Portman Travel implements Evolvi across branch network

18 October 2011

Portman Travel, one of the UK's leading travel management companies, is extending its relationship with Evolvi by rolling out the online rail booking and fulfilment service across its15 branch network.

Currently, Evolvi is used by Portman to power the self-booking systems available to its clients - now the functionality will be used by the TMC to meet the needs of corporate travellers who prefer to book using the company's branch network.

Portman and Evolvi have recently completed a major implementation project involving almost 300 staff in 15 locations stretching from Aberdeen to London and across to Cardiff and Tralee (Ireland). The roll-out also included deployment of 19 separate local ticket printers across the network to meet the specific fulfilment needs of Portman's corporate clients. 

John Dick, Senior Vice President, Operations at Portman, said: "Evolvi's sophisticated capabilities around MIS, policy compliance and its ease of use, were major factors in determining our choice of system when the need for a new UK rail booking tool arose."

This major project was managed jointly by Julie MacDonald for Portman Travel and Melanie Taylor for Evolvi Rail Systems.

Julie MacDonald said: "This implementation programme has been complex, but throughout the project Evolvi demonstrated an in-depth understanding of the needs of our large and diverse customer base. I am confident that Portman's clients will derive significant benefit from our wider adoption of the Evolvi tool, particularly given the wide range of fulfilment solutions offered through the online system."

Melanie Taylor commented: "We are delighted to be extending our partnership with Portman Travel - and to be able to offer the branch network access to the complete range of functionality, fulfilment options and levels of service that sets Evolvi apart."

Evolvi is the preferred choice of eight of the top 10 TMCs in the UK and last year helped to arrange over 4.25m rail journeys for corporate customers.

 

Ends

  

Evolvi press enquiries:

Philip Colley, Harvest PR. Tel: 023 9244 9655 / 07785 306378 / philip.colley@harvestpr.co.uk /  Twitter: @harvestprman

Portman press enquiries:
Anne-Marie Buckley / Jane Richards
Email: Anne-Marie.Buckley@brightergroup.com
Tel: 020 7326 9880

Notes

Portman Travel
Portman Travel was founded in 1959 and is one of the UK's longest-established travel management companies.  The company is headed up by Chief Executive Officer, Michael Hare, who is also currently Chairman of the Guild of Travel Management Companies (GTMC). Portman Travel HQ is located at Chertsey, Surrey with fourteen other UK locations, plus numerous client implants. In addition, Portman has two wholly owned international operations - in Tralee, Ireland and in Amsterdam.

Portman Travel is a founding shareholder of RADIUS, the global network for corporate travel management companies, which has an annual sales volume of USD $19 billion.

Evolvi

Evolvi's online system focuses exclusively on business rail travel and is used by Travel Management Companies (TMC) to meet the needs of their corporate customers.

Evolvi has been designed by business travel specialists to provide travel managers and procurement professionals with an online rail booking and ticket fulfilment service. It is able to deliver significant advantages in cost centre and project code transaction cost attribution, travel policy compliance and on-line management information capability. The system can also provide a complete on-line C02 emissions report using multi-modal comparative data.

The system also integrates with other Self-Booking Tools (SBTs), Global Distribution Systems (GDSs) and expense management tools.