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How do open corporate travel platforms drive innovation?

November 26, 2025
4 min read
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Cathrine Holmner
Cathrine Holmner
Global Head of Solution Consulting, Amadeus Cytric
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Recent trends in corporate travel management technology show a shift toward bundled platforms, those that combine booking, payments, and expense tools. These solutions may gain traction at the expense of open, mix-and-match ecosystems, which let users select the technology best suited to their needs.


With technology evolving rapidly—think AI, cloud, and biometrics—openness is what lets organizations quickly adopt the latest innovations and keep their travel programs future-ready.


Here I would like to make the case for openness - not just as a matter of flexibility, but as the essential driver of innovation.


Only by taking a flexible approach to travel management technology, across platforms accessible to an ecosystem of technology providers, can we ensure the freedom to innovate. As travel programs face mounting pressure to deliver efficiency, traveler satisfaction, and measurable sustainability results, maintaining openness will prove vital.


Amadeus prizes flexibility

At Amadeus, we see open platforms as key to better travel management. Those which allow seamless integration with third-party applications, APIs, and services. Unlike closed systems, open platforms enable companies to customize and extend functionality, ensuring they can adapt to changing business needs.


We believe openness helps travel managers adopt innovative technology faster, personalize experiences, and automate with AI, while meeting sustainability and compliance goals. 


An open approach gives corporations true freedom of choice. With Amadeus Cytric, customers can select the travel management company (TMC), content, and services that best suit their needs. 


This open architecture approach evolves with business decisions over time, ensuring corporate travel managers are never boxed in by bundled systems or forced changes. Because Amadeus Cytric is TMC-agnostic, customers can plan confidently, knowing their travel program will not be limited by commercial alliances or product roadmaps that prioritize the interests of a single provider.


How does openness drive innovation?

Crucially, this openness is what enables rapid innovation. By welcoming new partners—including through our new Prime Partners program—and technologies, Amadeus Cytric supports customers to have access to the latest advancements.


For example, Amadeus Cytric helps overcome data silos, enabling interoperability with HR systems, expense tools, and third-party travel apps. This connectivity leads to streamlined workflows and data-driven decision-making. Amadeus Cytric also allows corporate travel and expense IT buyers, partners, and developers to build on and evolve existing infrastructure, so it’s easy to integrate AI-driven personalization or sustainability tools.


More than 50% of travel managers are collecting emissions data on travel activities in order to meet carbon emissions reduction targets (BTN Europe’s Sustainable Travel 2025 report). Therefore, with sustainability front of mind, openness makes it easier to integrate carbon calculators, policy compliance tools, and reporting dashboards. This not only supports corporate sustainability goals but also ensures adherence to regulatory requirements across regions.


The openness of Amadeus Cytric is underpinned by a clear, focused investment strategy and technology. Unlike competitors balancing multiple overlapping platforms, we continue to invest directly in Amadeus Cytric, reducing complexity and streamlining maintenance.


Built for global scale and integrated with Microsoft Teams, Amadeus Cytric offers robust travel and expense management which also enables AI integration. As part of a dedicated travel technology company, it exists to innovate for travel managers, travelers, and TMC partners alike, all without competing agendas or distractions.


Building better experiences for corporate travelers

We believe that in the long run, an open approach will beat a closed one. Competition fuels innovation, while exclusivity slows it down. When an online booking tool is tied to a single TMC, or vice versa, there is less incentive to evolve, adapt, or respond to changing market needs.


Amadeus takes the opposite path.


We have an open, multi-cloud strategy and a diverse partner ecosystem, from global tech leaders like Microsoft to agile startups, helping us drive continuous and rapid innovation. With Amadeus Cytric, these advancements are available to everyone, regardless of TMC choice. It can offer AI-powered capabilities, like the Cytric AI Assistant, give corporations full control over their travel program, combining rich, unbiased content with a powerful policy engine to support compliance and efficiency.


Backed by Amadeus’ global scale, industry expertise, and sustained research and development investment, Amadeus Cytric is designed to adapt to whatever future emerges. While others narrow their focus, we are widening ours, simplifying complexity for customers and keeping the travel technology ecosystem open, dynamic, and built for progress.


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