American Express @Work and Online Information Services

A Major Enhancement To Help Organisations In Travel and Card Management

In a further effort to provide timely and crucial information on travel and card management, American Express Corporate Services today launched @Work – a portal for delivering American Express’ business-to-business suite of online solutions. Designed to meet the varying needs of companies, a suite of online management information solutions is available exclusively via American Express @Work to help companies manage costs and identify savings opportunities more easily and effectively.

Based on the 2001 Survey of Corporate Travel Management released by American Express Consulting, Hong Kong companies’ operating costs could be reduced by a quarter if they placed greater emphasis on controlling travel and entertainment (T&E) costs. In 2000, the annual average T&E spend for companies in Hong Kong was HK$2,042,294, representing a 29% increase over 1998 and nearly twice the average spending in 1995. Through the introduction of the American Express @Work portal, local businesses can now benefit from this management tool to reduce T&E costs and maximize savings opportunities, using the Internet.

“We are able to provide our corporate clients with valuable information about travel, entertainment and other expenditure items, via a secure Internet site. All businesses can take advantage of this information to secure greater financial and management efficiency,” said Mr. James Alba-Duignan, Head of Corporate Services for American Express Hong Kong.

American Express @Work portal offers web-based reporting solutions, including Portfolio/Web – Corporate Card, Global Corporate Card, Travel, and Global Travel and Portfolio – CardInfo.

These products deliver total Card and Travel management support by supplying data in the three fundamental areas of expense management – financial management, supplier management and program management.

Portfolio/Web

Corporate Card, Global Corporate Card, Travel and Global Travel enables companies to create specialised Card or Travel management reports in any time period or industry, and drill down to passenger or charge level. Market or regional level summary reports can also be created. It is simply a powerful and flexible reporting tool to review, combine and manipulate Global Corporate card data or global ticketed data from over 27 countries around the world.

Portfolio – CardInfo

It provides online access to the standard Corporate Card reports, which American Express provides to its Corporate customers. These standard reports are available within 48-72 hours from the close of a billing cycle. Users have the option of being notified by email as soon as the standard reports are available online.

Additionally, companies can receive pre-formatted reports via Portfolio/Email regularly. The reports provide a high-level summary of the organizational spending. These reports can be drilled down to regional level.

American Express @Work portal is designed to be accessed using commonly available desktop hardware and software. Access to the American Express @Work portal is easy and any PC that supports standard browser platforms can log on to our secure site at any time. Security is ensured through the use of 128-bit SSL encryption.

American Express provides support for these products through a team of dedicated business Consultants in Hong Kong.