If you’re going to travel on the Eurostar, then Business Premier is definitely the way to do it. It’s easy, comfortable and all-in-all, a thoroughly pleasant experience. The kind of experience, in fact that T&E management company, KDS would like to say replicated (and if you would like) can of course be facilitated by, their products. Having undergone a series of recent technology and organisational changes, I found myself on a journey to see just what those changes looked like at their KDSNow conference in Paris last week.

Whooshing past the Moulin Rouge and the Arc de Triomphe on the way to the Salle Wagram, it’s impossible not to be impressed by the history and sheer vibrancy of Paris. And the Salle Wagram turned out to be a perfect venue for an organisation with one foot in tradition – excellent customer service and a focus on the experience, and the modern – efficiency, interconnectivity and sharply focused relevance. And as the modern conference venue opened up to reveal a beautiful Belle Epoque room, I half expected to see Toulouse Lautrec smoking a gauloise to come round the corner. Ok, maybe I’m getting a little carried away – but I’m sure you get the picture.

But as the new CEO, Dean Forbes took to the stage, it was clear from the impromptu clapping from the audience that they’d heard more than just the usual stuff about upgrade .6 or .7 – they’d heard something they liked, something which resonated. And having been to many a conference, I have to say, the .7 speech was one I’d half expected. And yet – here was definitely something new, or Neo as KDS would have us say.

We all know how painful business trips can be. We all know how painful dealing with expenses afterwards can be – and some of us know how painful processing T&E from an AP perspective can be. So, what if when an employee set up a meeting there was a system which could track the trip as a whole, from their calendar, include all others on the trip and calculate all the costs - flights, taxis, trains, restaurants etc along the way? And what if when that employee was at a restaurant they could take a picture of their receipt and plug it straight into their expenses? And how cool would it be if when sitting in their hotel room that employee could change or update their plans by speaking into their mobile? Well, these are all things the KDS Neo system can do. In what must have been an adrenaline rush for him – the Gods of live demos were smiling at Forbes as the voice activation app (produced in association with the creators of Siri) actually worked perfectly.

With one afternoon a week being set aside per employee to expense management, KDS are tackling an often overlooked, but business (and people) challenging problem. With a new, easy to use interface, the company plans to “bring the fun back into expense claims.” I’m not sure expense claims ever were, or ever will be “fun”, but at least this solution make it a much less painful experience all round.

KDS don’t plan to stop there either – new (and yes, I embraced by closet geek) and exciting  “Groundscape “ plans to take their excellent public transport integration one step further with taxi booking capabilities. So without sounding too much like a TV ad - end to end business travel really is just a question of clicking the right buttons – buttons which will connect and flow all the information directly into your expense sheet.

And have you ever worried how your delayed flight will affect your ongoing travel and expense arrangements? Well in the future the KDS solution will automatically recalibrate it all – including your fellow travel/meeting companions – sorting by cheapest, safest, most convenient, most comfortable - whatever you’d prefer.

I’d never been to a performance at the Salle Wagram before, and although I can’t vouch for how it compared to Pink who played there in the weeks before - the innovative ideas and enthusiasm for their product and the KDS team made it a great and useful experience. And as I wandered up Avenue Wagram balefully holding my hand out for a taxi, any taxi – I thought – now where’s that Neo app when you need it…?