IBM and Travelport have collaborated on a corporate travel platform designed to help businesses better track and manage their corporate travel spend, using the power of AI.
IBM Travel Manager makes use of IBM's Cloud and Watson to track, manage, and predict how much an organisation is spending and will spend on travel, allowing them to change their travel programme to make cost savings where possible.
The platform combines insights from travel agencies, cards, expense systems and suppliers, allowing them to identify opportunities for streamlining in real time rather than using historical data to work out where cuts can be made.
"IBM Travel Manager, with Travelport's data, is unlike any traditional travel spend reporting solution currently available today from travel management companies, suppliers, corporate booking tools or other third parties," said Fiona Shanley, Travelport's chief customer and marketing officer.
"While other solutions only provide a fragmented historical picture, IBM Travel Manager combines and normalises data from all key sources, allowing for more robust insights and benchmarking than other reporting solutions."
Travel Manager enables businesses to predict how different scenarios will affect their spend, using information from across the entire organisation rather than on a department-by-department basis. This is combined with data from Travelport's global distribution system (GDS) to provide real-time analytics and help businesses make educated decisions about their expenditure.
"IBM and Travelport are using the power of AI to unlock previously unavailable insights from multiple internal and external data sources," added Elizabeth Pollock, IBM industry client leader for Travel & Transportation.
"Travel managers can use this information to proactively drive improved supplier negotiations via real time and holistic data, enable budget holders to understand and change spending patterns, and improve travel policy compliance monitoring."
