i:FAO Aktiengesellschaft, publicly traded at Neuer Markt of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, publishes a comprehensive research paper on cost savings because of the use of eProcurement solutions in business travel.
Travel cost, because of growing internationalization, is - together with human resources and research and development - one of the largest cost categories for corporations. Asked by i:FAO the consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has researched the impact of interactive travel management for business travel in corporations.
The results of this research are valid across industries. Substantial savings can be achieved by optimizing business travel procedures for standard reservations.
PwC`s research is based on workshops with corporations located in Germany from a variety of industries and in different sizes, spending collectively more than EURO 1.1 billion annually. PwC confirms that, by using online travel procurement and a software like cytric by i:FAO up to 25% of the process cost can be saved. In a conservative estimate at least 5% of direct travel cost can saved in addition.
The largest benefits for cytric customers are in increased cost transparency, the speedier booking process and the cost reduction when booking online. Since the system can display estimated travel cost already before the journey has commenced, any trip approvals can be securely based on high data quality. All corporate negotiated fares and agreements are automatically used.
The managers interviewed for the research paper do expect, due to growing travel needs, an increase of travel spend between 3% and 10% for fiscal 2000. The research explains which costs are associated with the process, how process parts are currently in place with a majority of firms, what savings potential online booking systems offer and which direct travel cost can be saved. Also the return on investment time span has been researched in great detail.
With cytric i:FAO is offering the market leading eProcurement software for business travel management. Specific to cytric is, besides the ability to book all business travel online, the comprehensive integrated travel management system. Companies steer travel purchasing to be most effective and cost saving using the detailed travel policy rules and a variety of approval systems. Many customizing options make the system easy to use for the travel manager and a partner travel agency.
cytric allows for personal user profiles to be stored and guarantees compliance with company specific travel policies. Using the system any computer connected to the Internet can book air, car, hotel and rail. 700 airlines, 51,000 hotels, rail and major car rental firms can be booked through cytric 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
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