In the world of travel reservations bookings, no name is better known than Sabre. It processes 40% of all reservations made in the world and links travelers to travel suppliers through more than 210,000 computers at travel agencies, airports and businesses. Nearly every airline in the world relies on outsourcing solutions and services from Sabre.
The travel agency industry is extremely large in North America, says John Haville, managing director of Unisys Travel Alliance Services (TAS). The $150 billion industry is used for more than 80 percent of all the airline’s bookings, as a channeled distributor.
One of the largest travel agencies in the United States, First Travelcorp out of Raleigh, N.C., began searching for someone to come in and operate some of its back office activities during the mid-90s.
When a long-haul truck pulls in for a fuel fill-up, it typically costs about $150. More than 15,000 fleet operators turn to Comdata to provide credit cards for truck drivers to use as they ply the nation’s highways. Comdata verifies and pays the bills, and forwards an invoice with a small mark up to its clients. With trucks continually on the road, the Comdata network that handles these transactions must be absolutely reliable, accurate, secure, and always available.
Outsourcing: The Big Picture. The outlook for pure outsourced big deals will decrease in the coming year, according to Jim Champy, chairman of outsourcing at Perot Systems.
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