Forbes’ mission is to guide the company in the twin objectives of accelerating revenue growth and further solidifying KDS’ leading position in the T&E field. KDS’ fully-integrated technology helps corporate and travel management company (TMC) clients save money throughout the travel management process, including online self-booking and automated expense processing.

Forbes says: “Our T&E solutions, like KDS Corporate, are the strongest in the market and deliver real, tangible returns on investment. We’re the only company to have built a truly unified end-to-end T&E solution from the outset. And unlike our competitors, we’re vendor-neutral, so we’re not tied to any specific global distribution system or TMC.”

Yves Weisselberger, chief executive officer of KDS, adds: “Dean represents an exceptional addition to the KDS team. He was previously the youngest Oracle vice president, where his track record was stellar. I’m proud to see that KDS’ outstanding market position as one of the major European Software-as-a-Service companies continues to attract world-class talent.”

Forbes, 31, joins KDS from IT giant Oracle Corporation, where he was group vice president for Oracle’s project and portfolio management solutions on a worldwide basis. He had previously led international sales and commercial activity at Primavera, prior to Oracle’s acquisition of the company in 2008. He has also held management positions at Motorola and Isis Telecommunications.

A keen car collector and an avid sports enthusiast, Forbes is an accomplished footballer and has even represented Guyana at international level. He also actively participates in work for a number of charities and not-for-profit organisations.

A photograph of Dean Forbes is available here.

London, February 9, 2010 – KDS, an international leader in Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) travel and expense management, is today announcing an enhanced billing module for the company’s ‘KDS Corporate’ solution.

The new module enables the reconciliation of supplier invoices and traveller expenses, adding control, saving and simplicity to travel and expense management.

Visit KDS and experience the new billing module on Stand 243 during the Business Travel and Meetings Show in London, February 9-10.

The new KDS billing module meets a vital need of procurement executives: to gain visibility over the total cost of a trip. The end-to-end solution allows organisations to reduce the time and effort needed to reconcile actual spend.

Why the need? A true story…

Jo books and immediately invoices a trip to New York next month. As often happens, however, the meeting has to be rescheduled and she cancels the booking. The airline refunds Jo but, as a busy executive, she forgets to pass the refund back to her company. Finance departments don’t like it when that happens!

With the KDS Corporate billing module in operation, Jo’s company would have been alerted about the trip cancellation.

Travel services are paid via credit cards (both personal and corporate), lodge cards (corporate account) and cash. The job of the finance and procurement departments is to understand who spent what money on which services. However, working through and reconciling an extensive list of claims from multiple travellers on a single supplier invoice – whether covering airfares, hotel stays, car rentals or any other travel service – has until now been a long and painful task.

Yves Weisselberger, chief executive officer of KDS, says: “Without our new billing module, most of our clients had to wait for their travel management company’s report and spend hours analysing the data to match every booking against the invoice.

“Knowing the real, total cost of a trip has long been a goal of the travel procurement process. With KDS, that goal can now be achieved by every organisation.”

Billing for lodge cards

Lodge cards (or a travel account) are payment tools that centralise payment for the procurement of travel services. Although lodge cards considerably improve many aspects of the travel and expense process, the reconciliation of lodge card invoices with traveller bookings is nonetheless much improved with the new KDS billing module. Organisations can now better monitor their supplier contracts, their travel policy compliance and any savings that are being missed.

Not all travel services are paid for via credit cards or lodge cards. Organisations have direct contracts with suppliers for the procurement of services such as hotel rooms, car rentals and railway travel. These negotiated contracts provide organisations with lower prices and administrative overheads, and with simpler procurement processes. However, breaking down the invoices for each traveller can be a time-consuming process. The new KDS billing module simplifies that process of reconciling traveller expenses with invoices.

KDS Corporate closes the loop on travel procurement from trip planning and booking to payment and reimbursement. Travellers manage their bookings and expenses in a quick and streamlined manner, while the procurement and finance departments stay on top of travel spend, controlling and reconciling every booking.

Business Travel Show, London, February 9, 2010 – According to a new global study, organisations are sticking with their commitment to greener travel, despite the recession, but bosses are felt to be setting a poor example in their own travel choices.

