NEW YORK -- American Express scrapped its proprietary Expense
Manager software in favor of an alliance with Portable Software
Corp. to provide such software to its clients.
Under the pact, the agency will market Portable Software's
Xpense Management Solution [XMS] to its corporate clients. American
Express will integrate XMS into its RoundTrip Services line of
travel management products, which automate the corporate travel
process from making reservations to reimbursing expenses.
American Express officials said they decided to go outside the
company to find a partner to provide an Internet/intranet-based
expense management program to replace its own software, which
operated through e-mail.
XMS allows business travelers to file expense reports on a
corporate intranet and ship them to the company's accounting
department more quickly and efficiently than they could when using
American Express' e-mail software.
Mike Mulligan, senior vice president and general manager of
American Express' interactive group, said it would have taken
Amexco a long time to develop a system its clients wanted.