TMCs have to grow and adapt – at American Express we’ve been in business 160 years, and it’s always been about evolution and adaptation
engaging the traveller,” she replies, citing the growth of younger Millennials, aka Generation Y, in the global workplace. “Expectations of service delivery are higher than they were before,” she adds.
PRICE AND VALUE That’s all well and good – but aren’t clients asking for these personal, premium service standards while at the same time looking for reduced costs? “I think that is true in any business,” says Champa. “As consumers, we’re always wanting cheaper price and better value.” The other key area for deliver- ing that value is on the supply side. “What our travellers really are asking for is for the TMC to be an efficient distribution channel of their content. How we can leverage the digital technologies and capabilities that deliver appropriate content to our travellers, end-to-end?” On that note, I say that a growing concern
for BBT readers is getting meaningful corporate deals from suppliers – par- ticularly air. How can TMCs help here? Champa agrees that airline consolidation, and capacity having been rationalised during the recession, means airlines have better leverage than in the past. She says: “Obviously we have a global footprint and we have the scale. We have the relationships with the suppliers, and the insight. With a consulting arm, we have knowledge through the data to be able to produce sensible peer-benchmarks for our clients. “But it’s not just about the specific
view – it’s about the end-to-end. Clients are increasingly asking how we can help them drive optimisation at a total trip cost level. There’s no point flying to an airport many miles away from where you need to be and then use up those savings by taking a taxi, for example.”
BUYINGBUSINESSTRAVEL.COM
So how do you help with total trip cost?
Through data, replies Champa – adding that a big advantage for Amex is a combination of a vast amount of data from the card side of the business, the TMC and the consulting arm. Plus, compliance helps meet volume agreements and use of preferred suppliers. “We can help drive compliance while the decisions are being made on the trip,” she says, citing the app released at this year’s Business Travel Show that can deliver cus- tomised messages to travellers during their journey – for example, prompting them to take a free shuttle bus to the hotel on arrival at an airport instead of a taxi.
EDUCATING TRAVELLERS
Champa also points to gamification as an effective tool to drive compliance. Amex’s Go Time platform has already been pi- loted with a US corporate client. Results from the pilot included the fact that pre- ferred air bookings were up 7 per cent year-on-year, and that bookings made more than 14 days in advance were up 12 per cent compared to the previous three months, when the trial began. “Through gamification, we can make it fun to educate travellers on the travel policy,” she says. “We’ve seen that travellers are well- intentioned but don’t always understand the consequences of their actions. Gamification plays to the innate nature we all have for competition, and it drives transparency. It gives travellers immediate feedback and enables them to do the right thing.” She says the gamification tool is customisable to the company culture. “Certain companies might take the view that they don’t want to reward travellers for doing what they should be doing anyway.” In this case, she says the tool is providing travellers with real-time feedback, driving accountability. “Or a company can
take the view: ‘Actually, I understand the reasons why they aren’t complying, and I’m going to reward them for making that extra effort.’” She adds: “There is no one-size-fits-all. I think we’ll see a spread across different segments, across different industries and geographies. That’s the purpose around the pilot: to get dialogue going with our clients, to listen and capture the feedback around these different cultural connotations, and find how much compliance and engage- ment they want to drive with their travel- lers.” She says Amex is running online focus groups and webinars for clients interested in learning about how to use gamification in their travel programmes.
DIFFERENT STAKEHOLDERS Champa says TMCs need to help organisa- tions meet their obligations to stakehold- ers. “HR has always been a very important partner and stakeholder,” she says. She be- lieves that, as companies expand into other markets, the increased significance of data privacy and local legal regulations is fur- ther enhancing the role of HR, as well as a company’s security department. “There’s finance, who are ultimately in-
terested in the return on investment. There’s procurement, which is something that has changed over the years – procurement has become front-and-centre in terms of de- termining who it contracts with. And then, of course, there’s the travel management team, who are ultimately responsible for the key metrics around the travel programme. So there are all these different stakeholders, whose objectives have to be met through the travel management programme. “And, of course,” she adds, “let’s not forget
that, ultimately, it’s about engaging the trav- ellers. Traveller satisfaction is key to all of this. Otherwise we haven’t done our job.”
BBT MAY/JUNE 2014 29
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