As part of its ongoing partnerships strategy, Amadeus announced it is working with Microsoft and Accenture to develop new AI-powered integrations between its travel and expense platform Cytric Easy and Microsoft 365.
Accenture, together with Avanade, is working with Amadeus to develop and pilot the travel assistant. Integrated with Amadeus’ Cytric Easy platform, the assistant will align travelers’ preferences with employers’ policies for a more efficient and cost-effective experience.
The generative AI-powered interactive assistant will leverage Microsoft technologies, including GPT models from Azure Open AI Service, Microsoft 365 and Teams, to assist corporate travelers with elements of their journey (from planning, booking and pre-departure, through to the trip and post-trip). In a conversational style, the chatbot will ask for clarifications and make suggestions to propose the most appropriate travel or travel itinerary options.
Rudy Daniello, Executive Vice President, Amadeus Cytric Solutions, said: “The new Generative AI-powered chatbot will offer an enhanced way to book business travel, moving from a standard sequential display with predetermined filters to a dynamic, interactive conversational interface powered by ChatGPT. When fully realized, business travelers will be able to book trips with even greater ease, saving time.”
“Accenture’s collaboration with Amadeus and Microsoft accelerates the integration of generative AI-powered solutions in the travel industry, driving innovation and reinvention. Cytric Easy offers the corporate travel world new levels of efficiency, personalization and control whilst transforming the entire experience for the traveler,” said Miguel Flecha, managing director at Accenture, and account lead for Amadeus.
In addition, Amadeus is working with Microsoft on a new plugin for Microsoft 365 Copilot, which brings the power of next-generation AI to Microsoft’s workplace productivity tool. Currently in development, the Cytric Easy plugin for Microsoft 365 Copilot could make it easy for colleagues to quickly match and book travel itineraries in a single, sophisticated workflow within Microsoft 365 using natural language prompts. This integration aims to further streamline the travel journey to deliver an intelligent, and contextually aware end-user experience.
Feliz Montpellier, General Manager, Global Partners, Microsoft said, “We are at an extraordinary moment in the technology landscape, where AI is reshaping industries like travel and transforming how we work. Through expanded integrations between Microsoft and Amadeus, we will create more value for corporations and much more personalized and productive experiences for travelers.”
The collaboration is part of a wider vision to transform business travel, as well as ensuring that the generative AI solutions can be responsibly built and scaled globally. The three technology leaders are combining to create hyper-personalized and hyper-contextualized journeys, designed to drive maximum value from each trip, within Microsoft 365 and Teams.
By drawing on Amadeus’ unrivaled knowledge of the travel ecosystem and harnessing Cytric’s content and knowledge of the traveler, as well as information on corporate booking policies and preferences, these new AI-powered tools aim to make the business travel booking experience more intuitive, driving both business efficiency and employee satisfaction.
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