Serko simplifies the corporate travel management process through its software and is one of New Zealand’s most successful tech companies. Their Online Booking Tool, Zeno, is the top choice for corporate travel in Australasia. Serko strives to use the best technology to make the experience of business travel and expense management smooth and modern.
The Challenge
Serko has grown rapidly in recent years. Their corporate clients trust Serko to manage their travel programmes and work through their expenses. Serko wanted to consistently provide the best product possible for their customers, but they knew some of their clients were experiencing slower booking times and other efficiency issues. They also identified several issues that were impacting their look-to-book ratio, which had negative financial implications for the business.
Serko had a plan to meet their goals. But, they needed additional resources, skills and expertise to carry out a new API integration with the Amadeus global distribution system (GDS), a system that facilitates transactions between travel industry service providers. Serko knew about our reputation in the market and we had worked with them previously on a short-term project.
ClearPoint accelerated our organisational capability, helping us to scale up rapidly by bringing in the right people to tackle strategic projects much faster than we would otherwise have been able to. Our teams worked effectively together to deliver significant product improvement in a compressed timeframe, and we know we can rely on this hybrid model into the future as we need it.”
Duanne O’Brien, Chief Technology Officer, Serko
The Solution
ClearPoint performed a tech design outlining how we would integrate Serko’s product with the Amadeus MasterPricer API. We then formed a hybrid team with Serko’s product and engineering team to develop and carry out the project.
Our next step was to build the integration that enabled faster searches than Serko’s existing integration. We were able to iterate faster because our design called for the new functionality to be built separately from other integrations. This approach would allow us to follow a blueprint for another GDS integration.
We worked with behaviour-driven development (BDD) tests, an Agile software development process, using cucumber.js, docker and an updated CI/CD pipeline. Through this, we were able to run tests in isolation to make sure the integrations would benefit Serko and their clients. Azure App Services and Azure DevOps for deployments helped the team to deploy, get feedback, and iterate quickly.
By creating a hybrid team, our people complemented Serko’s existing ways of working. We prioritised quality and reusability across the project, so Serko could continue to be future-ready, replicate and expand upon our work.
The ClearPoint team brought a great mix of analysis, design, and engineering talent to complement Serko’s teams. They readily assessed and addressed the integration challenge and produced a robust solution with an unswerving focus on quality. Their insights into the air search domain resulted in concise terminology that enhances communication and the future potential of Serko’s system.”
David Gladstone, Principal Engineer, ClearPoint
The Outcome
Thanks to the work done by the Serko and ClearPoint hybrid team, Serko’s corporate travel booking process is significantly faster. Their Amadeus GDS software offering is now more efficient and reliable, and booking queries take only eight seconds. This work also strengthens relationship possibilities with their partners. All this secures Serko’s continued rank as Australasia’s top corporate travel management and expense software choice.
