Irish online travel software firm Datalex has begun targeting the corporate business travel market and has signed a deal with Deutsche Telekom – the world’s fifth largest telco – to deploy its BookIt Corporate technology globally throughout the company in a strategy to reduce travel expenses at the telco by €9m a year.
The rollout of the technology follows a joint marketing and sales agreement in 2002 between Swords-headquartered Datalex and T-Systems, Deutsche Telekom’s IT infrastructure services subsidiary. Based in Frankfurt, T-Systems is one of the four pillars of Deutsche Telekom, along with T-Mobile, T-Online and T-com.
It is envisaged that the rollout of BookIt Corporate among Deutsche Telekom’s 247,000 employees around the world will help cur business travel expenses annually by €9m.
Built on BookIt Matrix, the core Datalex technology component that provides connectivity with bank-end host reservation and distribution systems, BookIt Corporate provides corporate travel managers with an online booking solution that manages their corporate travel policy by evaluating the best itinerary options based on customised business needs, trip purpose, traveller preferences and supplier offerings.
Datalex and T-Systems customised the business managment tool for the German market. It already supports Lufthansa’s ‘Pay as you Fly’ ticketing and market specific functionality, such as the support of the Lufthansa Senator Card service, in which members get instant waitlist clearance in certain booking classes on booked flights.
The senior vice president of business development at Datalex, Damian Hickey, said that having a deal with Deutsche Telekom gives the company a good opportunity to target the in-house corporate travel market as well as serving airlines and other travel organisations. The company’s customers include Aer Lingus, Air Canada, Amadeus, American Express, Amtrak, Delta Airlines and Best Western International.
“The benefit of having the support of T-Systems’ technical experience and infrastructure has enabled us to explore and develop the potential of this technology to enable enterprises to control and manage more cost efficient travel procurement strategies,” Hickey said.
By John Kennedy
