Talking business
the industry’s first mid-office solutions for travel management companies. It was a great idea and a good company – which continues to thrive – but we soon discovered that at that time there were not enough programmers available at a reasonable cost. We needed to be in the UK.
So did you move the company to the UK? We did, but for personal reasons I wasn’t able to go with it. In 1998 I sold my
shares and took a new job setting up Travel Market, the first internet travel portal in Sweden. My role there was to
changed over the ten years I have been here. It is 130 years old, and when I began there were many people who had been with the company for three or four decades. Managing change is a big task that has to be done in steps. I’ve been able to make good use of my entrepreneurial background and been able to introduce many new concepts, but I still have many ideas that I would like to implement. Also, working in a multicultural environment and cross-functional teams, coupled with offices in more than 100 countries, is a great opportunity to grow both professionally and personally.
Alexandra Novak
Alex Blyth talks to Alexandra Novak, group category manager, travel and meeting, at Alfa Laval
IN A DECADE as head of travel management at Swedish engineering firm Alfa Laval, Alexandra Novak has overseen a great deal of change. The company’s headcount has risen from 9,200 to 15,400, a new generation has entered the workforce, she has introduced a host of new technologies and, during one particularly dramatic two-month period in 2009, Alfa Laval slashed its travel costs by 40 per cent. Here, she talks about her career, what excites and challenges her, and where she thinks the industry is headed.
How did you get into travel management? Completely by accident. When I was younger I planned to work in finance, but it soon
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became clear that it wasn’t for me, and so in 1987, when Sabre Travel Information started recruiting for its European entry, I became one of the fortunate ones who were selected. Eventually, I became country manager for Denmark. After nine fantastic years with Sabre I decided to try my luck with setting up my own business – together with a colleague, we launched Dolphin Dynamics, one of
I think unmanaged travel is the future, but ‘unmanaged’ is the wrong name for it – it’s just managing it at a different point in the process
manage the start-up phase, and once that was complete it was time for a fresh challenge. I worked for a year at Kilroy Travels but was then lured into digital media to take on the role as Nordics sales manager for Jupiter Communications. Finally, in 2002, I landed the freshly-created role [group category manager, travel and meeting] at Alfa Laval, and I’ve been here since.
What does your role at Alfa Laval involve? I manage an annual travel spend of €50 million. This involves sourcing and
managing suppliers, developing our departmental key performance indicators, and automating processes.
What is the greatest challenge in your role? Resources. I am the only person in the travel management department,
where there used to be three of us. The good news is we’ve been working on a number of lean Six Sigma projects which are improving our internal processes, so I am confident there is light at the end of the tunnel.
What do you enjoy most about your role? When I took on the role I thought I would do it for five years, but looking back I realise how naïve I was to think I could change anything in such a short space of time. This company has
What motivates and inspires you? People. Whenever I meet my peers in the travel management business I am inspired to discover just how much they are willing to share their experiences and fresh ideas. On a personal level I am motivated by the memory of my grandmother. She moved from Croatia to Sweden as a result of the Second World War – she lost everything overnight, and yet still managed to be a positive influence on everyone around her. She proved to me that nothing is impossible, and so when I find my work challenging I think of her and feel inspired.
How has the role of travel manager changed since you
entered the industry? It has become much more professional. It’s increasingly part of procurement and I
expect it to become ever more closely aligned to corporate social responsibility, human resources and risk management. Also, technology will allow us to automate an increasing number of tasks.
What do you think to the unmanaged travel concept? I like it, and I think it’s the future. I think ‘unmanaged’ is the wrong name for it – it’s just managing it at a different point in the process and requires a different set of rules.
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2013
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