THE KNOWLEDGE CORPORATE CASE STUDY
“We stay engaged with our partners and ensure the deal is beneficial for both sides”
“We had to do what was best for the
firm and the bottom line has benefitted. We told them individually how it impacted them,” she explains. By engaging with the bank’s key stake- holders from the outset, the disruption was reduced. “The noise died down after about two months,” recalls Basterfield. “Our employees have seen significant cost
reduction strategies across the bank and now understand and show support.” The bank’s employees are already a
compliant group, with most airline tickets booked between seven and 14 days out by the non-revenue generating staff. “There’s not a lot of air leakage,” says
Basterfield, “and if I see the same person on the out-of-policy report time and time again I go to their manager.” Credit Suisse mandates the use of booking with an OBT and 90 per cent are compliant to that.
3 4
THE DEALS The three-year deals that were struck went live and there are now
30 airlines in the programme, consisting of some global and some very regional carriers covering Latin America and India. The implementation of the new airline
contracts came in tandem with a policy change from three to five hours for business class, which is still generous, plus a move to lowest logical fare, “which helps keep the airlines in check too,” says Basterfield.
THE RESULT Average ticket prices have reduced by between three and
four per cent. “We’ve delivered on very aggressive targets,” says Basterfield. “Credit Suisse has performed well on their goals, managed them proactively and maintained their credibility,” says Arbuthnot. He concedes that it was a textbook RFP, that “delivered on time and got a great result and without too much pushback.” At the end of the first year the bank
looked at the deals realistically. “Getting the great deals was fantastic but we couldn’t shift the share in one or two places,” says Basterfield. The bank had under-performed
30 6 30
The number of preferred carriers in the Credit Suisse global air programme
LESSONS LEARNT Arbuthnot advises other corporates to actively manage
the deals throughout the life of the contract. “Too many corporates sign the deal then leave it,” he warns. Credit Suisse undertakes yearly re-pricing
exercises with suppliers and quarterly meetings to check on how the company is succeeding on targets. “My travel team’s mission is to be partners with travellers and suppliers,” says Basterfield. She advises real engagement with regional
travel managers and key stakeholders, as they will be the ones who will hear the complaints. “Some savings are not worth the pain so stay flexible until the last possible moment,” she says.
on some routes and radically over- performed on others, so Credit Suisse partnered with suppliers to ensure deals and targets were adjusted accordingly. Year two – 2015 – and Credit Suisse is
“in a really good place for the most part. We stay engaged with our partners and ensure the deal is beneficial for both sides,” says Basterfield.
5
THE FUTURE The RFP process begins again this summer, to go live in April 2016,
and both GBT and Credit Suisse are hopeful that even better deals can be achieved. “If you look at the price of oil and airline
profitability, plus more competition on key routes compared with three years ago, we’re very positive,” says Arbuthnot. “Since our last RFP, Delta/Virgin have launched, which offers more competition over the transatlantic so that will give us leverage.”
£157,000,000 The size of the Credit Suisse air programme
Bernadette Basterfield
Global Head of Travel & Expense, Credit Suisse
PROFILE
Bernadette has more than 25 years of corporate travel experience gained with large multinational travel management companies, and more than ten years in managing global travel and events programmes in the financial services sector.
THE BUSINESS TRAVEL MAGAZINE 53
THE BUSINESS TRAVEL MAGAZINE 17
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