Travel Data
NUMBER
information but what exactly is it, what do
you need and how best to use it? Betty Low spoke to a few travel buyers to fi nd out
RUNCHERS L
We all talk about management
ast year’s ITM Travel Managers’ Salaries Survey found that the typical UK travel manager was a 36 to 45-year-old based in the
South East with six to ten years’ experience working in the procurement department. It could easily have added “and is usually found surrounded by spreadsheets”. For most travel managers these
spreadsheets and the data contained within them – management information, or MI to the initiated – are essential to best practice. “It’s a cliché but it’s true – if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it. You get MI to measure and monitor and that information should enable you to take actions to support your recommendations,” says Mark Cuschieri, ITM board director and chair for Industry Affairs at the trade association for travel managers. But what should you measure? Will Hasler, business travel manager, UK PwC, says, “The TMC can give you endless reports but challenge what you need. There are only so many hours in the day.” Tony Pilcher, now a consultant but
formerly long-time global travel manager at HSBC, advises any travel manager to start by asking “Where are you now? Where do
you want to be? And how are you going to get there? “The culture of a company includes the
profile of the travel department within the company itself,” Pilcher continues. “Then senior executives can understand the uses for the data and the investment in having systems that can obtain that data.” The starting point in determining which
MI reports are necessary is to look at your company and your role in the company and then establish what other stakeholders might have a requirement for travel data. “When it comes to management
information and reporting,” says Cuschieri, “the more time you spend assessing what your needs and objectives are, the more you and your agency will be able to put a plan to work together to manage that.” Although most of us focus on the
procurement requirements of contract performance and cost savings, other departments’ requirements (see panel overleaf) can include ensuring security for travel to high-risk destinations or measuring the company’s carbon emissions. Hasler says, “We get an HR feed for
traveller tracking, to see who is where, and also to know grades and seniority of people
64 THE BUSINESS TRAVEL MAGAZINE
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