Having regard to surrounding contextIt's hard to 'sell the dream' when you're talking about travel... So we salute the seductive promises unveiled by Navan on 2 March with Navan Edge. " This is the breakthrough that will leave the rest of the travel industry behind us for good. "says Ilan Twig, CTO and co-founder of Navan.
What about this revolutionary new tool? Navan claims to have designed a virtual assistant which, thanks to AI of course, will guarantee ultra-personalised management of business travel, to the point of democratising for all travellers what has until now been the preserve of the directors of large companies.
Navan's management describes it as follows: " For too many business travellers, travelling has become a painful experience, marked by delays, middle seats, outdated technology and hours of waiting on the phone. Traditionally, CEOs and VIPs could avoid these inconveniences thanks to a personal assistant who knew and anticipated their needs. Without this support, many travellers had no choice but to use solutions unsuited to the demands of business travel, or to send an e-mail to a travel agency just to book a flight. ".
So much for the promise, which is bound to be tempting for many travellers. But what has become of Ava, the automated virtual assistant, the concierge 2.0 unveiled almost three years ago, thanks to an unprecedented connection with OpenAI? A revolution drive out the other ? Not at all. When asked by Voyages d'Affaires, Navan's spokesperson said: " Navan Edge is not a replacement for Ava. It is a new, conversational concierge experience designed for the individual frequent traveller. Ava, meanwhile, remains the AI-powered virtual agent of the core travel and expense management platform. Think of Navan Edge as the proactive, expert personal assistant that every frequent traveller dreams of having. It's designed to manage your trip from start to finish, from personalised planning to proactively resolving unforeseen issues before they become problems. We anticipate that the innovations developed for Navan Edge will eventually benefit our entire customer base in the Navan ecosystem." .
So much for the cohabitation between Ava and Edge. Except that the cohabitation is not really a cohabitation, insofar as this newcomer is targeting beyond the customer base already acquired by TMC. A Navan spokesperson explains: " You do not need to be an existing Navan customer to use Navan Edge. The product is aimed at frequent business travellers working in organisations without a managed travel programme - those travellers who spend hours organising their own travel and manually managing bookings, loyalty programmes and contingencies." .
Navan Edge therefore promises to offer unprecedented levels of personalisation, real-time support for travellers and constant anticipation of their needs. In other words, the qualities inherent in the best assistants from the best CEOs in the world. "The assistant knows the essentials for each journey - from blackout curtains to powerful hairdryers - and automatically applies them to the search", Navan's management promises.
" Navan Edge takes care of every detail of the business trip, from planning to booking, and everything in between, right through to the traveller's safe return. Like an excellent personal assistant, Navan Edge also anticipates the unexpected. In the event of a flight cancellation, travellers will not just receive a simple alert: once they have given their consent, they will receive confirmation that their seat has been booked on another flight, that the hotel has been notified of their late arrival, and that their dinner reservations have been rescheduled. And if necessary, human agents are available at all times "Navan's management reassures us in conclusion.
At this stage of the launch in the United States, Navan Edge will enable users to book hotels and "discuss anything related to travel". Airline and restaurant reservations will follow. It remains to be seen when Navan Edge will arrive in Europe. " Soon" we promise. Stay tuned!
