Travel data analyst PredictX has launched a new platform, called Meridian, to help corporates understand where potential travel policy changes can deliver savings and cause the least disruption to the business.
The technology firm said the aim of Meridian was to act as a “policy analyser and optimiser” for travel managers by allowing them to test the impact of multiple policy change scenarios.
PredictX explained that Meridian could turn a travel policy document into “a dynamic modelling tool” where corporates can test and benchmark policy against their own programme data by uploading the existing policy and then modelling possible changes.
“Rather than simply identifying where policy is being breached or where savings may exist, Meridian enables them to model different scenarios and determine how those opportunities could be realised,” added PredictX in a statement.
Features include Policy Lab where travel managers can test different combinations of policy changes, such as advance booking windows, class-of-service thresholds and hotel compliance. This allows them to analyse their likely impact on price savings and associated carbon emissions, as well as the potential financial and operational impact of the change.
Other elements within the Meridian platform include Optimizer, which enables buyers to enter an annual budget reduction target and the policy levers available to them to achieve this goal. Meridian then analyses how any policy changes can be combined to achieve the savings target with the “least disruption” to the business.
PredictX said that Meridian could also provide a benchmarking “view” where an organisation can compare its policy against anonymised market data covering areas such as online booking compliance and business-class thresholds.
Keesup Choe, CEO of PredictX, added: “Travel policy is often where some of the biggest opportunities for programme optimisation sit, but changing it can be difficult to navigate. Meridian gives travel managers a way to test those changes before implementing them.
“They can see the potential savings, understand the wider impact and build a much stronger, data-backed case for change with their CFO and other stakeholders.”
Users can use PredictX’s natural-language AI agent platform Cogent to ask questions about their programmes and run simulations through Meridian. Cogent can then suggest potential policy changes based on these simulations.