Anvil Helps To Make The World Of Business Travel Simpler And Safer For Clients

LONDON - June 6, 2017 - PRLog -- Travel and operational risk company, Anvil, states that new ways of entering business travel data into its award-winning ETMS (Employee Travel Monitoring System) will open up a world of opportunities for its global client base. Its ability to automatically read and upload booking data from hundreds of major airlines, hotel chains and travel operators allows clients to expand their travel booking options without compromising their travel risk management provision.

Anvil's traveller tracking system already connects directly with all of the major GDSs (Global Distribution Systems) and TMCs (Travel Management Companies), providing a seamless and secure service for its clients. But the company is all too aware that not every organisation may wish to go down the standard GDS route when managing their travel bookings.

Matthew Judge, Anvil's Group Managing Director, states: "The nature of business travel is changing. Those of us providing risk management solutions need to embrace these changes. Forcing organisations and their travellers down a single path is not an option. To remain competitive, organisations need more choice and more flexibility in how they deal with ever changing travel requirements. We need to be a part of the solution not a barrier to change."

To this end, Anvil's automated email parsing service is helping to revolutionise the way in which organisations manage their travel bookings whilst maintaining the safety and security of their personnel. The completion of time consuming forms, still required to upload non GDS booking data into some travel risk management platforms, is something Anvil clients no longer have to deal with.

Peter Davies, Anvil's Head of Research of Technical Development, explains: "Our automated email parsing is extremely simple and effective. Any of our clients booking travel directly, say via an online booking site, simply forwards their e-ticket to a designated Anvil inbox. Our email parser then captures the data from that ticket and automatically uploads it to the clients' ETMS. Effectively, we've closed the gap on travel that's been booked outside of the GDSs."

Anvil's email parser offers huge potential. It can process booking data in 27 different languages, from over 100 different airlines, 70 hotel chains, all the major car rental companies, rail operators and cruise operators. It can also support bookings made via over 100 other travel service providers including the likes of Uber, ebookers and lastminute.com.

With the ability to upload data from all of these providers directly into clients' ETMS platforms, Anvil can provide travellers themselves with far more choice and flexibility whilst still enabling travel managers, and those responsible for the safety and security of their travelling population, to have total visibility of current and future itineraries, regardless of the booking method.

Although email parsing is by no means a new phenomenon, Anvil's model goes a step further by bringing in human exception handling. If, for any reason, a ticket can't be read by the automated system, rather than being rejected, it's escalated to a human operative who reads the ticket, and then manually deciphers and enters the details. This reduces the need to go back to the travel booker and request resubmission.

Matthew Judge concludes: "With the nature of business travel ever changing, organisations need to have more options when it comes to booking travel but they also need to ensure that they can still provide the appropriate level of duty of care to their travelling and remote personnel. Travellers too, are now demanding more freedom and flexibility to go 'off-piste' with their bookings. Business trips can't always be booked months in advance. Plans change, meetings move. We need to enable organisations to be more adaptable, more flexible and yet still remain resilient in the face of risk. We're able to offer our clients far greater choices, empowering travel teams and the travellers themselves to make last minute decisions and choose alternative travel options whilst still remaining within the parameters of the processes and systems put in place to protect them."

For more on Anvil's award-winning ETMS platform visit anvilgroup.com/etms/ (http://www.anvilgroup.com/etms/)

ENDS

About Anvil

For organisations that want to protect their people, property and performance against risks, Anvil delivers advanced technology-led resilience solutions which identify relevant threats, warn those affected and prescribe what action to take. From people on the move and products in transit through to investing in new facilities and entering new markets, with Anvil, you are ready for anything.

anvilgroup.com (http://www.anvilgroup.com/)