With crisis after crisis hitting the travel industry, corporate travel managers are realising they cannot just brace for the storm to be over, but have to be prepared for the next hurricane.

A product which ensures business continuity is absolutely critical.

Technology suppliers are responding by building in crisis management into corporate travel planning. ABACUS International has, for instance, relaunched its TravelSmart-Asia product, while AMADEUS points to its Vista as a technology that allows corporates or travel management companies (TMCs) to keep functioning should their offices become “no-go” zones.

And global travel management company TQ3 has released a crisis management plan to help its partners provide a higher degree of service to their customers during adverse events such as war. It enables these agents to track and locate their customers, provide customer support and, if necessary, evacuate them (see BRIEFING).

“One of the few good things which has arisen from the SARS outbreak has been an awareness of the need for a solid Plan B,” Amadeus general manager for Singapore, Mr Derek Seah, told BTN Asia-Pacific. And in the business lull that has ensued since the disease first reared its ugly head, both corporates and TMCs have had the time to turn their thoughts towards drawing up such a plan.

Amadeus' Vista is a browser-based front office system that leverages on Internet Protocol solutions and provides subscribers with full access to the Amadeus Central System, e-mailing, faxing, scripting and remote access facilities.

“The beauty of such a technology is it allows business to continue at home, or in the case of Singapore, at any outdoor wireless surfing point,” Mr Seah said.

“Some multinationals we work with had considered splitting up their teams to separate locations to spread the possible risk of SARS infection. Speed of implementation for Vista is key to its functionality.

“We are very confident any agency can set their staff up with Vista at home, and bookings and ticketing can go on as normal.”

In terms of hardware, besides the computer, a cable line is all that is needed to route the bookings through broadband.

Acknowledging that ease-of-use is a must to ensure adoption of a system, the Vista product employs a fully graphical interface which works especially well for staff who are unfamiliar with cryptic commands.

“In the worst-case manpower-crisis scenario, if a company has had to release senior staff for cost reasons or whatever, agencies can use a more novice staff and still function.

A GDS booking tool must allow this to be really useful in corporate travel management.”

Only half a day of training is required for an individual to learn to navigate Vista. On the screen, a yellow background colour indicates compulsory fields and the system can decode full destination or airline names if layman labels are typed in.

For example, someone booking an SQ flight to LAX could type Singapore Airlines and Los Angeles in the relevant boxes and the system would understand.

ABACUS meanwhile relaunched its TravelSmart-Asia at the recent PATA Annual Conference in Bali.

The enhanced TravelSmart-Asia does not only include an advanced website, which features resources for corporate travel managers and consultants, the site (www.travelsmartasia.com) features daily travel warning updates, along with regularly updated security tips and country reports.

It also features latest flight information, and special offers and packages.

ABACUS International president and CEO, Mr Don Birch, said: “Travel warnings are doing a good job of telling people where NOT to go, but not where they CAN go.

“We learnt from experience that travellers would start travelling again quicker when they are well informed. What we are doing with TravelSmart-Asia is empower travellers and travel consultants with up-to-date information for them to make an informed decision on travel.”

Besides the website, TravelSmart-Asia components include TravelSmart-Asia eBytes, a twice monthly e-mail blast to travel consultants. Mr Birch said: “(Travel consultants) are the first point of contact for many travellers, and they must have the right tools to help restore the confidence of the travellers.”

It also has TravelSmart-Asia Watch, a monthly newsletter to the industry highlighting issues and trends “aimed to keep fingers on the pulse of the industry”.

The TravelSmart-Asia Media Watch contains monthly updates to the media with ABACUS booking information, country profiles, issues analysis and emerging trends.

Bayu Buana, which is TQ3 representative in Indonesia, finds TravelSmart-Asia useful in assisting its corporate clients decision to travel.

Its vice-president director, Mr Pranowo Gumulia, said: “As a corporate TMC we have a moral obligation to clients to give correct information. The final decisions are with them. We use the information at TravelSmart-Asia (website) and relay that to our clients.”