We don’t use words like ‘mandate’, but have an expense challenge in place for business travel to stop people booking outside our preferred booking channels.
Once we’d sorted the compliance issue, we could then tweak behaviour so, if people want to travel in a higher cabin class or on non-billable travel, they must achieve senior management sign-off before the ticket is issued.
Travel manager, financial sector
for the traveller and not merely the cheapest available,” he says. “For example, to get to an important overseas meeting, an employee could be given the option of flying out business class so they are well-rested , then returning in economy.”
request – and, by and large, they’ll comply. Tablets-of-stone travel policy edicts have mercifully matured into ‘guidelines’, allowing so-called rogue travellers to exert their individuality without thwarting company compliance goals. American Express Business Travel vice-president Anthony Drury sums it up perfectly. “We are living in a time where technology is empowering travellers, so companies need to win employees’ hearts and minds to achieve policy compliance,” he says. “Communication is key to success. Companies need to communicate better why their travel policies exist and how employees themselves benefit from them.” He says traditional top-down policy compliance needs to evolve into a more flexible system where the traveller is trusted to make cost- effective decisions that benefit the company as well as the individual. “Companies need to give employees more choice – perhaps allowing for travel options that are convenient
ANOTHER KNOWS BEST There appear to be two main drivers behind this change of heart. First, there is the reluctant admission that, given the advances in internet and mobile technology, travellers (who are on the road, gaining first-hand experience) probably do know more than their travel managers (stuck in an office, with relatively little coal-face experience) and – crucially – they can now share that knowledge. That same technology, and travellers’ increasing familiarity with it, makes hard-and-
“Companies need to communicate better why their travel policies exist, and how employees benefit”
fast policy difficult to enforce, and nigh-on impossible to justify. Second, there is a long-overdue recognition of the fact that business travellers, by and large, have the best interests of their employers at heart. As a consequence, the happy traveller is – almost by definition – the more productive traveller. “With modern technology, people
don’t want to spend time going back and forth to management for approvals, they want to get on and do it themselves,” says Jackie Lacey, managing director of Chelsea Travel Management. “What I am seeing is systems being introduced that give the control back to the budget holder, and to the travellers themselves. It’s
rather like the old per-diem system, but with technology built around it. Companies do seem to be taking a more flexible approach, and maybe that’s because they can no longer effectively police hardline policies.” And do they need to? So he spent £50 extra, out of policy – did he (or she) land the contract? Was that contract worth more than £50? If so, what are you worried about? If he wants to run in the corridor, and doesn’t hurt anyone in the process, why penalise him? He’s walked on the grass for no good reason – yes, it’s against the rules, but so what?
MOBILE MAVERICKS “Mobile technologies are putting power into the hands of the traveller, driving the need for a more flexible approach to policy enforcement,” says Amex’s Drury. “Whether it’s using an app to find a hotel or to receive an alert highlighting a last-minute travel change, mobile technologies have quickly infiltrated almost every aspect of our personal lives. Now these services and technologies are filtering across to corporate travel. The number of travel bookings and other travel and expense management tasks carried out through mobile devices may once have been small, but are now increasing.”
Drury says corporate travel departments and their suppliers are continuing to focus on duty of care, which is one of the strongest reasons for compliance. “Booking through preferred means, or following corporate booking policy, helps to provide companies with the data they need to help a traveller,” he says. But if employees go rogue and book independently, travel management companies (TMCs ) don’t have visibility on travel plans and, therefore,