AMERICAN EXPRESS BUSINESS TRAVEL DRIVES SERVICE EXCELLENCE THROUGH NEW WEB PORTAL
eXplore Promotes Greater Efficiency and Cost Savings with a Single Gateway to Travel Information and Related Services
NEW YORK, April 07, 2009 -- American Express Business Travel, a global industry leader in business travel management, unveiled eXplore, a new Web portal that provides users with a single point-of-entry interface to travel and related products, services and information. A fully customizable solution, eXplore empowers travelers and drives efficiency with anytime, anywhere access to needed resources. Cost savings are expected from increased usage of online booking technology and improved traveler compliance to policies driven by an ability to communicate changes on demand. eXplore is built on a platform that is flexible and scalable allowing for seamless integration of new functionality and services.
"eXplore is the latest in a series of innovations from American Express aimed at reinventing the way business travelers purchase travel and related services, and access information relevant to their needs and preferences," said Lisa Durocher, senior vice president, global marketing, American Express Business Travel. "In the months to come, eXplore will integrate our next generation Profile technology, driving greater flexibility in the profiling of content to include traveler preferences and corporate hierarchy and paving the way for future capabilities such as dining and entertainment recommendations, social networking and collaboration tools, mobile device access and more."
The eXplore portal delivers information, applications and processes gathered from external and internal Web sites on an interface that is customizable to provide a unique experience for each user. The solution uses a series of portlets, or individual windows to integrate custom-driven content from different sources onto one landing page. Through the portlets, eXplore users can book travel, receive news and alerts from American Express or their company, view destination information, access itineraries and invoices, as well as employ relevant travel tools such as a currency converter.
Content available through eXplore is also personalized for users based on their language, country, region and role. For example, travel or procurement managers will be provided with unique access to travel expense management tools such as AXIS @ work through a custom portlet. Individual preferences such as news feeds, weather in select cities and links to favorite websites are also customizable. Future integration is expected with other American Express products such as charge card and international payments services.
"eXplore helps corporations maximize savings by increasing online travel booking adoption rates, driving efficiencies through faster access to content and increasing compliance to policy through targeted reinforcing communication," Lisa Durocher continued.
eXplore is currently being deployed across the American Express Business Travel customer base in the United States, Canada, Australia, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and France with plans for rolling it out in other markets across Europe, Mexico, and South America later this year and next.
About American Express Business Travel
American Express Business Travel (www.americanexpress.com/businesstravel), a division of American Express Company, is committed to helping its clients maximize the greatest return on their travel investment through increased cost savings, world-class customer service and greater spending control. Ranging from small businesses to multinational corporations, American Express Business Travel provides a combination of industry-leading technology, travel management consulting, strategic sourcing and supplier negotiation support, alongside global customer service available online and offline. The Company also provides a dynamic online community (www.BusinessTravelConneXion.com) harnessing the collective intelligence of those in the business travel industry offering a variety of perspectives, best practices, current research and industry news.
American Express operates one of the world's largest travel agency networks with locations in over 140 countries worldwide. The Company processed $25.4 billion in global travel sales in 2008.
American Express Company (www.americanexpress.com) is a leading global payments, network and travel company founded in 1850.
