The Knowledge > Corporate case study
How to... FAST-TRACK A SELF-BOOKING TOOL
When it works, a self-booking tool is fantastic, and this one did, first time and in record time for one top law firm. Gillian Upton has the details
Jeremy Fowke FINANCE OPERATIONS & DEVELOPMENT MANAGER, SQUIRE SANDERS HAMMONDS Jeremy Fowke was appointed as finance operations and develop- ment manager at Squire Sanders Hammonds in 2006, where he is res- ponsible for all operational aspects of the UK finance team, including the business travel account. He was educated at Liverpool University and qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Ernst & Young LLP in 2000, before joining Morgan Stanley's Fixed Income Product Control team in 2001.
IN OUR last issue we highlighted the long journey that the University of Manchester experienced in moving from offline to online travel bookings. Several false starts did not deter them though, and finally they had the right system up and running, and a highly successful outcome. This issue we’re looking at the same
topic but, in stark contrast, profiling a top commercial law firm that took an almost supersonic journey to achieve the same result. It rose to challenges along the way, chiefly to separate those parts of the booking that are chargeable to a client and those that are not, and to cope with a decentral- ised booking model. Within three short months, Squire Sanders Hammonds had completed the tender process, appointed a new TMC and implemented the tool, with startling results. It was a project instigated and driven
by Jeremy Fowke, finance operations and development manager at Squire
Sanders Hammonds, a company that has since doubled in size after combining with another law firm, Squire Sanders & Dempsey, early this year to form Squire Sanders Hammonds. Even more reason, with hindsight, to push through these changes. But in late 2009, Fowke understood that there was a better way of increasing levels of control on business travel bookings. “Using multiple TMCs was the issue,
and booking offline,” Fowke explains. “It was quite obvious that offline wasn’t incredibly efficient, particularly having to manage two suppliers.” The decentralised arrangement of
some 500 travelling solicitors were being looked after by 150 bookers, mainly secretaries, and that arrange- ment he was happy to retain. But Fowke wanted to consolidate
from one agent looking after hotels, and another the rail and flight bookings. Read on for the detail of how it was all done.
Step 1
The tender document
reflected the high-touch service Squire Sanders Hammonds needed, outlining specific service level agreements such as 24-hour service as well as basics of a robust online tool.
Step 2 To expedite the tender
process, Fowke and his team had met a number of TMCs throughout 2009 to get a feel for their offerings. “We didn’t want to issue an RFP to 20 TMCs,” he says. This way, they whittled it down to six and all had come to their attention by recommendation.
Step 3 The six participants who
responded were whittled down to three and each gave a face-to-face presentation in January 2010 to pitch their company’s USP. “Ahead of the meeting we set out criteria to mark the presentations by, around the perceived quality of the end product,” says Fowke. “We looked at the scores and it was an easy decision to make.”
6 I THE BUSINESS TRAVEL MAGAZINE
BIGSTOCKPHOTO.COM
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