“Analysing data is part of a travel manager’s daily role and this regular analysis is necessary to travel policy decision-making”
chart, right, shows how often a cross- section of European travel buyers review travel policy.
COMPANY CULTURE Size and location are only two factors affect- ing the attitude towards policy. Matthew Pancaldi is HRG’s global client management director. He stresses the importance of un- derstanding customers’ internal objectives – be it talent retention or cost savings and efficiency, or good corporate governance – when advising companies on their travel policies. Policy is “typically driven by the environment in which companies operate”, he says. “If the market or business sector changes direction quickly, they will want to make changes to remain competitive.” Dan Raine, Pancaldi’s colleague at HRG,
points out the importance of clients request- ing to see how their policy compares with that of their peer group. “We do a lot of work with clients wanting to know if we’re in the right ballpark – that benchmarking piece is really important,” he says. Sage’s Randall adds: “Traveller welfare
plays a bigger role in some organisations than in others, where it’s all about finance and savings.”
DATA ENABLES CHANGE Without doubt increasing access to real- time rather than historical data means that companies are now able to respond in a
How often do today’s buyers review travel policy? 5% 6% 14% 30% 45%
needs changing. “Better use of data on an ongoing basis will give information that, if you analyse it, you can see which areas of policy need to be reviewed,” he says. He believes that analysing data is part of
a travel manager’s daily role and that this regular analysis is necessary to travel policy decision-making. “Using data to review policy regularly is vital because then you will be able to distinguish if a deviation is an overall trend or whether it is certain individuals or departments that need to be brought back on track,” he says. “If you don’t have that analysis, you don’t
Every two years
Less frequently than two years
Annually Don’t know Less than once a year
Source: Survey of business travel buyers conducted by the Business Travel Show exclusively for Buying Business Travel
know if the policy is working,” he adds. “You’re not just gathering data to change policy but to see if it’s working and if it’s not working, is there a need to change it?” Randall agrees: “Data is not just about
supplier negotiations – it is critical for the measurement of compliance. What’s the sense of having a policy without the ability to measure compliance?” She also believes that it is “critical that you
timely manner to any changes in market conditions, behaviour or costs and, if ap- propriate, adjust policy. Tony Pilcher, founder of consultants
Pilcher Associates and formerly a long- time global travel manager of a financial institution, thinks proper data analytics will help managers to identify when a policy
run scenarios. If we were to change class of travel by number of hours of the journey, what would the savings be? You have to think about savings versus the welfare of your people.” There’s consensus that managers need
to look at key performance indicators and use data to measure the actual against the intended; but the challenge with travel is increasingly about how to access,
Dynamic pricing & policy
THE DATA EXCHANGE’S SUSAN HOPLEY believes that policy should be a structure in which current data can be used to direct purchasing decisions that are best for both the company and the traveller. She is evangelical about how consolidated data can help travel managers improve policy for both the company and the traveller experience. “Part of dynamic
66 January/February 2017
policy is that you can get the lowest fare,” she says. “A true dynamic policy allows flexibility but understands that inventories vary and sometimes prices are high, sometimes low, depending on availability.” She believes that practices, such as route discounts, are archaic and that in the future buyers will just want an algorithm that
takes account of the real inventory available in the market and then make the optimal content available to travellers. The content available may be limited to suppliers that have been pre-cleared, say, to meet duty-of-care criteria, but the final selection choice could be personalised for different travellers to take account of their preferences and tastes.
Such sophisticated use of data need not be only for large companies with deep pockets for investing in IT systems. It can all be done ‘as a service’ – that is, by a licensing model rather than capital investment. Travel managers could explore this option in a small way, with a small group of travellers or as part of a larger organisation, so as to minimise any risk.
BUYINGBUSINESSTRAVEL.COM
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