British Airways set to launch self-service portal for corporate clients

British Airways aims to launch a self-service account management portal for corporate clients by the end of this year. Head of sales Mark Muren told BTN Europe the portal will allow travel managers to view reporting, such as performance against deal targets, and access “all thing news-oriented and administrative. It will also be a place where waivers and favours are able to be executed, hopefully in a fairly seamless way.”

The portal will also be accessible to travel management companies, which are likely to be the first users of the tool, and BA’s own account management team. The technology is being built on Salesforce, which Muren characterised as “the nervous system within the IAG (International Airlines Group – parent of BA) sales organisation”, in collaboration with third-party developers.

All three major US carriers have launched similar portals in recent years, and Muren said there is a similar need in Europe, especially for better visibility of deal tracking. “We want to develop a single view that everybody involved with that account can see,” said Muren. “It shouldn’t be something you have to ask the account manager to bring to a quarterly review.”

Muren added that BA has worked closely on the portal with joint-venture partner American Airlines. “They have been extremely transparent about the things in their tool that they love and things that they are thinking about evolving,” he said. “It’s going to be a game-changer on this side of the Atlantic.”