12 QUESTIONS AND 12 ANSWERS

"Why should an employee with a five-figure income make travel bookings?"

Who says that one should do so? If this is done up to now by a travel arranger or an assistant it can remain organized exactly this way. On the other hand it is a fact that everybody (the traveler or assistants) taking care of the travel planning is spending an exorbitant amount of time. Someone picks up the phone and inquires about a flight, the travel agent reports which fares are available. Now, there has to be a discussion with the traveler and the whole process starts all over again. Modern booking systems like cytric put an end to this kind of ping-pong communication. The traveler him- or herself - or the travel arranger - is directly informed about availability. This model is faster than any traditional method.

"Still, calling the travel agency is a lot faster than booking via the Internet."

Simply just taking the time required for the booking this is not true. However, there is much more to consider. It usually takes more than just one phone call. The key here is ping-pong communication, which involves many questions back and forth - e.g. if flights are sold out. Moreover, it is not just about the booking but about the entire process. Online booking immediately adds the approval process, uses the travel policy and automatically feeds data into the travel expense accounting system. Using online booking, you can achieve several objectives at once. Also, remember that Internet bookings will save your company's money, because the travel policy is complied to by 100%. And: in cytric our customers can store their "frequent trips" which are ready to be booked with a single click.

"Well, using online booking systems also costs money. Won't expenses cancel out savings?"

User fees for cytric are small by comparison. Assessments by independent business consultants have shown that the implementation of cytric will reduce total travel expenses (including the internal purchasing process cost) by five to eight percent already within the first year. This research also shows that a system like cytric can pay for itself in less than three months. Furthermore, the travel agency will most probably discount their prices for bookings, which have already been initiated online as compared to fees for traditional bookings. This way, cytric customers save money already using the travel agency.

"Travel bookings via Internet - Is this really secure?"

We use high level encryption technology: 128-bit encryption using the SSL protocol. Credit card numbers are registered only once in the system and do never have to be entered again. Moreover, your credit card number is visible on the screen in its encrypted form only. "It will take forever to explain cytric to my employees. That is a huge effort." This is - as anything in life - a question of being used to it. cytric is entirely very user-friendly and intuitive. Using the system requires no instruction. Furthermore, i:FAO adds a whole range of implementation services. Obviously, it takes some time until the associates are used to the new process - this is the same with any other new software you might implement. But in comparison to the ongoing benefits the system is offering, this one-time-effort can be neglected without any doubt.

"I have received offers from my car rental agency and from airlines to install their online booking systems in my intranet. Why would I need cytric?"

Putting a multitude of booking systems together into a net will never be successful. Having to click many times and logging in several times for every booking really confuses the traveler. This does actually cost more time as any user has to enter the same information over again each time, whereas in cytric the data is stored and used automatically. What is more, the consolidated reporting of booking data is impossible using such a "procedure". You also give way to non-compliance with your travel policy, as the online tool of any airline for example is not neutral, while cytric is sticking to nothing but the travel policy of your company.

"Can I make bookings for complicated itineraries using cytric?"

Yes. cytric is a system were standard bookings and point-to-point connections are very easy to do (these connections make up 70 to 80 percent of the total volume for business travel). Moreover, i:FAO is offering with reality an Add-on to cytric, which has been designed for complex itineraries.

"Will cytric guarantee my current preferred rates?"

This is one very special advantage of cytric. Our customers are allowed to set all types of rates: Corporate, negotiated and, of course, published rates. This does not only apply to air, but also for rental cars and hotels. The customer has the guarantee that preferred rates are being used automatically - without going to a different process for this purpose.

"I don't think I should ask my employees to book their own travel. They are sure to make mistakes."

The very contrary is true. cytric applies your company preferences and travel policy automatically. These are the directions that lead travelers at the point of sale. It is impossible for the user to do anything wrong. The user gets a green light for each booking only when everything is in policy compliance. This is more successful than the traditional method where the travel policy was only used by travelers and service providers who studied volumes of instructions on paper.

"Transactions via the Internet are still slow, and there are long wait times."

Not any longer! Moreover, the cytric concept is lightweight, so that the user never needs to wait for a page to load. We also maintain a state-of-the-art server farm. In addition, all cytric servers rely on high performance connections to the Internet.

"Internet booking systems have not yet fully matured. I don't want to be a beta-tester."

cytric has been in production since 1996. It was the first system with real-time booking in Amadeus. The makers of cytric have accumulated an incredible level of experience with this technology. Today, cytric is a finely tuned, stable system with a tremendous number of settings. Almost all leading travel agencies worldwide are offering online systems based on cytric. Siemens, the largest business travel customer in Europe, has adopted cytric since 1997. cytric customers have achieved real savings. The time for test runs is definitely over.

"Could you tell me in a short wrap-up why my company should use cytric now instead of still calling the travel agency?"

Very simple: The traveler has access to all relevant information concerning all business trips - anytime, anywhere (e.g. terminals, weather forecast, seatmaps, location of the hotels in a city map, and many more). The company reduces its travel cost in four aspects:
1. Steering and booking directives towards preferred suppliers who are offering preferred rates.
2. Reduced purchasing process cost.
3. 100% compliance to the travel policy.
4. Reduced travel agency cost.
The travel agents have a true benefit with cytric as well: They are reliefed of routine bookings and gain more time for new service levels and for reaching new customers. cytric does not work against travel agencies, it helps also the agents in optimizing their internal processes. cytric customers keep their travel agency relationship - only the partnership will be more efficient for both.