Ride-sharing service Uber is launching the Business Profiles feature, as the company is looking to lure more corporate customers to use its service.
The feature is part of the Uber for Business initiative for the service, which connects passengers with drivers through an app on smartphones.
The Business Profiles, once launched, will allow riders to quickly switch between Uber accounts that are used for business trips and for personal usage. The profiles can be switched on-the-fly, depending on what the purpose of a requested ride is for.
Previously, riders would have to log in and log out of their Uber accounts manually to be able to access different accounts for business or for pleasure. With Business Profiles, users will be allowed to make unique profiles, all within one account.
"We realized that business trips on Uber weren't seamless yet," Uber for Business head Max Crowley said. As such, users needed to remember that they have to switch between personal and business user accounts before requesting for rides, and were also forced to handle receipts for such rides separately.
Uber said that Business Profiles will look to provide employers and business-purpose travels with more convenience in tracking and organizing business travel expenses. The Uber for Business program creates traceable receipts, along with the route that the ride took and the times that the rider was picked up and dropped off. This allows employers to track the travels and expenses of their employees easier.
The move marks a changing of the times for Uber, which once experienced massive growth. However, due to the increasing number of competitors in the ride-sharing industry and languishing performance in China, the company's growth has slowed down considerably.
This has forced Uber, valued at $50 billion, to make innovations to its services. With Business Profiles and the Uber for Business initiative, the company is looking to achieve growth by targeting other kinds of customers.
Uber for Business, aimed at riders that utilize Uber's services for business purposes, can be found in 56 countries and over 300 cities all over the world. According to Uber, while the United States remains the company's biggest market for corporate customers, the adoption of Uber for Business all over the world has seen growth at an increasing rate.
Registration for Uber Business Profiles opens today, Sept. 15.
