2008 Contents Inside Track Profiles In Travel Mgmt Forum Aviation Lodging Ground Transportation Travel Management Meetings Today Washington Wire Business Travel News - December 15, 2008 Business Travel News - December 15, 2008 - Business Travel News - December 15, 2008 (Page 1) Business Travel News - December 15, 2008 - Business Travel News - December 15, 2008 (Page 2) Business Travel News - December 15, 2008 - Contents (Page 3) Business Travel News - December 15, 2008 - Inside Track (Page 4) Business Travel News - December 15, 2008 - Inside Track (Page 5) Business Travel News - December 15, 2008 - Profiles In Travel Mgmt (Page 6) Business Travel News - December 15, 2008 - Profiles In Travel Mgmt (Page 7) Business Travel News - December 15, 2008 - Profiles In Travel Mgmt (Page 8) Business Travel News - December 15, 2008 - Profiles In Travel Mgmt (Page 9) Business Travel News - December 15, 2008 - Forum (Page 10) Business Travel News - December 15, 2008 - Forum (Page 11) Business Travel News - December 15, 2008 - Forum (Page 12) Business Travel News - December 15, 2008 - Forum (Page 13) Business Travel News - December 15, 2008 - Aviation (Page 14) Business Travel News - December 15, 2008 - Aviation (Page 15) Business Travel News - December 15, 2008 - Lodging (Page 16) Business Travel News - December 15, 2008 - Lodging (Page 17) Business Travel News - December 15, 2008 - Ground Transportation (Page 18) Business Travel News - December 15, 2008 - Ground Transportation (Page 19) Business Travel News - December 15, 2008 - Travel Management (Page 20) Business Travel News - December 15, 2008 - Meetings Today (Page 21) Business Travel News - December 15, 2008 - Meetings Today (Page 22) Business Travel News - December 15, 2008 - Meetings Today (Page 23) Business Travel News - December 15, 2008 - Meetings Today (Page 24) Business Travel News - December 15, 2008 - Meetings Today (Page 25) Business Travel News - December 15, 2008 - Washington Wire (Page 26) Business Travel News - December 15, 2008 - Washington Wire (Page 27) Business Travel News - December 15, 2008 - Washington Wire (Page 28)
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