Since beta launch in July 2016, Insteract has acquired 400 clients, ranging from independent business professionals to corporations that are primarily in the pharmaceutical, technology and manufacturing segments.
Most of these customers are booking corporate travel through a mix of TMC and websites, but those with negotiated contracts in place use the Bangalore-based startup to benchmark their spend.
Integrating the particulars of company policy and cost and traveler preferences into its advanced data analytics and AI programs, the product provides the end user with five to six relevant options, allowing him or her to select and book travel in no more than seven minutes. To date, Insteract has saved clients an average of 10 to 12% of their corporate spend.
Born of pain points that founder and CEO Balaji Ramakrishnan encountered when he launched his first travel startup in 2001, Insteract is funded by a $250,000 angel round from an unnamed travel tech company with operations in the US and India.
Balaji’s first startup was a travel tech platform that offered ecommerce solutions to OTAs, TMCs, tour operators, consolidators and GDSs located the world over.
“From my previous experience I observed that the solution that TMC’s were asking us to build was not really sticking with the users. Unfortunately, the scope was always about automating what the agency was doing. It had very little about their customer.”
User experience was an issue and few clients were interested in understanding the needs of their corporate travelers or improving the travel policy.
“I saw this as a major disconnect that undermines any tool implementation. The data was all there. What was needed is a solution that utilizes that data and provides an experience that is intelligent, transparent and convenient for the traveler.”
Insteract’s “intelligent travel agent” Hellolosa provides the end user with a real-time cost range produced by data analytics that track fares through real-time benchmarking of market. The options presented to the traveler are the seven most logical as determined by Insteract’s unique algorithm, which processes dozens of parameters as they relate to travel time, supplier performance, in-flight amenities and the airport –among other determining factors.
Content is sourced from leading consolidators and distribution platforms. The user can save their preferred option and come back to book after receiving corporate approval to do so.
For corporate travel manager clients, the process is largely the same, but company policy is factored into applied data analytics and algorithms.
Available in three tiers, independent business travelers can access a free plan using a social login like Facebook and LinkedIn while a “pro plan” is available to smaller businesses that have simple travel policies and an approval process already in place.
For this latter group, Insteract activation takes less than a day and clients have access to support via real-time chat, email and webinar sessions.
“The business plan caters to larger accounts that have more complex corporate travel policies and processes in place. They can opt into a professional on-boarding service, which includes a two-week roll out of the tool to the company’s end users and to which a one-time fee applies.
In the works for this year is a single app that will cater to the needs of the traveler, travel manager and the company executive responsible for travel approval. By year-end, Insteract is also planning to expand beyond India into international markets. But Ramakrishnan also adds:
“Our focus for 2018 will be to support booking of flight-hotel-rental-car packages, marking our first step toward door-to-door travel planning.”