BELLEVUE, Wash., July 18, 2016 /CNW/ -- As Egencia®
rolls out its global technology into the recently-acquired Orbitz for Business customer base, the Expedia business travel arm is
seeing increased adoption rates for these new customers.
Orbitz for Business customers have seen their online adoption move from approximately 85% to over 95% after migrating to the new
US Rail by Egencia offering released in May 2016. This parallels a similar trend seen in EU
countries, where Egencia has average adoption rates above 95%. Egencia attributes such high adoption rates to its beautiful design
and consistent execution for interactive elements to look, behave and be found in the same way repeatedly.
Michael Gulmann, Vice President Global Product and Marketing at Egencia attributes this success
to the science behind building product. "The key to having a successful travel program is to ensure that you're delivering an
excellent, intuitive customer experience. Asking employees of today's workforce to use corporate solutions that aren't user
friendly, and have been built on antiquated technology just doesn't work. We've found that by creating a familiar, consumer-like
experience, online adoption happens naturally and compliance follows."
Egencia approaches product development with a philosophy based on the scientific method. Rather than predict the future, the
company tests and learns a path to what product works best for business travelers. The design experience has three tenets:
- Each page has only one function: search, book, checkout or pay.
- Each page is as simple as possible.
- Many pages tested through eye-tracking technology and user interviews.
"At Egencia we're able to leverage the consumer behavior patterns from the larger Expedia, Inc. family of websites. By using
the data from more than 189 billion rows of consumer behavior data, we are able to come up with theories on how to make the online
experience better for our customers. We test those new experiences against our travelers' clicks and usage of the platform in order
to improve everyday on an already remarkable experience," said Gulmann.
Features such as "Last Mile" in the Egencia app leverages data to improve travel programs. The feature integrates with the Uber
and Citymapper API. Since its release in February 2016, it has generated more than half a million
interactions with more than one-third of users going for transportation mode comparison. According to the Egencia®
Business Travel and Technology study, over 50% of US business travelers have used a shared economy service, despite only one in
four detailing that using these services is permitted and encouraged. In order to help the Travel Managers gain visibility and
transparency into this bourgeoning traveler service, Egencia now allows companies to set Uber in or out of policy, and consolidate
the booking data in reporting.
Egencia has also infused proprietary data-driven technologies to improve its customers' travel program performance. Unveiled
today, the
Egencia® Travel Intelligence home page provides a summary overview of a customer's travel program, with key metrics and
interactive graphs on travel spend, online adoption, supplier performance and program compliance, and drill-down capabilities to
near-real time transactional data. Customers also have access to a comprehensive view of a specific program metric with detailed
data and charts, key insights based on the data, including recommended actions to improve performance.
Swing by our booth at the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) event in Denver, Colorado
to see these features live at booth #1442. Or follow along virtually on our blog or Twitter for
updates live from the show.
About Egencia
Egencia makes business travel better by making it more connected and complete. Egencia puts travelers at the heart of business
travel, continuously supporting them with solutions that are more engaging and effective. Driven by consumer insights and
technology investments from parent company, Expedia, Inc., Egencia connects everything travelers need - content, technology,
service and reporting - in one place. Egencia provides services in more than 65 countries. To connect with Egencia, visit http://www.egencia.com, Twitter or our blog.
© 2016 Egencia, LLC. All rights reserved. Expedia, Egencia, and the Egencia logo and Get Ahead are either registered trademarks
or trademarks of Expedia, Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. CST #2083922-50
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SOURCE Egencia
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