5-minute read
Is your TMC’s technology keeping pace with your business? And what is it costing your travel budget?
Corporate technology is advancing at breakneck speed. The tools your employees use every day are becoming more connected, intuitive and intelligent, powered by AI and large language models.
Yet, when managing business travel, many organisations still rely on legacy tools built around processes defined decades ago. Employees need to leave their usual work environment, sign in to a separate booking platform and navigate multiple screens before completing a booking.
These systems may get the job done, but cumbersome processes and clunky tools create avoidable costs for your business. The right travel management company (TMC) should provide the most modern booking technology that reduces effort, supports policy compliance and improves employee efficiency. And it should offer genuine choice, so your business can select the solution that best suits your people and travel program.
Key takeaways
Modern corporate booking technology should help your business:
- Minimise costs – by reducing the time employees spend arranging travel
- Improve convenience – by integrating travel bookings into regular business platforms such as Microsoft Teams and Slack
- Strengthen buying power – through stronger policy compliance
- Deliver more relevant travel options – through the use of AI
- Make more informed decisions – by capturing more complete travel data
Access to these benefits depends heavily on your TMC’s willingness and ability to integrate new travel technologies into their legacy tech stack, which could be holding your business back from significant savings.
How better booking technology creates measurable value
Employees already collaborate in Microsoft Teams, communicate through Slack and use conversational AI to access information. Yet many still book business travel through an experience designed for the early 2000s.
Every login, screen and click takes time. A complicated booking process can also encourage employees to abandon approved channels and book elsewhere, reducing spend visibility, weakening policy compliance and making it harder to manage costs and traveller safety.
AI-powered solutions such as ‘ello are changing this experience by allowing employees to book and manage policy-compliant trips through familiar workplace platforms such as MD Teams and Slack.
Saving a few minutes on one booking may not sound significant. But multiply that time across every traveller, trip and change made during the year, and the commercial impact becomes meaningful.
When the compliant booking option is also the easiest option, businesses benefit from:
- Less time spent arranging travel
- Stronger adoption of approved booking channels
- More complete travel and spend data
- Better oversight of total travel costs
- Greater ability to locate and support travellers during disruption
Speed of delivery matters to your bottom line
In a rapidly changing technology environment, agility keeps you one step ahead. CT Connections is already delivering thousands of dollars in savings to our clients through our early adoption of market-leading technology.
- We were the first TMC to offer the ‘ello AI booking tool to our corporate clients, because we are not limited to one in-house technology platform.
- Our systems are NDC-ready at scale, and we’re already booking doubling the average amount of Qantas NDC content compared to other Australian TMCs, returning an average 9% saving to our clients.
- And we’ve deployed AI into travel program reporting with ConnXus Intelligence for predictive insights and forecasting.
What does that mean for our clients?
They gain earlier access to new technologies which drive valuable savings to their travel program through greater efficiency, improved compliance and more complete travel data.
Why your TMC’s technology strategy could be costing your business
Not every TMC approaches technology in the same way. Some TMCs remain heavily invested in a single proprietary platform or a limited group of legacy tools. This can restrict their ability to introduce newer, future-focused solutions as they emerge, even when those solutions can deliver a better outcome for clients.
At CT Connections, we take a more open and agile approach. We assess the strongest technologies available, select partners based on capability, and bring valuable new solutions to our clients at speed.
Innovation shouldn’t come at the expense of choice
The newest technology will not automatically be right for every business. Some organisations are ready for AI-enabled, conversational booking, while others still prefer an established web-based platform.
CT Connections offers both traditional online booking tools and the latest AI-enabled solutions. We work with each client to understand how their people travel, how their business operates and what they want their travel program to achieve.
Is your current booking technology holding you back?
Your TMC should do more than maintain the technology you already use. It should help you understand what is emerging, identify what is relevant and introduce better solutions before outdated systems become a barrier to efficiency and savings.
Talk to CT Connections about your current booking experience and explore the latest technology options available to your business.
Get a better return on your business travel budget.
Contact CT Connections today.
FAQs
How can AI-powered booking technology reduce business travel costs?
AI-powered booking technology can reduce costs by making travel booking faster and easier to arrange. Fewer clicks and simpler processes save employees time, while an intuitive, policy-compliant booking experience encourages travellers to use approved channels. This improves spend visibility, strengthens buying power and helps businesses manage total travel costs. CT Connections offer ‘ello as it’s AI-powered conversational booking technology, available as a standlone booking platform and within common business tools such as Micrsoft Teams and Slack.
What technology should a modern travel management company provide?
A modern travel management company (TMC) should offer booking technology that reduces administration, supports travel policy compliance and captures complete travel data. This may include traditional online booking tools alongside AI-powered solutions such as ‘ello that allow employees to book travel through familiar platforms such as Microsoft Teams and Slack. Importantly, TMCs should provide choice as every business has different travel needs and technology preferences.
How do I know if my TMC’s booking technology is outdated?
Your TMC’s technology may be outdated if your employees must navigate multiple platforms and screens to make or manage a booking, if booking outside approved channels is common, or if your business lacks complete travel and spend data. A future-focused TMC should regularly assess emerging technologies, offer genuine platform choice and have the ability to integrate new technology solutions quickly when they deliver improved efficiency, compliance and traveller support.
