2024 Tech Hotlist
In no particular order, here’s our pick of the top tech innovators and innovations shaking up the world of business travel
Lokulus
Promising to disrupt with its AI-driven workflow automation platform, Lokulus is new to business travel but has already made its mark in many other industries in its 20-plus years. It helps TMCs generate automated replies to voice, email, WhatsApp and GDS enquiries, freeing up consultants to focus on more complex tasks, and can detect tone and emotion to recognise when a customer is upset and needs an urgent response.
It can monitor and report on service levels, so TMCs and their clients can see where improvements can be made, and identify upsell opportunities to benefit both sides. A partnership with data platform Agentivity is set to be the first of many.
ClarityGo
Crucially, clients were part of the development journey from the offset for Clarity’s new booking and agency-operating platform ClarityGo. The strategy has paid off because since launching in June, clients are already reporting historic online adoption levels and customer satisfaction scores.
ClarityGo is a one-stop shop for accommodation, flights, rail and car hire and uses the latest cloud technologies. It took three years to create and was built completely in house, which means Clarity owns all products and the IP so can develop and scale up quickly, without relying on third parties. Being accessible was also a big part of the strategy and the platform has been externally assessed for accessibility.
Trava
We love a simple drag-and-drop and that’s exactly how the technology works at Trava, a solution to help travel agencies improve the post-booking service for flights. This easy-to-use, intuitive interface lets agents build the elements they want to provide – from client communication, queue management, quality control, ticketing, schedule changes and more – without requiring any technical skills.
The solution can significantly help cut costs by managing fare optimisation and fully automating those unused ticket refunds, which can take up so much of everyone’s valuable time. Trava can also enroll customers in an agency’s operations by automating communication and allowing customers to provide input into its processes.
ehotel
A scalable central billing solution displaying VAT worldwide gives added appeal to this AI-powered accommodation metasearch platform. By simplifying the payment process for international organisations, ehotel improves compliance and has an impressive acceptance rate of over 98% for its 2 million plus hotels. Helping on another important front, ehotel displays the CO2 footprint for each property, connecting with more than 16 sustainability certification providers to make it easier for corporates to make the right choices.
Designed for both travel managers and TMCs, the technology aggregates data from OTAs, GDS, wholesalers, and chain CRS systems, ensuring competitive rates and the highest availability. Seamless integration with existing travel management systems allows users to synch travel itineraries, expense reporting, and compliance tracking and gives them access to smart analytics too.
Clarasight
The testimonial of one customer sums up the value of Clarasight’s carbon planning and analysis software: “Partnering with Clarasight has allowed us to do everything we need to not just talk the talk, but actually walk the walk on sustainability.”
While there are now multiple tools in the marketplace that help corporates measure and report their carbon emissions, Clarasight’s software also provides predictive insights with actionable, role-based recommendations and reports, which can be tailored to the specific targets of a particular region or department. Encouraging organisations to give their emissions the same attention as their financial budgets, Clarasight provides scenario modelling, analytics and reporting to identify opportunities for reduction without compromising business outcomes.
CTM Door-to-Door+
Recognising that companies are needing to plan more team offsites, leadership summits and bring their people together in an increasingly remote workplace, CTM has developed an AI-powered trip builder to blend corporate travel with these small meetings without the cost and complexity of large-scale event management.
Called CTM Door-to-Door+, the product is an extension of CTM’s online booking tool, Lightning, and means travel bookers and meetings coordinators can more easily source appropriate venues and create personalised, door-to-door itineraries for groups of two to eight travellers. As the name suggests, it brings the whole trip together – flights, hotels, trains, cars, parking and lounge passes – consolidating approval processes from individual segments to full trips for multiple travellers, reducing leakage and logistical problems, and helping to identify additional savings.
Badge
Badge makes a rather bold claim that it can save corporate travellers approximately seven hours of productivity per trip, but even if it’s just half this amount, it still deserves a place in our Tech Hotlist.
It’s a digital wallet automation platform that centralises all travel information and means travellers no longer need to hunt through email or Slack and multiple apps to find their tickets, travel itineraries, loyalty cards and confirmation codes. Badge also makes it easier for travellers to communicate during a business trip and, in turn, helps organisations with their duty of care responsibilities because it puts travel alerts and essential advice – plus promotions and offers from preferred suppliers – all in one place.
TROOP ONE
TROOP made it into our 2023 hotlist with its ‘Where to Meet’ solution and is back again this year with TROOP ONE, responding to the growing desire to manage costs beyond formal business travel programmes to include meetings and events.
Despite now accounting for 60-80% of total meeting expenditure, smaller meetings have largely been left unmanaged with no visibility of total costs. TROOP ONE is changing that with its cloud-based solution that streamlines the entire planning process, tracking costs and tackling inefficiencies and carbon impact.
Nomadic
Safeguarding employers and preventing costly mistakes by ‘self-certifying’ employees, Nomadic helps organisations navigate complex regulatory processes. Developed by immigration services firm Fragomen, Nomadic’s software-based workflow architecture deals with online enquiries, determining whether an employee’s trip requires a business visa, work authorisation or EU posted worker notification, and flags up complex cases for professional review.
Optional GPS capability enables employee location tracking for in-trip compliance support, including immigration, tax, social security and Schengen compliance.
Tripism
Another tech innovator that featured in our Tech Hotlist last year, Tripism is back in our list for 2024 for its new TMC solution. As TMCs continue to expand their service portfolio to cater for the ever-growing corporate travel requirements – sustainability, accessibility, DE&I, and traveller safety to name but a few – Tripism’s new solution allows TMCs to collate and communicate these services to their clients and travellers.
Launching with Good Travel Management earlier this year, TMCs can now offer a white-labelled Tripism solution to their clients, which acts as a platform for all third-party technology and services, delivering personalised content to travellers within the confines of each client’s travel policy, and continually being updated with changing industry trends. Generative AI can be used to influence traveller behaviour, particularly relating to sustainability.
