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With as many as 300,000 airfares changing daily, you're probably finding it difficult to enforce company policies on business travel. Well, there's hope on the horizon in the form of new computer systems that give companies more direct control over travel expenses.

One of the first comes from Travelmation Corp., a corporate travel agency in Stamford, Conn., which has developed software that matches a company's travel policy with available airline, hotel, and car rental prices. Using a personal computer and a modem, the client accesses a Travelmation computer and is offered a list of options, based on the company's own preferences regarding airlines; nonstop flights versus connections; class of travel; and so on. The client makes a selection, and Travelmation handles the rest.

Travelmation insists that the system is not biased toward any particular airline and claims that clients can cut their travel budgets by anywhere from 13% to 27%. The client's costs include the PC, the modem, personnel time, and other incidental expenses. The software itself is free, as is training at the agency's facility in Stamford. The catch is that Travelmation, which makes its money on the commissions, will only accept clients averaging at least one trip per week.