ADVERTORIAL FEATURE
Key Travel T
award have proven once more that cre- ativity, an agile mind and a consultative approach will produce tools that exceed expectations at all levels. And this year’s second winner has built an online booking platform that has inspired notable buy-in from reluctant travellers, while catering to their highly specialised requirements. “Key Travel’s KT Online has embraced the particular needs of clients in the NGO and education sectors, including the ability to show specialist air fares and their condi- tions, and produce first class MI, while being intuitive and easy to use. This is no SAM IS BORN
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mean feat and Key Travel is a laudable winner u
The res oflt this pocket tra CEO of the GTMC, Paul Wait.
is a aspirationalv aeward,” says
The technology was developed in col- laboration management functions, travel management company Key Travel, plus a steering committee comprising 11 key NGO and academic customers that
in
HE QUEST FOR TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION that leads to greater efficiencies continues apace and entrants to this year’s second GTMC and Travelport
ORPORATE TRAVEL TECHNOL- OGY DEVELOPMENT has tra- ditionally focused on the needs of travel buyers and managers but, reflecting a
growing trend across the sector, the winner of this year’s GTMC Innovation Award has taken a more inclusive ap- proach by addressing travellers’ require- ments as well. Back in 2015, FCM Travel Solutions established its European FCM Lab with the aim of identifying the gaps in travel technology, anticipating future op- portunities, and developing solutions that would – in the travel management company’s own words – “put us ahead of the curve”.
l assistant
called Smart Assistant for Mobile, or Sam for short. It still fulfils all the neces sary travel with various departments but incorporates a wealth of information and advice designed to make the travel-
wins innovation award
ran the gamut of size, activity and sector. After a pilot launch to four organisations in June 2015, 170 customers from the UK, the premise that mobile-savvy travellers tool. “ beinge adoption ra withav plethora by 11% since migr apps. rom th old pl tform supplier, airline, hotel or car rental beyond expectations,”pp, which needs to be downloaded and accessed separately.
ler’s life easier and, by extension, more productive. FCM’s IT team started from US and Benelux were integrated into the were Onlin bombarded tes h a e grown of specific-focus
tion f Almoste everya travel
was completed this year, take-up has been company has its own a says Saranjit Soor, Key Travel’s chief technology officer. “By 2020, we predict that consum-
THE COMMERCIAL IMPERATIVE Key Travel’s customers require adoption of online tools for greater convenience, reduced administration and lower costs. But because they do not mandate policy, compliance can range from just 20% up to 90%. To maximise appeal, the tool had to fulfil
ers will start feeling app fatigue,” the company says. ‘‘Currently only one in five consumers actually use an app once they have downloaded it. Unless the app truly adds value to the user, it soon becomes redundant. “At the same time, the smartphone era
is transitioning towards the conversa- tion era, meaning the way consumers communicate with apps is moving to a message-based approach. Text or voice- based interfaces will soon be the new norm for communicating with the web.” The FCM Lab team took the latest in- novations in artificial intelligence (AI), messaging and chatbot technologies to create a single, all-encompassing busi-
three main objectives: to be as intuitive as consumer booking tools, with minimum need for training; to fulfil the complex end-to-end budget allocation and approval processes required to comply with funding sources and audit requirements inherent in the sector; and to support a variety of bookers – central travel teams, local bookers/administrators, self-booking and travellers who research their itineraries but devolve booking to others.
“Sam is a mix of AI chat functionality and a team of expert consultants delivering the best of both technology and the human experience”
And the winner is… Sam:] from FCM
Travelport and the GTMC salute the travel management company’s ground-breaking new ‘Smart Assistant for Mobile’
Travelport and the GTMC recognise Key Travel’s success in utilising technology to drive online adoption and efficiencies
In addition, NGOs and academic institu-
tions benefit from specialist air fares that allow favourable conditions such as extra bags, extended hold period and free cancellation. However, third party tools are not designed to facilitate the variety of searches required to identify these fares, display them in a logical order – flexibility rather than cheapest first – nor communicate the conditions to allow easy assessment of value and price.
ness travel app which aggregates all the information a traveller needs. Crucially, Sam adds to that fund of information, automatically monitoring the most frequent searches, and provides users with a live-chat link to FCM consultants. “Users of Sam can call or message
their consultant at any time for live as- sistance on the move,” FCM says. “AI is a means of augmenting human capability, not replacing it. Sam is a combination of AI-augmented chat functionality and a team of expert consultants to deliver the best of both technology and the human experience.”
CONSTANTLY EVOLVING So, what can Sam do? The first version, rolled out to 3,500 travellers in Sep- tember last year, provided weather and traffic reports, driving directions, check-in reminders, flight status and boarding gate information, a booking facility for flights, rental cars and hotels, a trip calendar, and more. Version 2.0, launched in February this year, and added further enhancements. Sam can now estimate travel time to
options in a basket, like those on consumer sites, for reviewing and comparing later, before confirming the booking or referring it to a booker. And because many bookers/ travellers often book out of hours, 24-hour access is available to all users, whether
THE TOOL Customers expect to be able to book their business travel with the ease and efficiency of their leisure travel and KT Online com- bines the required functionality of search, booking and authorisation, with client customisation, ensuring it answers to customers’ needs both today and tomorrow. The tool has a tailor-made air fare
display that uses icons and dropdowns to show available fares, making it easy to compare price, airline, flight duration, fare type and associated conditions, plus carbon emissions per flight. And it allows bookers to hold a fare up to nine months in advance of travel, without commitment to book, and to pay up to 24 hours before travel. Bookers can also store numerous trip
the airport and the cost of travel options; it can tell which carousel the traveller’s bags will arrive on; and it can provide destination information – right down to restaurant recommendations and tipping customs – and local traffic information.
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