KDS’s flagship
product, KDS Corporate has been selected to manage online travel booking for
the UK Government.

KDS is part of a consortium led by Capgemini UK plc that has won the
contract to design and operate a new electronic travel booking service for
use across UK Government departments. This will be a true cross-departmental
shared service, which will enable the participating departments to realise
substantial savings through improved management of travel booking and
expenditure. The first user of the service will be the Ministry of Defence
(MoD).

Group Captain Andy Towler, Defence Travel Modernisation Team Leader, said:
“This service is a key component of modernising travel within the
Department, which will simplify the travel booking process by allowing
journeys to be arranged online.”

 

KDS was selected both for its user friendliness and its ability to handle
complex requirements. KDS’ graphical user interface, inspired by the best
Internet consumer sites, makes it simple to search and book trips online
without extensive training.

 

To handle what is generally considered to be the largest travel account in
the UK it was critical that the solution accommodate heavy loads and varied
environments. KDS Corporate’s scalability and configuration flexibility was
carefully reviewed and found to be the most complete solution against an
extensive set of functional and security requirements.

 

“KDS is proud to have been selected to provide the UK Ministry of Defence’s
online travel solution. We believe that KDS and our partners are well placed
to meet the exacting requirements of the MoD for travel inventory, ease of
use and, of course, security. We are excited about the opportunity to work
with the MoD and other government departments to drive improved value for
money for their travel spend”, said Yves Weisselberger, CEO of KDS.

 

KDS Corporate provides extensive direct connectivity to suppliers outside
GDS distribution systems, including all major low cost carriers and UK and
European railways. Travellers are able to easily compare their different
options as, uniquely to KDS, all are displayed together on a single screen.

 

The contract was awarded by OGCbuying.solutions and covers the design and
implementation of the service, as well as its operation for five years.
OGCbuying.solutions is an executive agency of the Office of Government
Commerce within H.M.Treasury. The third consortium member working with KDS
and Capgemini is travel management company Carlson Wagonlit Travel.

 

The deployment for the MoD will provide 300,000 staff around the world -
covering both civil servants and armed forces - with a quick, easy and
secure solution for planning and booking travel. For use by individual
travellers or arrangers, the online tool will have a look and feel familiar
to anyone who has booked a holiday or business trip online.

 

The departments using the system will also benefit from access to in-depth
reporting, including details of low cost carrier usage and potential savings
foregone, as highlighted by KDS’ ‘lost savings’ feature,  as well as more
general travel pattern data. The service will give the MoD greater
visibility of its travel expenditure and help ensure that its staff travel
efficiently and cost effectively.

 

Cliff Evans, MoD Account Director at Capgemini, said: “We found KDS
Corporate to be the most suitable solution for the UK Government. It is
extremely simple to use for travel booking while providing travel managers
advanced policy monitoring features and offering the stringent security
required by the Government.”

 

The new system will provide an important step forward for the Government’s
shared services agenda, enabling substantial cost savings to be realised by
multiple departments through the secure use of the latest online technology.
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