The show, now in its second year, was well attended. The organisers pulled off a small coup in securing BA’s CEO Willie Walsh – beset by strife, as ever – as keynote speaker. We awarded top marks for ingenuity to Virgin Atlantic, whose exhibition stand was designed as a massive TV lounge for watching the World Cup football: visitors reclined in rows of Virgin’s comfy airline seats while watching Argentina beat South Korea 4-1. Some other exhibitor stands looked a little quiet by comparison.

Speaking at ‘Business Travel Market’ in London today, Dominic O’Regan, KDS’s solutions consultancy director, urged organisations to ensure total trip costs are calculated correctly and weighed against the benefit of the travel.

“Right now,” said O’Regan, “when the economic pressures on every business are so intense, it is more important than ever before to avoid unnecessary – and unnecessarily expensive – travel. The first step in that process is to know the likely total cost of a trip before the travel plans are approved. Are you going to spend more travelling than you will generate when you arrive? I cannot stress enough the importance of ROI in modern business travel.

“Monitoring costs such as flights and hotels can be a straightforward task but, all too often, factors such as travel management company (TMC) fees, lodge card spend and incidentals can be overlooked or forgotten. You only realise the actual total cost of the trip after the event, by when it’s too late to do anything. Perhaps you never truly realise the total trip cost at all. If you want to stop wasting money, you need comprehensive, reliable, easily-accessible and well-presented data from the very start of the travel management process.”

O’Regan concluded: “KDS’s fully-integrated technology helps corporate and TMC clients save money throughout the travel management process, including online self-booking and automated expense processing. We’re the only company to have built a truly unified end-to-end T&E solution from the outset, focused on our customers’ needs, and delivering real and tangible ROI.”

A conference and exhibition aimed at European travel buyers, ‘Business Travel Market’ concludes today at the ExCeL London convention centre. The two-day event attracts over 3,500 participants and around 100 exhibitors, from more than 20 countries across Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

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.