FCM Travel has rolled out a new artificial intelligence-based data management and reporting tool that enables travel managers to visualize program data by posing a question using natural language, according to the company.

Billed as a “search engine for travel data,” the tool first was conceived within the user innovation community of FCM parent company Flight Centre Travel Group. From there, it was developed further by a team led by Stephen Pitcher, FCM’s chief data science officer, the company said.

Available now to all FCM multinational corporate clients worldwide, the tool is designed to enable users to search, sort and visualize program data to identify savings opportunities, inform sourcing strategies or find statistics. The tool can build reports with more than 15 chart options and incorporate custom calculations, while offering AI-based suggestions for more efficient search methods.

With budget-constrained corporations seeking savings amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the importance of reporting and insight to more accurately gauge return on investment in travel is at an all-time high for many travel departments. Accordingly, as travel management companies work to redefine their core value proposition — a process begun well before Covid — beefing up their data-related offerings to clients could become a key point of emphasis for TMCs. 

FCM is offering the data reporting tool free for the first three months as part of its October pledge campaign, an initiative to help spur the recovery of corporate travel in the wake of Covid-19.