SAP Addresses and Simplifies Global Business Travel Woes With Cloud Solution

Press release:

SAP Addresses and Simplifies Global Business Travel Woes With Cloud Solution

SAP NEWSBYTE - July 23, 2012 | SAP - Cloud Computing

As the pain and expenses associated with global business travel continue to increase, companies and business people alike are seeking effective and integrated software to help simplify the end-to-end process. SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) today announced new cooperation with partners and solution providers and increased availability of the SAP Travel OnDemand solution, part of the company's growing portfolio of cloud offerings. The announcement was made at GBTA 2012, being held July 22-25 in Boston.

SAP Travel OnDemand is designed to let financial officers and business travelers deftly handle the end-to-end process of travel and expense management faster and with lower cost while staying in compliance with corporate policies. The cloud-based solution is already available in the U.S. and Germany; 14 additional country-specific versions are now also available, including: Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, France, India, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland and the UK. Country-specific versions adhere to national tax and statutory requirements, allowing for a seamless user experience for large, multi-national companies.

"Our main criteria was finding a fully integrated, one-stop travel solution, taking us all the way from pre-trip approval and online booking to expense reporting," said Tony Velleca, chief information officer, UST Global. "It also had to be easy to use and mobile. We looked at others, but ultimately SAP is the only one with three decades of experience in this area. SAP Travel OnDemand gave us a trustworthy and effective way to handle one of the most complicated processes in the company."

SAP has widened its ecosystem to offer customers more flexibility to choose leading local providers for their specific business travel needs. Building on its existing ties with Paymetric for payment card industry (PCI) compliance, SAP today announced new collaboration with best-in-breed technology players in areas such as mobile payment processing, smart receipt management and global online booking tools.

• Smart Receipt Recognition with OpenText: The leader in receipt recognition services, OpenText's solution interprets multi-lingual/multi-currency receipt images sent to SAP Travel OnDemand. It turns the images into machine-readable information and automatically pre-populates the expense report, saving time and reducing steps for busy travelers.
• Online Booking Tools with e-Travel by Amadeus and cytric by i:FAO: Adding to its existing successful cooperation with GetThere, SAP, is also working with the two leading online booking tools from Amadeus and i:FAO, which can now offer customers even greater flexibility to choose among multiple tools based on their specific requirements, all while staying within the SAP Travel OnDemand system.
• Mobile Credit Card Payment with AirPlus International: For business travelers short on time, SAP and AirPlus International plan to provide automated, near field communication (NFC) mobile payment processing to help reduce costs and simplify the credit card clearing process on the back-end, while also streamlining and drastically reducing the effort required by the traveler.

Already a leader in on-premise financial and expense management, only SAP provides an integrated travel and expense solution to enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions, including SAP ERP Financials and SAP ERP Human Capital Management. As a standard feature, SAP Travel OnDemand delivers add-ons for the SAP ERP application to the customer's on-premise SAP system that automatically enables the integration from the cloud-based SAP solution.

Since the March 2012 launch of SAP Travel OnDemand, SAP has doubled investment and committed to a faster pace of innovation, now delivering quarterly release cycles with new updates, features, partnerships and country versions to help ensure its customers take full advantage of the benefits of cloud applications.

Visit SAP at GBTA 2012, booth #2748. To learn more, visit the Cloud Computing page on sap.com and the SAP Newsroom. Follow SAP on Twitter at @sapnews.

Get the Most From Your Road Trip, On the Highway and at the Pump

Press release:

Get the Most From Your Road Trip, On the Highway and at the Pump

July 17, 2012

America’s No. 1 travel and map software for 13 years straight,* Microsoft Streets & Trips is a helpful travel companion and easy-to-use laptop guide.

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REDMOND, Wash. — July 17, 2012 — Nobody wants to spend more money than necessary to fill the gas tank, and drivers want to get the most out of each gallon. Making efficient, customized travel plans is now easier than ever with today’s launch of Microsoft Streets & Trips 2013, the new edition of the popular trip-planning software.

Current users of Streets & Trips will find the new 2013 version offers a sleek and clean look in high contrast designed for easier viewing, updated maps of the United States and Canada — including 150,000 new miles of roads since the 2011 version was released — and more than 2.5 million points of interest. Longtime fans will also find they can now turn all pushpin names on or off with a single click, and they can create larger drive times for more flexibility in trip planning.

“A new feature people are really going to love is the online ratings and reviews. Customer ratings and reviews on restaurants, hotels and more take the guesswork out of deciding where to go,” said Larry Petersen, software design engineer at Microsoft Corp. “Streets & Trips 2013 adds upgrades our customers have asked for, including 600,000 more points of interest than the previous version.”

The 2013 version of Streets & Trips is designed to help travelers plan the perfect trip start to finish — generate maps and directions, customize with start and stop times, and add notes such as reservation numbers or operating hours — all without an Internet connection. 

For many truckers, RVers, family vacationers and other motorists, laptops have become an essential travel accessory. Microsoft Streets & Trips helps them efficiently plan and customize their travel before they hit the road. Whether the day calls for visiting an amusement park, winery, casino, national park or museum, there is a stop along the way for everyone when using Streets & Trips. One-click route optimization provides the most efficient route, and a fuel consumption manager helps consumers budget gasoline costs. Then, while on the road, Streets & Trips on a laptop helps travelers find necessities such as ATMs, hotels, auto services, restaurants and more, with no Internet connection required, helping plan for — or discover — plenty of fun and useful stops along the way.

“Microsoft Streets & Trips helps travelers tailor personalized itineraries with as much or as little detail as they prefer,” said Lori Stock, group product marketing manager for Streets & Trips at Microsoft. “It’s a great travel companion and easy-to-use laptop tool that really helps our customers’ travel inspirations become a reality. Everyone will appreciate how the software takes so many hassles and headaches out of the road trip while providing personalized options for creating memorable experiences.”

Availability

Microsoft Streets & Trips is available for purchase today, online at the Microsoft Store(http://www.microsoftstore.com) for an estimated retail price of US$39.99. Microsoft Streets & Trips with GPS Locator is available for US$69.99.** Consumers can give Streets & Trips a test drive by downloading a free 14-day trial version at http://www.microsoft.com/streets/travel.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

* The NPD Group/U.S. Retail Tracking May 1999–March 2012. 

** Estimated retail price. Actual retail price may vary. 

For more information on Microsoft Streets & Trips:

http://www.microsoft.com/streets/travel