Data-services provider TRX began offering clients standalone components of its flagship offerings in Software as a Service mode.
TRX aims to offer 20 such "travel technology utilities" and started off with four: Airline Contract Manager, Queue Manager, Profile Manager and Commission Manager.
Spokesman Stephen Carroll says each is offered via SaaS and clients generally pay usage, or transaction, fees. TRX contracts with third-party facilities to host the software, but is considering migrating it all into cloud computing.
Airline Contract Manager, used by several online travel agencies, covers contract "planning, performance evaluation and utilization to compliance, discount optimization and ROI measurement," TRX says.
Queue Manager, also used by several OTAs, is a workflow-management solution that handles "transactional tasks, tracks agent productivity and identifies process errors trends," TRX says.
Expedia Inc. is TRX's largest client.
Profile Manager, which is used by Amadeus e-Travel Management, enables travel managers to establish and store profiles and synchronize changes across all of the major GDSs, TRX says.
Commission Manager, a solution jointly developed with Perot Systems, is a commission-recovery product.
TRX President and CEO Shane Hammond says the company decided to introduce these travel utilities because there was considerable demand for components of the company's standard offerings, including RESX, CORREX, TRAVELTRAX and Travel Analytics.