Atlatos and Umbrella Faces

Since mid-November, there is a bi-directional interface from Umbrella to the online booking engine Atlatos Profi Traveller, which has a large and quickly-growing community of fans, especially in Germany.

In honor of this occasion, we spoke with founder and managing director of Atlatos, Esther Stehning, and learned more about why her project has been so successful. Take a look:

Esther, Atlatos grew quite strongly in 2017 and has delivered by far the best year in the company's history. How do you score points with customers?
Compared to other systems, Atlatos is quick to install and really easy to use. But it still covers everything that a midmarket customer needs – from travel requests to billing. Thanks to streamlined processes, we can quickly adapt to meet special requests and offer a comprehensive support concept for system launches to achieve a high adaptation rate.

Who are typical Atlatos customers?
We have several well-known companies such as the insurance company Barmenia Versicherungen and the Baden-Württemberg regional state bank.

You mainly distribute through travel agencies. Who are they?
Just like us, our midmarket partners are very strong. They include DER Business Travel, DERPart, First Business Travel, Lufthansa City Center and several more.

Will your growth continue at this speed?
I assume so. In addition to Germany, we are also targeting three neighboring countries. We are currently internationalizing our expense tool and are working on solutions for extensive personalization and a door-to-door plan.

How did Atlatos come to be?
After completing my Information Technology studies I worked in tourism solution sales at the former SBS (Siemens Business Services). My experience there formed the foundation of my ideas for Atlatos.

The private Esther Stehning: where do you call home and what do you like to do outside of work?
I live in picture-perfect Limburg an der Lahn in Germany. The old town is well worth seeing. I also love living so close to the outdoors and enjoy being outside and going into the mountains.

Thank you very much for your time and the interview!