We got all our senior people together and asked them what made them tick – we then took their combined experience and expertise, and built that into CTI Sherpa
solution”, CTI says Sherpa is an online booking tool with a difference. Corporate clients can use it to book
the point-to-point basics, but if they attempt anything more complex, they are automatically patched through to a human being – one with plenty of travel management experience. “Basically, what we did was to get all our senior people together, locked them in a room, and asked them what made them tick,” White jokes. “We took their combined experience and expertise, and then built that into CTI Sherpa. “In my view, there’s far too much em-
phasis on technological solutions – online booking works wonders for the simple stuff, but it’s just not advanced enough to handle anything complicated. “We talked to our people and built up a massive knowledge bank. That gave us a clear picture of what technology could and couldn’t do – and shouldn’t do – and we incorporated all that into Sherpa.”
NEW BUSINESS White rattles off the rather precise fact that the first Sherpa booking was made at 4.17pm on September 23, and says the tool has already attracted “a pipeline of new business”. Roadshows in Aberdeen, Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, London and Manchester have attracted a number of potential new corporate clients keen to tap into the CTI knowledge-base. The inclusion in that list of Bristol and London is significant. TD Travel was known as a ‘northern’ TMC – the merger with Hotelscene made headlines in the Wirral Chamber of Commerce’s news- letter, a claim to fame that few others could make.
The northern heritage is indisputable.
White, whose travel management career started in Hull, is a member of the York- shire Mafia, a business-to-business mutual support group headquartered in Leeds. CTI’s head office is in Wilmslow, with branches in Liverpool, Hull and Leeds. CTI Marine, meanwhile, is based in Bolton.
However, White says the company’s London “outpost” is growing fast, and the Hotelscene acquisition has brought with it an office in Bristol. And expanding southwards is just the start. “I’d love to take the CTI model over-
seas,” White says. “I’m not looking to open offices in 46 countries, but beyond the UK there are four regions where I think, long- term, we could make a difference. Our first objective would be the eurozone, followed by the US.” After that, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific beckon. For the time being, however, White is content to expand the UK business. In October, CTI launched a Sherpa equivalent, called Mariner, for the marine sector. He’s also got one eye open for further acquisitions. “It’s not something we’re planning, but if the right opportunity came along at the right time, we would certainly look at it,” he says.
GONE FISHING Meanwhile, he indulges his passions for squash (“…at 53, people say I’m too old, maybe a little too fat, but I still play a reasonable game”), what he calls “the real Spain” (better known by most of us as the Rioja region) and fishing off the Florida Keys. There’s a theme emerging here. Fishing off the Keys, a booking tool called Mariner and a travel management career built on the back of Hull’s trawler fleet – a ghastly pun on “net profits” is just waiting to be made. With CTI’s track record to date, and
CTI has seen significant growth in the marine and offshore business
corporate clients apparently queuing up to open negotiations, future success looks to be on the cards. We’ll just have to wait and see who takes the White bait.
BUYINGBUSINESSTRAVEL.COM BBT NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2014 29
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