Amadeus Partners With SAP On Cloud-Based Biz Travel Solution
by Cheryl Rosen /Amadeus this week took a giant step into corporate financial systems with a new deal with the global IT firm SAP, which supplies mammoth business management software systems to the world’s biggest customers (and plenty of small ones, too).
The goal is a single product for travel agents and corporate customers that will cover online booking, expense reporting and mobile applications, and feed all the information directly into companies’ financial systems.
The alliance aims to deliver “a cloud-based corporate travel solution, including online booking, expense and mobile capabilities,” Amadeus said. It will integrate SAP’s Cloud for Travel and Expense solution with the Amadeus e-Travel Management, so the one system will handle the entire process.
Enhanced customer experience
Amadeus said it aims to offer “an enhanced customer experience, reduced travel management costs and consistency in policy compliance throughout the entire process and journey.”
“Corporations want a complete end-to-end solution for their travel management requirements through one single provider and integrated with the rest of the company’s systems,” said Albert Pozo, vice president, global customers.
Amadeus spokesperson Debbie Iannaci told Travel Market Report that the goal is "to better serve our corporate customers, both directly and through reseller partners."
The company declined to comment on when exactly an SAP module will be available or how much it will cost.
The heart of the industry
SAP’s Franck Cohen, president of EMEA, said the partnership will position the company “right in the heart” of the travel industry.
Asked to comment, Norm Rose, president of Travel Tech Consulting, Inc., and senior technology analyst with PhoCusWright, Inc., said the deal is “further evidence of the need to integrate booking, expense and ERP [enterprise resource planning] systems, bringing travel expenses directly into a company's overall financial systems and analytics.".
Aash Shravah, director of corporate sales at Montrose Travel, agreed. "When technology takes a jump forward, like this, where a company like SAP is working with a GDS, it's a big deal,” he said.
"Being able to take the entire travel experience and make it easy and migrate all the data is corporate travel in its purest form. It automates things for the traveler, makes the company more financially aware, and lets everyone understand exactly where and why they are spending money. Having a company like SAP get involved is exactly what we need."
Concur also is growing its technology solutions and working toward that "perfect system," Shravah noted.