GetThere has announced the establishment of a go-to-market agreement with SAP AmericaBeginning this summer, SAP will promote GetThere as part of its travel management offering.  GetThere’s online booking capabilities, together with the SAP(R) Travel Management application, offers companies a best-in-class, automated procure-to-pay solution for business travel.

The announcement comes at a time when corporations, still needing to travel to achieve sales and account management goals, are challenged to maximize travel dollars in the face of escalating costs.  GetThere and SAP have proven track records helping corporations reduce costs and recognize more value from their travel budgets.

SAP is a recognized global brand, with customers in 120 countries using a range of products that include enterprise resource planning and customer relationship management services.  A significant percentage of America’s 100 largest business travel programs use SAP software or services, with the majority of that group also using GetThere for online travel.  GetThere, a Sabre Travel Network business, facilitated the booking of $9.4 billion in travel in 2007.

GetThere agency resellers with clients using the SAP expense offering will be able to better support those customers with an interoperable travel expense solution.

“This relationship brings an unmatched package of expertise and scale to corporations, potentially generating significant savings and efficiencies for programs big and small,” said Stephen Spears, senior vice president of business development for SAP Americas.  “This relationship also represents an unprecedented opportunity for two industry leaders, working together on an optimized solution for an established, impressive roster of clients.”

GetThere made the announcement today at its GetThere Summit in Austin, Texas.  The Summit brings together travel procurement professionals to discuss relevant issues and online travel advancements that help corporations and travel agency resellers save millions in travel costs.  In addition to corporate travel managers, more than 80 GetThere travel agency resellers are represented in the record attendance at this year’s event.

“Today’s travel environment places immense pressure on corporations to maximize supplier agreements and deploy seamless procurement technologies; a travel expense solution that includes solutions from GetThere and SAP will help meet that need,” said Chris Kroeger, senior vice president of GetThere and Sabre Travel Network.  “Corporations will also benefit from more efficient processes across the entire business travel transaction chain.”
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