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CEO Liz Carisone
Boston — GroundLink, a global black-car service, has unveiled a new technology platform for managed business travel. Called Brio and available in the fall, the new tool allows travel managers to book single and multiple rides on behalf of others, and more.
"It was our goal to leverage the latest technology services along with our award-winning, hightouch customer service and deep understanding of the managed business travel space, to bring an intuitive, groundbreaking solution to our corporate travel partners," said Liz Carisone, CEO of GroundLink. "We believe that Brio is just that."
Marcou Transportation Group, the parent company of chauffeured transportation providers Dav El and BostonCoach,acquired GroundLink in January, giving the company access to vehicles that are well suited to the needs of the group market.
Brio handles both business and personal accounts for passengers, while giving travel managers full transparency into their company's ground transportation spend and expense management functionality. The tool is corporate travel policy compliant, and offers the ability to manage all passengers and rides simultaneously with a group feature.
In other news, at the Global Business Travel Association’s annual conference, GroundLink announced the introduction of Ride Now, an app-based service that allows customers to obtain a ride in 20 minutes or less. The service expands the company’s footprint in metro Boston and has also substantially reduced lead times needed to book a scheduled ride to and from surrounding New England suburban areas. For every Boston Ride Now ride completed from now through August 31, GroundLink will donate $5 to the Big Sister Association of Greater Boston.
Ride Now offers the same service as GroundLink’s scheduled service, which features professionally-trained drivers who are vetted and fully-insured and licensed. Additionally, all Ride Now vehicles are well-maintained black on black cars, which is not the case with many of the ridesharing companies. Prices for a ride to Boston Logan from downtown Boston start as low as $51 when booked using Ride Now.
“It is exciting to be announcing our increasingly popular Ride Now service here in Boston during the largest corporate travel convention in the country,” said Carisone. “We currently offer Ride Now in New York and Chicago, and just recently launched in Austin, Dallas, and Houston. Boston is the latest city to join our growing number of Ride Now markets, as we continue to rapidly expand this service as the perfect complement to our scheduled service. While business travelers still prefer to schedule many of their rides, such as trips to the airport, they also want to have access to last-minute rides for that impromptu meeting or a pick-up from the airport that they didn’t book in advance. Ride Now is the perfect solution for such instances. We are also extremely pleased be giving back to the local Boston community through our partnership with the Big Sister Association of Greater Boston.”
“We are proud to partner with GroundLink for this exciting opportunity to raise crucial funding for our programs and also raise awareness of the need for positive women mentors for Greater Boston’s girls. GroundLink is making an important investment in the health of our community,” said Deborah Re, president and CEO, Big Sister Association of Greater Boston.
Visit groundlink.com for more information.
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Newark, Del. — Driving Dynamics, a provider of advanced performance driver safety training for fleet-based organizations throughout North America, has announced an ownership change.
This news follows the retirement of company founders Bill Buff and Paull Hubbard. “It’s been a true honor to work with these gentlemen. They never deviated from their mission to deliver the highest quality training and to keep drivers safe. I’m privileged to be in a position to carry on the legacy they’ve set in motion,” said Art Liggio, Driving Dynamics’ president and CEO.
Art Liggio joined the company in 2008 with a plan to grow the business. As the managing owner, he has acquired full ownership of Driving Dynamics together with majority owner investment firm Intuitis, with offices in New York and Paris and Delancey Street Capital Partners, based in Conshohocken, Pa.
“Intuitis is very proud to back the management buy-out of Driving Dynamics. This transition of leadership will allow the company to continue servicing its traditional market and capture significant new growth opportunities. Driving Dynamics is perfectly in line with our investment strategy: a strong management team already in place, a company with a solid track record of historical cash flows and significant upside potential,” commented Nicolas Delcourt Intuitis founding partner.
Intuitis Partner John Perrachon added, “We were very impressed by Art’s leadership skills, deep knowledge of the safety market, and strategic vision. We now look forward to working hand in hand with management, further expanding Driving Dynamics, and executing its strategic plan with a special focus on the e-learning offering.”
The investment group points to the company’s domain expertise, strong position in the driver training space, reputation in the marketplace, passion and commitment of the leadership team for growing the business, and proven ability to execute as key reasons for their investment decision.
“We’ve done a lot of research on the driver training space and we were extremely impressed with the company, its leadership team and outstanding customer reputation. Driving Dynamics was a strong company previously and now with the recapitalization of the business, it’s in an even better position to go after growth in multiple ways,” said Bill Filip, founder and managing director at Delancey Street Partners and Delancey Street Capital Partners.
Among Driving Dynamics’ goals is remaining at the forefront of addressing the needs of fleet-based organizations to: respond to today’s driver safety challenges, provide comprehensive end-to-end safety performance solutions, and adapt to new vehicle technologies.
“We’re already in the midst of a transformative period, “said Liggio. “We’ve been steadfastly enhancing existing services and developing new instructionally sound training programs designed to keep drivers safe.”
Visit drivingdynamics.com for more information.
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San Francisco — Deem, a mobile and cloud technology provider for the business travel industry, announced expanded partnerships with Dav El/BostonCoach and EmpireCLS. The chauffeured ground transportation providers will integrate their offerings into Deem’s Work Fource, a travel software platform used by more than 35,000 corporations and travel management companies around the world.
“We are breaking new ground with this approach,” said John F. Rizzo, President and Chief Operating Officer, Deem. “For the first time, travelers will be connected to service providers in a way that’s optimal for everyone, ensuring traveler satisfaction and safety, better cost control for the corporation and full servicing capabilities for the travel management company. Everyone wins.”
Scott Solombrino of Dav El/BostonCoach“This makes booking our services easier than ride-sharing,” said Scott Solombrino, spokesperson for the Marcou Transportation Group and President and CEO of Dav El/BostonCoach. “Travelers don’t have to worry about the logistics or planning at all. The system makes precise, customized recommendations, and all users have to do is pick the one they like and tap ‘yes’.”
With car service tightly integrated into Deem’s industry-leading Work Fource online booking platform, travelers can book their entire trip in one end-to-end flow. The integration also provides the ability to anticipate and match users’ needs and preferences, while complying with company guidelines. In addition to intelligently matching the service with the traveler, the traveler no longer needs to fill in details like pick-up location or time—the system already knows where they are and when. It also tracks changes in travel, such as a delayed flight to automatically update the ride reservation and keep users informed.
“Traveler behavior is changing dramatically,” said Solombrino “Through our partnership with Deem we can now offer more highly targeted and differentiated services to our target audience of travelers.”
David Seelinger of EmpireCLS
“The Deem platform uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to compile and analyze millions of data points, including sentiment data, reviews, and a traveler’s profile and past behavior,” said Tony D’Astolfo, chief commercial officer, Deem. “It then offers the appropriate level of ground service for that traveler. For example, CEOs may receive premium ‘meet and greet’ service, mid-level executives, a black car service, and a shuttle bus for a contractor.”
“In the past many companies had no choice but to turn off the chauffeured transportation option, rather than risk non-compliant bookings,” said David Seelinger, chairman and CEO, EmpireCLS. “Now with this partnership, they can offer employees the security of fully accredited, insured chauffeured transport, confident that everything conforms to corporate travel and spending policies.”
Visit deem.com for more information.
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