Locomote is a relatively new technology platform but one with lofty goals nonetheless.
But as a handful of customers sing its praises, many feel that the Australian-based venture is poised to transform the corporate travel industry, according to Matthew Hall of Australia's The Age.
"You can book your leisure travel online very easily," said co-founder and chief information officer Ross Fastuca via Hall. "You don't talk to anybody and you can do it without too much fuss. For corporate travel, for whatever reason, it seems to be way behind the eight ball."
"You still have manual interaction and there are all these different forms. We also found that the booking aspect of corporate travel is just one element. There's also financial savings, duty of care, corporate governance, and operational efficiency," he added. "Corporates also need their travel and expenses to be managed easily. It's not as simple as booking a trip to Hawaii - there are all sorts of things that have to be taken into consideration."
Originally developed for mobile devices, Locomote now includes a desktop interface designed for both travel managers and employees.
And as result of an investment from British global company Travelport last summer, Locomote has seen a number of organizations sign onto its platform over the past year, including ANZ Bank, Medibank, the University of Tasmania, and the University of Southern Queensland, among others.
The University of Southern Queensland's Peter McLeod cited the unprecedented amount of control provided to the user rather than the travel company as the main appeal of Locomote's platform.
Other customers pointed to reduced time and costs as the leading benefits.
Other benefits of Locomote include the ability to create reports from anywhere and direct integration with third party suppliers worldwide.
Fastuca, who told Hall he wants Locomote to become "the (s)alesforce of the travel industry," said that in the future "the corporate travel industry is not going to be run in the same way as it is today."
"What a travel management company would look to do in the future is VIP service, disaster recovery, and handle complexities like round the world trips."
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