THE BUYER Q A
meet Will Hasler UK Business Travel Manager, PricewaterhouseCoopers
Will Hasler is UK Business Travel Manager for PwC. In our second in a series of Meet the Buyer
profi les, he answers our questions about his role, responsibilities and the challenges he faces
Q What is the extent of your
remit at PwC and how long have you had this role? I manage an outsourced travel management team at PwC UK. My title is UK Business Travel Manager and I have been in the position for nine and a half years.
Q How does your role differ as an outsourced travel manager from HRG compared with being a PwC-employed travel manager, or is there no difference? There is a significant difference. I have two operations managers who have a dotted line into me as the firm’s travel manager. If I was employed directly by the firm, this relationship would be different. Their role is to manage the consultants and our online
change at the airport, they generally tell us so we can locate them in an emergency.
Q Can you tell us the size of
travel spend annually at PwC? US$800million globally.
Q How does the PwC company culture colour the travel policy, in terms of class of travel, executive endorsement, pressure on budgets etc. We have several revenue streams known as Lines of Service (LoS) but one common travel policy. If one LoS wishes to change the policy, they must obtain buy-in from the others.
Q What do you see as the biggest issues and concerns on
“ It is vital that travellers continue to book through preferred channels so that we can trace their movements ”
booking system. An implant manager would also sit in operations (although we dispensed with implants here several years ago); my PwC team performs the role of a travel team – ie, managing and negotiating with suppliers as well as engaging with our travelling public.
PROFILE
Will is UK Business Travel Manager for PwC UK. He has more than 27 years experience in the travel industry with airlines, GDS and now in his tenth year as a buyer for PwC. He leads a small team in London responsible for supplier and channel management as well as customer engagement. His team communicates with their travelling public using a variety of messaging platforms including social media.
Q How many travellers do you look after and are they a compliant lot or do you have mavericks that challenge you? PwC UK has around 7,000 flyers and significantly more rail travellers. We have a mature travel programme and PwC staff and partners are generally good citizens. Even when they book through the client or directly with an airline for a last minute
the horizon as a travel manager? It is vital, as we migrate our workforce to mobile platforms such as tablets and mobiles, that travellers continue to book through preferred channels so we can trace their movements.
Q How have your responsi- bilities changed in your years in this business? The main changes have been to the firm itself. Less secretarial support has led to more people making their own bookings. Communication has also improved immensely. You can address large numbers of travellers far more easily than when I started. We have also had a network of travel champions (secretaries and office managers) who help
spread good practice in the business. We also enjoy far stronger relationships with business unit leaders who work with us to manage compliance.
Q What qualities/skills do you think are required to make a good travel manager? A strong relationship with suppliers cannot be under- played; the ability to flex your behaviour depending on the situation; and attention to detail in this day and age when we’re drowning in emails is also vital!
Q What makes you passionate about this industry? The variety across the various categories, the people I’ve met and friends I've made over the years, and finally the constant change we face, especially when it comes to technology.
Q What recent changes have
you made or are thinking of making to your company's travel management programme? I would say again that you can never stop communicating the programme. This is not something we have suddenly started but is something which really adds value for our travellers and for ourselves. We have a Twitter feed which is largely following the major travel sites uncovering delays which are communicated via our champions’ network. Our instant message system is also used to convey notices about business interruption in our booking channels – eg, fire alarms, system downtime etc. Finally, our UK business travel group on our internal social media site has mushroomed into a really successful and popular vehicle. We capture feedback on a range of services which we can respond to for others to view and we also use to post strategic messages about suppliers.
18 THE BUSINESS TRAVEL MAGAZINE
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