New Distribution Capability (NDC) is a new data transmission standard developed by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) that aims to modernize the distribution of airline content and provide a richer shopping experience for travelers. It enables airlines to offer more personalized and differentiated products and services, such as branded fares and ancillary services, directly to customers through their own channels or third-party travel agencies.
While NDC promises many benefits for travelers and airlines, it also creates several challenges for corporate travel managers. One of their biggest challenges is the increased risk of leakage, travel purchases made outside of their approved corporate travel booking channels, leading to missing data. The adoption of NDC will result in missing data for two reasons. First, NDC booking channels may not flow into existing data collection systems. Second, a lack of available fares through non-NDC channels will likely drive travelers to book directly with the airlines, as is expected with American Airlines, in order to save time.
Leakage can result in higher travel costs, reduced visibility and control, and lower compliance with company policies. To address this challenge, travel managers need a comprehensive travel data capture solution providing full visibility into all travel bookings, including those made through NDC channels. This is where Traxo comes in.
Traxo is the travel data aggregation and intelligence platform that enables travel managers to capture, track, and analyze all corporate travel bookings, regardless of the booking source. Traxo can capture travel data from all travel booking channels, including GDSs, online travel agencies (OTAs), direct booking channels, and NDC-enabled channels. It is the ideal solution for comprehensive travel visibility for the NDC future.
By using Traxo, travel managers achieve complete visibility into all of their travel bookings, including those made through NDC channels, and can identify any leakage or non-compliance issues. This allows them to take proactive measures to address the issues and optimize their corporate travel program.
Here are some ways travel managers leverage complete corporate travel data capture provided by Traxo, including solving leakage problems NDC creates for corporate travel programs:
The first step in addressing the leakage problem caused by NDC is to understand how NDC impacts your travel program — including its potential to cause leakage. Traxo provides visibility into all bookings, allowing you to capture air bookings purchased through GDS EDIFACT and NDC channels. This oversight enables complete duty of care coverage, sustainability reporting, greater price assurance capabilities and more, regardless of how travel is booked.
This information can help you identify any potential leakage risks and prioritize your efforts to address them. For example, if you see that a growing number of your air bookings are made directly with a supplier rather than through your travel agency, you can work with your agency to ensure travelers are booking in your program and not outside of it.
One of the key benefits of NDC is the ability to offer travelers more personalized and differentiated products and services. However, this also creates the risk of non-compliance with corporate travel policies, as travelers may be tempted to book outside of the program to access these products and services.
With Traxo, you can monitor compliance with policy for all travel purchases, including those made through NDC booking channels outside of your agency. This information allows you to take corrective action and educate travelers on the importance of booking within the program to save money and ensure duty of care.
Another benefit of complete corporate travel data capture provided by Traxo is the ability to optimize supplier negotiations. With access to all travel bookings, including those made through NDC channels, you can analyze your true travel spend and identify opportunities to negotiate better deals with suppliers. This not only helps you save money on travel, but also strengthens your relationships with suppliers and improves the overall value of your corporate travel program.
(To learn more about how Traxo supports price assurance strategies, grab our free eBook.)
Finally, complete corporate travel data capture provided by Traxo can help you improve duty of care for your travelers. With access to all travel bookings, it’s easy to keep a pulse on your travelers’ upcoming plans, current locations, and past travel. This enables you to educate travelers on the risks associated with their travel destinations ahead of trips, as well as address emergency situations quickly as they arise. Your Traxo data is portable. With our growing marketplace of travel industry partners, you can automatically send booking details to your duty of care partner for further oversight and support.
If you’re ready to use Traxo to capture the inevitable leaked bookings NDC will cause while optimizing your travel program, reach out to us today. Our team is ready to answer your questions and help you implement Traxo’s comprehensive data capture capability in one day.