Corporate travel booking service now in Te Reo Māori

Serko co-founder and chief executive Darrin Grafton. Photo/Richard Robins.

Companies will now have the option to book and manage travel expenses in Te Reo Māori.

NZX-listed Serko has launched a Te Reo Māori version of Zeno - its travel and expense management platform - in time for Maori language week which kicks off today.

Darrin Grafton, chief executive and co-founder of Serko, said few corporate tools allowed the ability to switch into Te Reo Māori but by offering it as a choice the company hoped it would encourage more everyday use of the language.

"Te Reo Māori will only become ingrained in everyday usage if it is part of everyday New Zealand. This means it should be embedded as an option in the workplace
tools New Zealanders use every day."

Grafton said Zeno was used by the majority of large companies and government organisations to book and manage corporate travel and he hoped the move would set a benchmark for other technology companies to follow.

Serko partnered with the New Zealand-based and ASX-listed Straker Translations to integrate Māori into the Zeno platform.

Straker Translations founder Grant Straker, whose whakapapa traces to the Ngati Raukawa, said it was rare for New Zealand companies to make key business applications available in Māori.

He said this contrasted with business practices in countries in Europe, such as Ireland and Spain, where indigenous languages are undergoing a revival.

"In Barcelona, Catalan is embraced across company culture and we see the same in Ireland where Gaelic is undergoing a renaissance. Moves such as Serko's are the sort of changes we need to see across New Zealand to promote a similar culture here."