For the fifth consecutive year, the Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE) and KDS, the European leader in online Travel & Expense management systems, have undertaken an international survey of attitudes towards business travel and the environment. In December 2009 and January 2010, the opinions of 317 business travellers and procurement and travel executives were gauged via an online poll.

Unsurprisingly, cost-cutting is said to be the top business travel priority for organisations, but it is striking that Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programmes have not been ditched in the recession. The majority of respondents (57%) disagree that their company would care less about CSR because of the financial crisis. Supporting environmental sustainability is also still a mid-tier corporate concern, also according to a majority (46%) of those expressing a view.

However, most respondents (45%) say top managers set a bad example in the ‘greenness’ of their travel choices. The worst offenders are in France and United States: 44% of respondents in France say their managers set a poor example (good example: 36%); bosses in the US are also slammed by 44% of respondents (supported by 39%). The UK has the most virtuous bosses, whose travel choices are approved of by 51% of UK respondents (although criticised by 41%).

Other findings include:

• The majority of respondents (61%) saw employers cut the amount of business travel undertaken in 2009.
• Frustrating hopes for quick economic recovery, almost three-quarters expect to travel only the same amount this year, or even less (51%: travel unchanged; 21%: fewer trips). This is partly offset by the 27% who expect to travel more.
• Around 19% say travel reductions resulted from CSR goals as well as cost-cutting objectives.
• A growing number of travel departments are believed to report to senior management on business travel carbon emissions: in this survey, only 55% said this was not the case, versus 61% the previous year.

Respondents were asked what might help them travel in a more ecologically-conscious way. Most would like greater information about the carbon emissions of a travel option before booking – 66% say this is something they would welcome. Some 59% of respondents say they would like more guidance on their employers’ CSR and travel policies.

ACTE President Richard Crum says: “It is a great relief to see that Corporate Social Responsibility remains a strong priority for many corporations, and an equally strong concern for travellers, who are making an effort to reduce their impact on the planet. It is understandable that the last year has seen corporate leadership focus on the financial health of their companies.  However, it is important to recognize that truly sustainable businesses balance the demands of shareholders with respect for the environment and the people and communities they impact every day.”

Yves Weisselberger, CEO of KDS, adds: “It is great to see that CSR has been taken to heart by so many organisations. However, the survey reveals that employees would like more help in making green travel choices. Online travel booking tools can be powerful in this regard, helping with policy enforcement, carbon calculators and highlighting low-carbon options. However, there is still much more to be done through employee communications, and here – as in their individual travel choices – top managers must take the lead.

The full report on the 2010 ACTE-KDS survey is available upon request.

The survey is being distributed to business travellers and bookers across the globe, analysing the current trends in business travel and, in particular, corporate social responsibility (CSR).

Yves Weisselberger, chief executive officer of KDS, says: “We want to know how hard the business travel industry is working to be as environmentally-friendly as possible. The survey will help us promote the good work being done, as well as identifying the CSR failings in business travel that need to be addressed.

“We are studying all aspects of the business travel experience, from company travel policies, through the booking process and on to the journey itself and the consequent expenses management. The survey will therefore provide an invaluable snapshot of the modern business travel experience.”

The KDS/ACTE online travel survey can be found at: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/acte-p. The results will be analysed and published at the Business Travel and Meetings Show (BTMS) in London from February 9-10 2010.

A Capgemini-led team, including KDS, won Best Public Sector Outsourcing Project and Best IT Outsourcing Project for the implementation of ‘Defence Travel Online’ (DTO) with the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD).

DTO, launched in the summer of 2008, allows 300,000 Royal Navy, Army and Royal Air Force personnel worldwide, as well as MoD civilian staff, to book business travel online, eliminating the burden of forms, warrants and dockets. The solution provides users with immediate price comparisons to find the cheapest travel option, cuts administrative costs and gives the MoD invaluable data to drive for better bargains with travel suppliers.

Yves Weisselberger, chief executive officer of KDS, says: “Travel and expense (T&E) management is at least as important in the public sector as the private sector. The financial operations of government agencies are under intense scrutiny.

“By turning to our project team, led by Capgemini, the MoD demonstrated a serious commitment to T&E. Hopefully these awards will encourage other government agencies to follow the MoD’s example.”