FCM Travel, the large market corporate division of Flight Centre Travel Group, announced the launch of its “Approvals” feature to enhance the technology capability for its customers. The announcement was made at the GBTA convention in Atlanta.

The solution, according to the announcement, “is the latest leap forward for the company’s proprietary FCM Platform that brings together everything into a single, intuitive interface.”

John Morhous, chief experience officer, Flight Centre Travel Group – corporate brands, said,
“FCM Approvals is a new and innovative feature that simplifies travel approvals.”

Many customers, he said, follow a best-in-market approach in terms of regional booking technology, and this adds complexity to managing approvals on a global level. “We listened to the needs of our customers and thought outside the box to build our own alternative approval system that centralizes all approvals flows. No matter the booking channel, no matter the country, our customers have global consistency and a seamless user experience.”

According to the announcement, the tool will provide:

• Enhanced Control: one unified platform that streamlines all travel approvals, and ensures every decision aligns with company policies and budgets.
• Global compliance and local adaptability: designed to simplify cross-booking channel, cross-border approval flows while also allowing for regional rule customization to ensure safety and compliance.
• Harmonized operations: automated process, omni-channel access, saving up to two hours in offline flow, reducing manual dependencies, and simplifying policy updates across platforms.

FCM Approvals will launch its first iteration of the functionality in 35 countries, with the rollout plan including deployment across more markets with the aim to achieve global availability in the future, with the feature being constantly developed to become more robust and solve more complex needs.

The rollout will start with FCM’s existing customer base, with the new calendar year earmarked to onboard new customers.