Rearden Commerce Customers Cut Costs by Using the Mobile Personal Assistant

Rearden Commerce ( www.reardencommerce.com), developer of the leading on-demand platform that helps companies buy and manage services online, today issued data based on usage of its Mobile Personal Assistant. The Mobile Personal Assistant automatically syncs with the Rearden Personal Assistant™ to offer several functionalities within one location-aware application, including flight alerts, detailed itinerary information, weather forecasts, flight search capabilities, interactive mapping, dining reservations and car service bookings. Companies have embraced the value of offering this technology to their road warriors; adoption of Rearden Commerce’s mobile application has surged 462 percent since the beginning of 2009. These companies have seen a reduction in their operating costs driven by a sharp decrease in calls to their travel agencies – a direct result of the mobile application making timely and relevant information available to business travelers.

“After adopting Rearden Commerce’s mobile solution, we noticed a 40 percent reduction in the number of inbound calls related to itinerary checks, gate changes and other related inquiries,” says, Jayme Smith, Travel Manager at Gore. “This not only translates to call center cost savings but also contributes to the productivity of our traveling associates.”

Additionally, the increased activity on the application has provided Rearden Commerce with some informative data points regarding the mobile behavior of travelers. Because the Mobile Personal Assistant has several functionalities available within one application, Rearden Commerce is uniquely positioned to compare and analyze usage trends.

Travelers most regularly leverage the mobile application to view itineraries and any alerts that are automatically pushed to the application (the user can choose to receive these alerts via SMS, email or a phone call). Within itinerary views, flight details are accessed 60 percent of the time, and following this, travelers frequently check hotel and weather details (18 and 15 percent respectively). When there is an itinerary change, travelers then rely on the application’s email capabilities in order to update friends and colleagues of any changes, or they use it to conduct a quick search within the application to identify other flight options.

“What I like best about the Mobile Personal Assistant is the ability to view my up-to-date itinerary without having to print anything in advance. It’s all on my BlackBerry®,” said Steven Jacobson, business traveler at The Advisory Board, a Rearden Commerce client. “It’s great to receive status updates for flights and have access to the weather report feature, all of which is incredibly handy.”

Rearden Commerce has also found that use of the application increases when the user is on a trip. A traveler accesses the mobile application several times per trip to view itineraries, find and book restaurant reservations, arrange for car service, or to simply view the weather conditions. Once a trip has begun, the most popular activity tends to be searching for nearby restaurants and booking reservations. Over the past six months, usage of the mobile dining functionality has gone up 55 percent.

“This data and direct client feedback provide us with valuable information to build technologies that a road warrior will value,” said Tony D’Astolfo, Vice President of World Wide Sales, Rearden Commerce. “It is very exciting to see that companies are already seeing a financial return on providing their employees with an integrated mobile solution.”

Further data from Rearden Commerce on mobile application adoption:

• When a traveler views their itinerary, they tend to check specific flight details 60 percent of the time. Following this, users check hotel and weather details (18 and 15 percent respectively). The high degree of activity on flight details signifies that information that changes, such as flight times or departure gates, is extremely important when it comes to mobile phone usage.
• 13 percent of Mobile Personal Assistant use is to conduct searches (flight or dining). When conducting dining searches, 55 percent of users leverage the geo-location functionality to book a restaurant “near” their current location. Rearden Commerce’s partnership with OpenTable® is a unique differentiator that enables users to complete these bookings from within the application.
• When sharing travel information with friends and colleagues directly from the application, travelers email their flight itinerary 49 percent of the time, and 27 percent of the time they will email their entire travel (air, car and hotel) itinerary.

Rearden Commerce’s Mobile Personal Assistant is a pioneering solution that seamlessly brings the company’s online functionality to the smartphone. Both the online and mobile solutions incorporate corporate and personal preferences, pull together content from 160,000 providers and provide employees with efficient travel information to make well-informed decisions and remain productive while on-the-go.

For more information about the Mobile Personal Assistant and the importance of mobile in the corporate travel space visit http://reardencommerce.com/webinars/mobile/

About Rearden Commerce

Rearden Commerce built one of the first intelligent platforms that aggregates Web services to enhance productivity by orchestrating and automating online commerce. Together with a series of applications, the platform personalizes content for the needs of users across all market segments – from consumers to small businesses, up to the largest enterprises such as ConAgra Foods, GlaxoSmithKline and JDSU. More than 5,000 corporate customers and millions of consumers can access the platform to easily find the services they need at the best value.

Rearden Commerce has significant distribution and reseller channels, including American Express, JP Morgan Chase, Paychex and dozens of travel management companies. It has two wholly-owned subsidiaries: ExpenseWire, a leading provider of on-demand expense reporting and reimbursement solutions for small to mid-sized corporations; and Global Ground Automation (GGA), a leading ground transportation reservation system provider. Rearden Commerce is headquartered in Foster City, California. For more information, visit reardencommerce.com, expensewire.com, or globalground.com.

BlackBerry® is a registered trademark of Research In Motion Limited.
OpenTable® is a registered trademark of OpenTable, Inc.