Corporate Travel Management (CTM) has unveiled a string of
new technology features designed to help businesses safeguard their travellers
and travel budgets.
The global TMC is introducing new risk and health alert
notifications into its proprietary online booking tool Lightning, which was
recently awarded the Technology Innovation – Corporate Booking Platform accolade at the Business Travel Awards
Europe. Displaying within the trip search workflow, CTM says the alerts can
help travel bookers and travellers make more informed decisions at the point of
sale relating to the risks of travelling to the city or country they are
searching for.
In addition, the company’s existing duty of care tools for
travel, risk and HR managers are getting an upgrade with a new ‘safety check-in’
feature that allows them to send an alert request notification to any traveller
or group in a specific location that requires them to check in to verify whether
they are safe or in danger. Using the CTM Portal, the alerts can be sent to all
employees scheduled to travel or currently located in a country of the user’s
choosing. Responses are logged for the travel manager to review and reminders
to all or selected travellers can be sent manually or scheduled at regular
intervals.
Lightning will also now provide a ‘visual nudge’ to bookers
when travellers are taking more than five hours of train travel over peak times
on return trips within the same day. According to CTM, its data shows that
often an overnight stay and later trains can be cheaper and better for the
employee’s wellbeing and performance.
Brian Sheerin, CTM’s EMEA chief technology officer,
commented: “Now more than ever, duty of care begins before a trip has been
booked and doesn’t end until an employee is safely home. We’re providing the
tools to manage risk at both the point of sale and at management level for
travel, risk and HR professionals so their employees are safer, more informed
and better connected with what’s happening around the world.”
CTM’s pre-trip approval tool CTM Approve has also been
expanded to offer greater customisation. Trips can be queued to an approval
system based on the price, risk of the destination, carbon cost and other
parameters. An infinite number of trip approvers can be incorporated into the
workflow, with configurable rules and variables to suit a business’s specific
needs.
CTM ranked as the fourth-largest TMC in the UK in Europe's Leading TMCs 2021.
The company will be displaying the advancements alongside recent
sustainability innovations at stand BTS150 at Business Travel Show Europe at
the ExCeL Centre in London on 30 September and 1 October.