and want the journey to be as seamless as possible. We know travellers face delays at airports, disruption in taxi lines and so on. TMCs stay relevant by booking, amending and managing the end-to-end experience, making it as frictionless as possible.” Macleod also believes intermediaries should move to a fully integrated servicing model, which includes call centres, email, chat, online and mobile. “These are all part of a traveller-specific, multi-channel experience. It’s about being end-to-end. They want to book online. But if something complicated comes up, such as a change or amendment, they may want direct contact with an agent. And that may be via chat, email or a human interaction.” Steve Norris, corporate managing direc- tor of Flight Centre, which owns both FCM Travel Solutions and Corporate Traveller, goes even further. As more business travellers extend business trips for their own leisure travel, he says TMCs need to support the “seamless experience” to remain relevant. “Offer tours and excursions on the side. The travellers will fund leisure themselves. But enabling this will make employees happier. They won’t mind travel- ling on business because they feel valued.”
THE PERSONAL TOUCH Indeed, in these digital times, there is a sur- prisingly large number of travellers who still prefer to interact with TMC call centre staff. According to Amadeus’s Snelgar, everything hinges on the size of a company, its budget and culture. “In the future, some companies will continue to use TMCs the way they do just now – predominantly booking,” he says. “They like picking up the phone and having someone sort everything out. Many others will increasingly turn to managed services. So, in addition to the best deals and content, they have access to reporting, duty-of-care and consultancy services.” In rare situations such as the ash cloud crisis in 2010, a TMC demonstrates in unparalleled value, says Snelgar. “You try getting hold of someone at an airline at a time like that if you’re a lone traveller. There is value over and above policy enforcement.” Other more profound changes may also be afoot, says Snelgar. Buyers from a procurement background have, over recent years, developed their knowledge of corporate travel’s subtleties. Cost will always be important to them, and technology is more advanced. With that
68 BBT MARCH/APRIL 2015 1 BBT NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2014
In these digital times, there is still a large number of travellers who prefer to interact with call centre staff
in mind, Snelgar suggests buyers can all but go it alone. “Those inclined to do so could negotiate directly with suppliers, and implement a booking tool, expense management system, payment card and traveller tracking process. They could basi- cally do everything except issue an IATA air ticket.” Which is why, says Snelgar, TMC service has to match company culture. If a company wants low-cost, low-touch service, there are TMCs to cater for that. There are a lot of full-service TMCs that can’t compete on the low-touch price, and so don’t go after that type of business. Some of the global TMCs may have low-cost fulfilment models, but that’s as far as it goes. “The future TMC model lies in managing the outsourced travel buying and manag- ing process,” says Snelgar, who estimates 90 per cent of companies that employ a TMC are not going to change their require- ments in the short to medium term. But the risk for TMCs that don’t plan ahead is getting squeezed from both sides. “At the
RISK & GLOBALISATION
THE LAST FEW ISSUES OF BBT have reported on the impact of escalating geo-political tensions around the world. This flags up two important issues for forward-planning TMCs: first, that being able to provide travel risk and security management services, either directly or with a third party provider, will add untold value to many corporate customers. Second, the global economy appears to be continuing its stuttering recovery, and corporate globalisation is as rife as ever. Companies of all sizes are looking to expand into emerging markets. In addition to their travel expertise, TMCs should position themselves as facilitators of business expansion and experts in business continuity.
As the model shifts away
from transaction fees, it is being able to provide these services well that will ensure the TMC remains relevant and necessary in the future.
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