Amadeus has partnered to embed its Cytric booking and expense platform into the Microsoft 365 suite of tools.
With the integration, which is available now, users can search and book travel within the communications app Microsoft Teams and also share trip information in Teams, with colleagues giving them the option to book the same trip.
Amadeus already had the capability in Microsoft’s Outlook email system to configure a “book travel” option, which would trigger a pop-up window with the standard Cytric experience, said Ken Pfaffmann, Amadeus’ vice president of business development for corporations in the Americas.
With the initial integration with Teams, users can add Cytric as an app, which lets them book within Teams and have a button within chat to share all or portions of itineraries with colleagues.
“The ability to book plane tickets or manage travel expenses without leaving everyday collaborative applications will help make the process smoother for users, making travel easier and eliminating some of the usual booking challenges,” explained Microsoft’s global travel director Eric Bailey.
Within the next few months, the integration will deepen to make it “natively a Teams experience” for booking, expense management and sharing travel information, added Pfaffmann.
Microsoft and Amadeus are currently working together on the architecture of the solutions, which will have a slightly different user experience.
The companies will also collaborate on a variety of new capabilities, said Pfaffmann, such as Outlook calendar invites pre-populating searches with travel recommendations based on price, convenience, traveller history and environmental impact. It also could provide a list of connections in the destination to help employees set up meetings.
Tools to help employees across different offices plan meetings also will be a focus for the collaboration between Amadeus and Microsoft.
The relationship with Microsoft is exclusive for Amadeus “for a period”, according to Pfaffmann.
In a separate development, TMC consortium Focus Travel Partnership has agreed to resell the Cytric platform as part of its suite of solutions in the UK.
Clare de Bono, UK country manager at Amadeus, said: “We have worked with the Focus Travel Partnership for many years, so we are especially proud to continue delivering innovative solutions to its partners and the business travellers they serve.”
Abby Penston, CEO of Focus Travel Partnership, said its board and technology steering group were “keen to promote this solution among our TMC community”.
“We look forward to working with the Cytric team to strengthen our purpose of providing exceptional value in the business travel,” added Penston.