Digital assistant to streamline tasks for corporate travelers within Amadeus’ travel and expense platform for Microsoft Teams, Cytric Easy; new plugin for Microsoft 365 Copilot to allow people to orchestrate complex travel-related tasks using only natural language.
MADRID; Sept. 25, 2023 – As part of its ongoing partnerships strategy, Amadeus announced today it is working with Microsoft and Accenture (NYSE: ACN) 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.
About Amadeus
Amadeus makes the experience of travel better for everyone, everywhere by inspiring innovation, partnerships, and responsibility to people, places, and planet. Our technology powers the travel and tourism industry. Inspiring more open ways of working. More connected ways of thinking, centered around the traveler. Our open platform connects the global travel and hospitality ecosystem. From startups to big industry players and governments too. Together, redesigning the travel of tomorrow.
We are working to make travel a force for social and environmental good. A collective responsibility to protect and improve the people and places we visit, ensuring travel continues to make positive contribution to our world. We apply innovation to meet new needs, to solve real challenges. Our truly diverse global workforce, made up of 150 nationalities, is passionate about travel and technology.
We are an IBEX 35 company, listed on the Spanish Stock Exchange under AMS.MC. We have also been recognized by the Dow Jones Sustainability Index for the last 11 years. Learn more about Amadeus at www.amadeus.com.
About Accenture
Accenture is a leading global professional services company that helps the world’s leading businesses, governments and other organizations build their digital core, optimize their operations, accelerate revenue growth and enhance citizen services—creating tangible value at speed and scale. We are a talent and innovation led company with 732,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Technology is at the core of change today, and we are one of the world’s leaders in helping drive that change, with strong ecosystem relationships. We combine our strength in technology with unmatched industry experience, functional expertise and global delivery capability. We are uniquely able to deliver tangible outcomes because of our broad range of services, solutions and assets across Strategy & Consulting, Technology, Operations, Industry X and Accenture Song. These capabilities, together with our culture of shared success and commitment to creating 360° value, enable us to help our clients succeed and build trusted, lasting relationships. We measure our success by the 360° value we create for our clients, each other, our shareholders, partners and communities. Visit us at www.accenture.com.
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