Technologically sound

Category : Jury Award for Best Technology Programme
Winner : Quest2Travel

Abhay Rangnekar, Founder and CEO, Quest2Travel

It has come as a pleasant surprise to win this award. This feat will go a long way in motivating the people behind Quest2Travel who have worked hard over the last four-five years to develop this system, to work even harder in the future.

Our web-based technology assists in managing corporate travel in real time. It handles all issues that large corporates would be facing, such as - defining travel policies for the entire organisation, defining the hierarchy, the approval and authorisation paths for the entire workforce, who is allowed to travel when and under whose supervision, and all the contracts that corporates might have with different vendors such as airlines, hotels, car rental agencies, basically all that can be embedded in our software. Once done, every employee can use our system and there is no need to have multiple travel agencies across the country, as one travel management company can provide service across the country either through the web portal or the service desk.

We have also developed a technology which allows customers to walk up to an ATM and while withdrawing money, book their travel in real time, debit their account and take the ATM receipt which acts like a travel voucher. In a country like India, where internet penetration is low and even security issues like credit card fraud or chargebacks exist, the ATM is an ideal distribution point for travel services as there are more than 25,000 ATMs in the country.