As we head out of summer and business travel starts gearing up again, we conclude last week’s post from Elizabeth West, Director, Content Solutions from ProMedia.travel on getting the most out of your corporate travel program:

With the 2010 NBTA Convention behind us, it’s time to begin thinking about using all we’ve learned to better manage travel budgets as the fall business travel season begins picking up steam. Elizabeth West, Director, Content Solutions for ProMedia.travel shares advice for getting the most out of your corporate travel program:

As the economic recession slowly gives way to recovery, business travel is picking up pace. To make the most of the travel budget, travel managers must stay vigilant with demand management and data analysis, while getting innovative with new management tools and tactics.

After months of designing, planning and testing work, today we are excited to unveil a number of new enhancements to our travel booking tool, Concur Cliqbook Travel, and our flagship product, Concur Travel & Expense. We’ve made some big changes to the look, feel and performance of Concur Cliqbook Travel, and hope that travelers will enjoy using it as much as we do. The new user interface is easy to navigate, customize and in our opinion is downright good looking.

I’m one of the original architects and principal software engineers behind Concur’s market-leading travel technology. Back in the late 90’s, while at Outtask, I helped develop the original travel booking tool that eventually became Concur Cliqbook Travel. In 2005, we rewrote the user interface, and in 2006, after Concur acquired Outtask, I was thrilled to stay on and help integrate it into Concur Travel & Expense.

I’ve been involved in several iterations of this travel booking tool and am thrilled with the updates we’ve made to it; we hope you will be too. In approaching the redesign and update process, I, along with a team of engineers, designers and a small army of software testers, set out to create what we feel is the best corporate travel booking tool available today.

How often do you travel by train? In FY 2009, Amtrak welcomed aboard over 27.1 million passengers, an average of more than 74,000 passengers per day, riding more than 300 Amtrak trains per day. Whether you use Amtrak or not, one thing’s for sure: millions of people rely on Amtrak to get them where they need to go everyday.

As a business traveler, you know changes in travel plans are imminent. Without a doubt, you’ve faced delayed flights or terminal gate changes. But how do you stay on top of those changes?

Today, Concur announced an extension of our partnership with OAG (or the Official Airline Guide). And the partnership is all about helping you stay informed while you’re on the road. With OAG, travelers booking through Concur’s services will have immediate access and full availability of flight status information such as departure and arrival times, delays, cancellations, terminal/gate updates and baggage claim information.

Now, when any of that information is changed, Concur will automatically generate a notification for you to keep you informed. In fact, we’ll send updates right to your mobile device – after all, you likely already use your mobile phone to stay informed while on the road. Now, you can take that one step farther and virtually eliminate moments of frustration when your flight changes.

Continuing the expansion of Concur® Connect, the global program that provides Concur clients with access to content otherwise unavailable through traditional travel programs, Concur today announced partnerships with both hotel.info and HRS.

Last summer at NBTA, we announced a partnership with Southwest. And, today the content is live for our clients to start using! This is an exciting step for Concur because we’re the only travel provider today with direct access to Southwest content, and most importantly this is something our clients have been asking for.

While at Fusion a couple weeks ago, our clients were thrilled that Southwest content would soon be available. I was talking with one client and she said, “Suzanne, we do more than 65 percent of our travel with Southwest. You can imagine how excited we are that this content will be live in Concur.” For our clients, access to Southwest content isn’t just an enhancement; this will truly make an impact on their travel programs.