THE e-Travel Aergo system will be used to manage travel arrangements for Siam Cement's more than 20,000 employees across 90 major companies in five business units spanning industries including paper and packaging, petrochemicals, cement, building products and distribution.

Managing director, Mr Ekasith Sinthusarn, said the system could potentially have a strong impact on the cost of employee travel.

"Travel costs are up as much as 30 per cent over last year, so we have taken the step to implement this system as a means of stemming the increased costs."

In 2003, more than 10,000 airline tickets were issued to employees of companies under Siam Cement.

"As much as 50 per cent of these were for international travel and that represents a huge outlay in travel management manhours. This system offers a convenient way to allow our people to book their own travel arrangements," he said.

Amadeus literature boasts potential savings of up to 60 per cent of the cost of processing, managing and accounting of travel bookings for companies using the Aergo system.

However, estimates released by Siam Cement predict savings will more modest, likely hovering between 10 and 15 per cent. The typical costs of using the Aergo corporate travel management solution include a one-off licence, an implementation fee and a booking fee, tailored to market conditions and based upon local rates. There are no monthly maintenance fees.

Implementation will be undertaken in phases. "We will ask the people who travel often to make their arrangements through Aergo in the beginning and, as time passes and the system is found to be stable, the policy of booking online will be spread throughout the organisation."

The company will also be limiting its initial use of the system to air travel bookings only. "We will include hotel reservations and other types of transportation bookings some time in the future," he said.

Since 2003, Siam Cement has employed Carlson Wagonlit Travel (CWT), which uses the Amadeus global distribution service as one of its primary ooking tools, to manage travel for its employees.

CWT general manager Thailand, Mr Brian Croucher, said his company recommended the e-Travel solution for Siam Cement in response to its wish to reduce travel costs. "We are working towards reducing the group's cost of travel as well as the cost of processing travel. The implementation of the e-Travel system will support our efforts and enable us to further streamline Siam Cement's booking processes and reduce manual reworking of itineraries," he said.

Amadeus' press releases state a further possible reduction in travel costs of 10 to 15 per cent is achievable by adapting the system to enforce corporate travel policies and to favour the selection of preferred suppliers.

Amadeus president, Mr David Brett, said Siam Cement's decision to use Aergo was a major endorsement of the product. "This goes a long way towards validating our product's capability to meet the needs of Asia's leading companies, and we look forward to this opportunity to work with them."

The e-Travel system streamlines company travel management by allowing the integration of self-service online travel booking for employees with company policy control, management reporting and expense management. The technology is browser-based, which means employees can go online at work to access the Amadeus GDS and manage their travel details. Meanwhile, travel managers can use the system to control their travel programmes, and purchasing managers can exercise greater and more precise control over travel expenditures.

Corporations can integrate the elements of their global travel programmes, including travel policies, preferred suppliers and negotiated rates, into one website, which is then accessed on an as-needed basis by employees.

Amadeus touts the system as a viable replacement for bookings via travel agents, since employees are able to access the website and make itinerary changes both before and during a trip, and company travel policies are automatically enforced and preferred suppliers selected.

Other corporations now employing the Amadeus system include Airbus, Daimler Chrysler and Ingersoll-Rand, as well as travel suppliers, such as Thai Airways International, Air France, Iberia and Qantas.

This year Siam Cement was rated the second-ranking Thai company, behind the Petroleum Authority of Thailand, in Forbes Magazine's Forbes Global 2000, which ranks the world's largest companies based on an aggregate of sales, assets, profits, and market capitalisation.