TRAVEL TECHNOLOGIES SPECIAL FEATURE 31 Technology in Travel Management Corporate travel is changing fast and travel managers risk being left behind. On one hand, some are making the most of technology; on the other, 30-45% of travel managers don’t even calculate the money saved from a managed travel programme. A new whitepaper revealing the need for action will be presented tomorrow at the ITBBerlin Convention by Carsten Schaeffer, Senior Director Central Europe and Nordics, Sabre Travel Network in the session, “The Transformation Of The Travel Manager”… We asked him to tell us a little more… Global business travel is growing at a rapid rate, with a 14.2% spending growth in 2015 and 12% forecast for 2016. The main focus of Sabre’s presentation will be on B2B technology and consumer habits: rising traveller expectations, the growing influence of procurement teams in the travel buying process, the increased use of mobile devices, and many other market dynamics that have an impact on the role of the travel manager. As technology drives change, it is crucial to simplify technology choices, clearly understand the benefits, and build trust between travel managers and TMCs. This whitepaper is the most comprehensive research to date on this topic. It reflects how travel managers view their role today, how they measure the success of their travel programmes, and how they see the role evolving in the future. It discusses the challenges travel managers face as they transition and explores topics such as how advances in technology influences travel management, the need of closer travel programme metrics alignment with senior management expectations, and how strengthening relationships with TMCs can help to increase value. In a nutshell: travel managers who show technology leadership Carsten Schaeffer Senior Director Central Europe and Nordics, Sabre Travel Network will be better equipped to deliver the strategic, datadriven, actionable insights that their organisation needs. Hall 5.1 / Stand 119 Amadeus bundles mobile product development in European Amadeus Mobile Competence Center Amadeus arrives at ITBBerlin with a brand new business unit, the Germanbased Amadeus Mobile Competence Centre, set to drive the development of mobile products in the Northern, Eastern, Central and Southern Europe. The 25-employee strong competence centre opened with offices in Bad Homburg and Bonn March 1, 2016. Two managers will jointly head up the team. Fabian Pfütze of Amadeus Germany and Ralf Siewert of pixell. Both pixell and Amadeus bring the expertise gained from their existing products to the competence centre. These include the white-label apps pixell has been developing for renowned tourism industry customers, like Expedia and Opodo, for more than five years. Amadeus, for its part, will use the center to further develop its Travel App, which brings customerspecific leisure and business travel information together in one place. It has already been successfully deployed in German travel agency organisations like Reiseland, BEST-REISEN and Lufthansa City Center. The company also offers other solutions, including CheckMyTrip, Amadeus Mobile White Label and Web Services optimized for mobile applications. Future products will be aimed both at brickand-mortar and online travel agencies (and their customers) and at tour operators. The idea is to cover the full range of processes, from trip selection and booking to trip guidance and subsequent reviews. Third-party companies are strongly encouraged to use the various modules from the apps offered by Amadeus on Amadeus Web Services in developing their own applications. Hall 5.1 / Stand 125 ITB BERLIN NEWS • Wednesday 9 th March 2016
