Egencia is integrating its Chat help service on the desktop and mobile versions of the Slack messaging platform, the travel management company announced at today’s Business Travel Show Europe in London.
Users who activate Egencia Chat in Slack will be able to book trips and change travel dates while travel managers will be able to approve trips or request more information. More complex requests are referred to the TMC’s consultants.
The TMC said it conducted a pilot programme with a number of customers in May to test features and gather feedback.
Launched in 2019, Egencia Chat is an “AI powered virtual assistant with a human touch” that incorporates artificial intelligence and machine learning to give business travellers personalised answers to queries. The TMC says more than 75,000 people used Egencia chat in 2021.
“Business travel is rebounding quickly, and the rapid pace of this return has put stress on the entire travel eco-system causing significantly high call volumes. Our Slack integration with Egencia Chat could not come at a better time when travellers need more self-service choices the most,” said John Sturino, Egencia’s VP product & technology.
“We’re committed to using AI and ML to constantly improve the process of both arranging and managing business trips on the road. We want our customers to have a smooth, seamless experience in whatever platform they are already using, and Slack is the first of many initiatives we have planned to achieve that.”