Flight Centre Travel Group In Top 20 List For Innovation

Corporate Traveller as part of the Flight Centre Travel Group is Australia’s leading ASX200 travel management company for innovation. Our parent company Flight Centre Travel Group was this week named in Campus Collective’s top 20 ASX-200 companies lauded for their innovative products.

Campus Collective’s list of Australia’s top ASX200 companies includes the likes of Qantas, ANZ, Coca-Cola Amatil and Seek.

Campus Collective, which is an Australian consulting firm, compiled its list following analysis of the S&P/ASX200, annual reports, company announcements and documented evidence of revenues from new products that did not exist five years ago.

As part of its research into ASX200 companies, the firm ‘awards points to companies for training innovation, operating accelerators, how each company encourages innovation collaboration with external partners and start-ups, running hackathons and evidence of financial gain from new products’.  

James Kavanagh, Executive General Manager of FCTG’s corporate brands, said the business was extremely proud to be recognised as a true innovator and to be the only company that offered business travel services to make the list.

“The past 12 months has been busy for our corporate and leisure travel divisions with a comprehensive schedule of new products, partnerships, technology and services either being launched to market or in the development pipeline,” James said. 

 

“Our corporate brands have been focused on products that incorporate innovative technologies to further enhance our offering for customers. Our focus has been on using the latest in artificial intelligence and machine learning to make the business travel experience more intuitive and more personal. This technology is about making the online business travel experience more time efficient for users and importantly helps companies to save on their business travel.”  

James said the most recent product launch was the company’s revolutionary new online booking product, Savi. Savi, which is exclusive to the customers of FCTG’s corporate brands, harnesses the very latest in artificial intelligence and machine learning to deliver functionality designed for business travellers and companies that use the product.

In August this year, FCTG committed to Sabre’s innovative Beyond NDC (New Distribution Capability) program, as one of just four global launch partners. Beyond NDC is a collaborative innovation initiative designed to drive the industry forward through the development, integration and testing of end-to-end capabilities to process NDC-enabled travel product.

“We were the only travel management company in the Asia Pacific to be participating in this program, which allows us to stay at the forefront of this movement, which is vital for our customers and all companies that have travel programs,” James said.

The company also officially launched ‘Sam’ earlier this year (Smart Assistant for Mobile), which is as pocket travel assistant and chatbot designed to help travellers on the go with all their itinerary needs. Sam employs a blend of artificial intelligence and integrated consultant support to help travellers with everything from itinerary management to bookings, service and support.

“We have been investing a lot of time, resources and budget into innovation and development, to improve our customer service from a product and process perspective,” James said. “We want to help our consultants to be more productive, which leads to a better customer experience.

“With so many disruptors in the market nowadays it’s critical that companies think outside the square to improve their offering and services.”

ENDS. Enquiries to Sally Gordon 0412492 433