Travelport, the commerce platform company, and IBM have introduced IBM Travel Manager, an artificial intelligence platform designed to help businesses manage corporate travel spend. Delivered via the IBM Cloud, the platform uses IBM Watson capabilities to intelligently track, manage, predict and analyze travel costs in one place to, according to the announcement, “fundamentally change how companies manage and optimize their travel programs.” Fiona Shanley, Travelport’s chief customer and marketing officer, said that while other solutions provide only a “fragmented historical picture,” IBM Travel Manager “combines and normalizes data from all key sources, allowing for more robust insights and benchmarking than other reporting solutions.” Elizabeth Pollock, IBM industry client leader for travel & transportation, said the tool allows travel managers to proactively drive improved supplier negotiations via real time and holistic data; to enable budget holders to understand and change spending patterns; and to improve travel policy compliance monitoring.