Ola on Monday launched a new enterprise solution in India called Ola Corporate. The online cab aggregator said businesses can save up to 60% of their travel costs with this service, among other benefits.
Ola's latest move to tap into the business sector follows in the footsteps of its Western rival Uber, which launched Uber for Business in 2014. Ola Corporate offers similar services to business customers living anywhere in 102 cities across India. Ola Corporate also claims to offer a centralised paperless billing system, customised ride policies and reportedly follows Ola's safety standards.
"With 'Ola Corporate', we are bringing the inherent benefits of Ola's technology platform to simplify the way executives travel for business, at the click of a button on their Ola app. The corporate dashboard allows for improved efficiency and productivity for businesses, taking away the hassle of scheduling pickups and cumbersome billing and payment processes," Pranay Jivrajka, COO at Ola, was quoted as saying in a statement by Tech Portal.
How does Ola Corporate work?
Ola Corporate is live in India and allows admin teams to set up, manage and track employee permissions, allocate travel budgets and access information of rides, including their expenses. In order to avail Ola Corporate, company employees must be verified by their employers. Then a new option called "Corporate Ride" will appear within the Ola app while confirming a booking.
When an employee uses the Corporate Ride option, the taxi fare gets automatically deducted from the company's account. This saves employees the trouble of paying cash, retrieving the receipt and filing for a reimbursement with the company.
Ola Corporate integrates all the core features of Ola, such as Share Ride Details, Emergence Contacts, SOS and Number Masking. It lets users choose from Ola Mini, Ola Sedan, Ola Prime and also Ola Share and Ola Shuttle, when they are launched in respective cities.
What are the fares?
Ola Corporate fares as same as standard rate cards for B2C, but the taxi aggregator says businesses can save as much as 60% with its new offering. Fares are different for different cities across India. These fares, in all the cities from Shimla to Ranchi and Delhi to Bengaluru, can be found at the Ola Rate Card.
Packages and their pricing were not revealed by Ola. Queries to the online cab aggregator regarding this from IBTimes India went unanswered.
According to Gadgets 360, Ola Corporate account creation requires minimum prepayment of Rs 5,000, which is the same as the minimum recharge amount.
In other news, Ola and its biggest rival Uber in India faced some serious scrutiny over their pricing model. The Delhi government informed the Delhi High Court on Friday these taxi-hailing services are charging customers much more than the rates prescribed by the law. The court has set 15 March as the date for further hearing on the matter, Business Standard reported.
