QUESTION TIME
Travel consultant Dennis Bailey answers an anonymous buyer’s query over the issue of how to begin the travel programme automation process in a high-touch business
Dennis Bailey DeNovo
Management Ltd.
Dennis is a travel sourcing, operations, and indirect purchasing veteran with over 20 years' experience running multimillion pound corporate travel programmes on a pan-European basis. Previous employers cover the insurance, manufacturing and consulting sectors, including the Ford Motor Company, Fiat and Vodafone. He now uses that wealth of purchasing and travel experience on an interim or day rate basis in the business travel and indirect/ service areas.
Q. We're an international law firm with complex traveller itineraries that we manage manually. I've been tasked with cutting ten per cent off our travel spend so am looking to automate some aspects of the process. What would you suggest as a starting point?
A. On the face of it this appears to be a fairly straightforward question but I’m afraid, after some thought, the response is not nearly as simple as you may have hoped for. I’m tempted to say just cut non- essential travel by ten per cent, but I know that’s not what you want to read! At the risk of using too many clichés, I’d like to
state up front that when talking with prospective clients, I often use the analogy of a jigsaw when discussing corporate travel programmes, in that all of the constituent pieces have to be in place to produce the finished picture, which in this context is a well managed, 'best practice' travel programme. So what exactly does that
'complex traveller itineraries that we manage manually'. Am I to deduce that you make all travel bookings in-house using the internet and phone and this is undertaken by your own staff? If so, I would suggest that your first consideration is to look at various TMCs to see what they can offer you. One of the value propositions TMCs can offer is
their ability to manage complex itineraries efficiently and cost effectively. If, for example, you have complex multi-sector flights, they have the expertise and access to global airline inventory to be able to construct cost-effective tickets with carriers that it would be virtually impossible for your staff to achieve. To summarise, if you have been tasked with saving
“Automation alone will not suffice if some or all of the other
constituent pieces are not in place”
mean? Well, you are suggesting that automation will help in your target to save ten per cent of your current spend, but automation alone will not suffice if some or all of the other constituent pieces are not in place. If we go back to basics, one of the prime facilitators
for savings in any corporate programme is the ability of the travel department to control traveller behaviour, and by that I mean compliance – compliance to policy, booking methods, preferred suppliers etc. In my experience, it is this area that is often the
most overlooked. You can have the best deal in the marketplace for a particular hotel, for example, but if everyone is staying in the property next door, that deal is worthless and the savings are lost. My first suggestion therefore would be to obtain as
much data as possible – from both your own finance team and through your appointed TMC – with a view to understanding the levels of non-compliance for each and every aspect of your programme. Is everyone booking through your TMC and utilising
If you have a business travel issue you would like advice on from an expert, email us at:
help@thebusinesstravelmag.com
their expertise and supplier deals? A basic reconciliation between your general ledger travel spend versus the TMC data would give a broad indication as to the level of any leakage, if any. Although the two figures will never match, any large differences may suggest a possible issue worthy of further, more detailed investigation. I have referred to the TMC a couple of times in the above but your question states that you have
ten per cent I suggest you look first for any leakage with a view to understating who isn’t following the rules, why they aren’t, and then to quantify what that equates to in monetary terms. Of course, if there are no rules or policy, you really need to develop and communicate a document which clearly lays down what is required of employees. You may well have found your ten per cent at this point, and if
that’s the case you can then start developing a strategy for implementing and communicating a far more structured programme, which will hopefully deliver far greater savings. This may include some form of automation, but
remember that most of the current online booking tools, while having the technical capability to handle multi-sector trips, are really designed to offer the best functionality for simple point-to-point traffic.
20 THE BUSINESS TRAVEL MAGAZINE
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92