Neu-Isenburg, 07 November 2019
New AirPlus format for product innovations generates enthusiastic response.
Founders who have to win over investors for their business idea – it’s a concept familiar to audiences from the TV show "Shark Tank". AirPlus, a leading international provider of solutions for day-to-day management of business travel, has put this idea into practice. For the first AirPlus Innovation Challenge, held at the company’s headquarters in Neu-Isenburg, partners and suppliers were invited to convince a panel of judges from AirPlus of their business ideas. The winning entry came from IT consulting firm get it live GmbH, based in Germany, with its "Offerlytics" solution. Together with a team from AirPlus, get it live will now engage in an "innovation sprint" in which a prototype of the idea will be created and tested with AirPlus customers.
The idea is to give Offerlytics users and their suppliers in the business travel segment access to a shared database to improve their work together. Jan Husseini, Managing Director of get it live, explained: "Companies can find out how their employees prefer to travel on business and what they spend money on while on these trips. They can then use this information to write travel guidelines and negotiate better terms with their key suppliers. And those suppliers in turn can use the data to give customers and potential customers the best offer and identify new business opportunities."
The panel of judges was convinced. Patrick W. Diemer, Chairman of the Board at AirPlus, commented: "“Business travel is one of a company’s largest blocks of costs. The data having to do with this travel has tremendous potential, which many companies are still leaving untapped all too often. Together with get it live and Offerlytics, we can help our customers and their suppliers to save both money and valuable time by working together more efficiently."
Several-stage selection process leads to winning idea
Diemer was part of the final judging panel, along with Andreas Hagenbring, Member of the Management Board at AirPlus. But before get it live’s idea faced scrutiny from the five members of the final panel, it had to get through a long selection process. There were 19 submissions in all, across three categories:
- How to make life of business travelers easier?
- How is life beyond reporting?
- How will business travel be paid in the future?
Three participants per category were selected to present their idea to panels of experts in Neu-Isenburg. The winners from each category then went head to head in the final round.
A refreshing approach to building supplier relationships
"We have been working with some of our partners and suppliers for years. These solutions are successful and proven, but we wanted to know if there might be other connecting factors there, too. That’s when we got the idea for the Innovation Challenge, so we could get answers quickly and on a targeted basis," said James Westgarth, Director of Sourcing at AirPlus and one of the event’s organizers. Thanks to the positive response from both participants and AirPlus, the company is happy to hold a new Innovation Challenge next year.
About AirPlus International:
AirPlus is a leading international provider of solutions for the daily management of business travel. 50,000 corporate customers rely on AirPlus for the payment and analysis of their business trips. The products and services are marketed worldwide under the AirPlus International brand. The AirPlus Company Account is the most successful billing account within the UATP. More information is available online at www.airplus.com.
Contact AirPlus International:
Josephine Nachtsheim
AirPlus International
Phone: +49(0)6102 204-4604
E-Mail: presse@airplus.com