can. “Reporting capability is very important,” says Inform’s Flint. “You need to be able to consolidate card data, give local, regional and global information and, where possible, extract e-folio data.” For good management information (MI), it is vital to find a supplier that can report on worldwide transactions in a homogeneous fashion, providing centrally accessible, up-to-date information, regardless of where the transactions were made. These are all questions that will sort the wheat from the chaff. In addition, card data facilitates traveller-tracking, providing a good picture of where your employees are. But raw data will not provide a clear picture of spending. “Does the company want just to be given a load of data or does it want it provided with intellect alongside it?” asks HRG’s Brian Merry. “I do believe there is a role for a travel management company to provide that intellect for the client. Card companies that do that are few and far between.”
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A FULL DECK OF CARDS In addition to walking plastic, you might also want a lodge or meeting card. “You can put more on some companies’ lodge cards than on others,” says Brian Merry. “Some find it difficult to work with low-cost carriers because most of them are not on the global distribution systems.“ The increasing use of virtual cards is
overcoming this drawback. Booking technology specialist Conferma created software that issues a unique virtual card for every booking, giving all the data you would see on a lodge programme. “I believe, in perhaps the next five years, the virtual card process will become standard with all lodge cards, changing the way they have worked for the last 25 years,” says Merry. “A full-process optimisation Universal Air
Travel Plan [UATP] card is a better lodge card than normal plastic,” says AirPlus’s Yael Klein. These cards, including AirPlus, capture detailed information that is not available elsewhere, broken down into each journey leg and how much money went to each airline on each leg plus, in some cases, showing which tickets were used and which not. Meeting cards are another option, providing
predicated MI and the ability to be linked to transient spend for greater negotiating strength. These are more commonly used in the US than the UK, where corporate cards fulfil the function, but where a company has high meeting spend – such as in the pharmaceuticals sector – a meeting card makes sense.
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POINTS MEAN PRIZES Loyalty programmes are the bugbear of most travel managers but reward points on corporate cards can be used
26 Buying Business Travel 2012
as an incentive to use the card. “We have the ability to be flexible,” says American Express’s Amanda Salt of its loyalty programme. Amex can issue members’ reward points to all cardholders, to individuals at a certain level, to the company only or to the company as well as to the individual and, if required, turn off the points mechanism. But hard-pressed regular travellers might appreciate the ability to redeem points against access to a lounge, for example.
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AND FINALLY... In preparation for the response to your carefully crafted RFP, decide what your priorities are so that you can you can put different weighting on acceptability, data, technology capability, suppliers (local, national or global) and reward programmes. n
BEST REQUESTS
Amex’s Amanda Salt on the crucial questions to ask potential providers...
GLOBAL ISSUANCE • Does the provider issue its own cards outside your market and in local currency?
• How does the provider service countries where it does not operate?
DATA/REPORTING • How will the provider consolidate data and provide consistent reporting across markets?
• How will the provider control the quality of its global data?
• Does the provider have comprehensive reporting that will help you to leverage savings with suppliers? Ask to see sample reports.
ACCOUNT RESOURCES • Does the provider have local account relationship teams in each client market?
• What are the account management ratios?
• How experienced are the account managers – how many years of experience do they have between them?
• Does the provider have global implementation resources? Ask for its location and experience level.
EMPLOYEE BENEFITS • What kind of rewards programme does the provider offer – can it be adapted to suit changing needs?
• Does the provider offer a cardholder global assistance and insurance programme?
• What technology does the provider have to support the travellers – for example, ability to view and settle accounts online?
INVESTMENTS • How much does the provider invest in its technology and products?
• What does the provider do to help clients remain best-in-class? In association with