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THE TECHNOLOGY Supplier


ANTOINE LE FEUVRE, VP customer services, Traveldoo


INTRODUCE KPIs TO YOUR SUPPLIER AGREE- MENTS. It will help to monitor progress in achieving your end goals. Identify areas of improvement by ensuring all parties have an understanding of current performance, comparisons over time and access to data. The first step: agree KPIs in conjunction


with your supplier and other stakehold- ers included in the process. KPIs should follow the SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely) criteria, and should be set based on commonly agreed end goals: for example, reduc-


ing total spend, reducing average trip cost, or increasing customer satisfaction. Once goals have been set, metrics must be identified to best track progress towards these goals. These measures can be de- veloped at any time, but are often agreed at the beginning of a contract. Common challenges include lack of ownership. This happens when customers and sup- pliers do not work together to set KPIs, and it creates a lack of understanding around deliverables. It’s easy to get sidetracked if KPIs are


not frequently monitored. To be successful, keep it simple. Within the travel technology sector, KPIs can be split into three types:


1. Basic contractual KPIs cover the areas around service levels, minimum stan- dards and support levels.


2. Business level KPIs focus on the cus- tomers’ business objectives and should be jointly agreed between customer and supplier. These may be around adoption rates, the ability to increase online transactions and customer service, and should link to the success of the organisation’s travel programme.


3. Customer-centric KPIs are offered by some suppliers with the specific purpose of measuring unique customer requirements, and adding additional value to the customer.


The SCOTT GILLESPIE, co-founder and managing partner, T Clara


TO BEGIN, LOOK AT YOUR ACCOUNTING SYSTEM. To what extent is travel and entertainment tracked in the general ledger? If it is reasonable, you have a base- line for understanding very rough travel spend. It may need to be split into sub- categories, such as groups and meetings,


BUYINGBUSINESSTRAVEL.COM CONSUlTANT


sponsorships and events, and transient travel. Most travel managers tackle transient travel first, then groups and meetings. There are a large number of catego-


ries, but basic KPIs should be reported monthly. These include: total trackable travel spend, from sources such as cor- porate credit card, travel management company (TMC) reporting and expense reports (de-duplication of amounts will


be needed across these sources, or they may be reported individually with a note that they overlap significantly); category- specific booked spend, such as air, rail and hotel spend through the TMC; average days booked in advance of airline trip; percentage of air and rail tickets booked in first or business class; average air and rail ticket prices; average hotel room rate; share of all room nights (derived from air and rail trip dates) booked via the TMC; and the share of all TMC-issued air and rail tickets booked via the corporate booking tool. These KPIs should go to the senior finance managers and heads of business units.


By far the biggest challenge is getting clean and timely data. The second is en- suring KPIs are put into useful context. What is being measured? Why does it matter? And what does good look like? Good KPIs drive engagement from senior management. If senior management is not engaged, it points to poor-value KPIs, among other issues.


BBT JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2016 53


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