The New KDS Corporate Version: Rich and Powerful!

London, Business Travel Show - February 1st, 2005 –KDS, the leading provider of online business travel management solutions, today announces its latest version of KDS Corporate, deliverable to customers and partners in March 2005. KDS’s complete solution for automated and integrated travel and expense management takes a new significant step forward and delivers a major new look & feel, richer content, new direct access to travel sources, and increased control over management and operations.

The latest version of KDS Corporate delivers a brand new look and feel, richer content & numerous direct accesses to major travel supplier sources. This new version provides more power to manage T&E efficiently for both large Corporations and Travel Management Companies.

With this newest version, KDS Corporate includes more than 100 new or updated features and functions to maximise corporate travel savings and T&E-related cost reductions. KDS pushes innovation limits even further, while meeting both suppliers’ ongoing evolution and customers’ business demands.

KDS improves its comprehensive online solution on four major dimensions:

• New Look & Feel + Greater User Experience: KDS Corporate now offers a softer colour palette and newly designed graphic interface. It brings greater usability with more content for users at the time of booking and a new online help function for easy-to-use guidance.
• Richer Content & Direct Accesses to major travel supplier sources: KDS has integrated new Direct Links to major business travel suppliers in North America and EMEA, and has updated its existing links to the latest XML standards available from the suppliers. This version includes new links to car rental providers - Avis, Budget and Europcar - and to the UK Rail with TheTrainLine. It also includes updated links to major train providers - SNCF, Eurostar, and Deutsche Bahn - to Hertz car rental and to large hotel sources like HRS (more than 150 000 hotels) and CWT HARP (more than 125 000 hotels). Car pick-up and delivery is now available, based on car rental companies existing online services.
• Increased Management Power at Corporate fingertips: Cost savings are directly related to the management control and flexibility of online booking solutions. The air faring engine is the cornerstone of online booking solutions; KDS has been awarded the title of “best in class” solution both in North America and Europe by independent Topaz studies (2004). KDS Corporate further benchmarked and improved its faring engine for this version. KDS also brings greater flexibility in travel policy management by adding carrier-specific cabin classes, as well as associated travel policy rules and compliance criteria. KDS enhances its “unique integrated content management & display” function to push more information toward travellers at the time of booking. This delivers greater and more efficient change management at corporations.
• Streamlined Operations for efficiency at Travel Management Companies: the ultimate goal for all is to reach 100% touchless operations. KDS goes further along that path, by adding new features for Travel Management Companies in order to optimise their operations for Corporations: more flexible file finishing options, controlled use of passive segments for Direct Link bookings, highlighted comments in the GDS, etc.
  

“With this latest version of KDS Corporate, KDS continues to lead the way on three major objectives in the ongoing development plans for our state-of-the-art KDS Corporate online booking solution:

• the look & feel and ergonomics, which are key for self-learning and quick deployment with better & quicker adoption rates,
• the richness of direct access sources, to suppress useless intermediary costs in the buying process,
• and the power of management and operations, to streamline Corporations’ T&E costs best ” states Moncef Khanfir KDS COO.
  

KDS Corporate is the only fully integrated application that seamlessly automates both travel booking and expense reporting online. It provides a true end-to-end control frame over the T&E business process to corporate executives. In addition, using the same tool to book trips and fill expense reports accelerates T&E cost reductions.