Supported by
BBT Forum, Spring 2015 Grange City Hotel, London
TRAVEL BUYERS GATHERED TO DEBATE BEST PRACTICE IN RISK MANAGEMENT AT THE LATEST BBT FORUM IN LONDON
OUR REGULAR BBT FORUMS are an opportunity for travel buyers to debate the key issues affecting their roles, and engage in candid, open dialogue and networking with peers and other industry experts. The latest forum focussed on several topics centred around the risks and rewards of “lightly managed” travel. Traveller independence sounds attractive, especially when contrasted with “command and control” travel policies, but in practice both might result in, and rely on, traveller tracking. This in turn presents challenges around technology, communication, policy compliance and employees’ concerns about privacy. Forum participants also raised concerns about how secure the data gathered is and where it is held. Could it be hacked or compromised, and is it wise to let the data be held in the US, given recent revelations of widespread government monitoring of information? With effective risk
management dependent on traveller behaviour, getting their “buy-in” is essential, delegates agreed. Few travellers “stray out of spite” –
many do it believing they are saving money, often for their local departmental budgets. So it’s vital to communicate why straying undermines the travel programme and may lead to risks. And procedures are all-important: travel buyers should set up a duty-of- care committee so they can prepare, track, respond and have good reporting.
CLOSE TO HOME While a focus on risk
management is, in part, driven by expansion into emerging markets, it should also be a consideration closer to home. As BCD Travel director Tony McGetrick pointed out, the government currently rates the terror threat level to the UK as “severe” – one below the highest possible risk rating. Yet delegates happily gathered here in London, he said, with little thought to the risk, and “many of us here with no more traveller tracking than an Oyster card”. This prompted a debate on whether risk policies should only apply to travellers: should travel risk programmes be more closely integrated with wider company policies encompassing all employees? Matthew Judge, group managing director of the Anvil
Group, said travel safety policy should indeed be an integral part of other company policies. This, he said, is achieved through “branching”, where all company policies that impact one another contain a “reference branch” to the other relevant main policies or procedures, to ensure consistency. Delegates agreed that stakeholder engagement is key – departments that should be involved include insurance, legal, security and HR, as well as the supply chain.
THE “LIGHT TOUCH” For buyers from energy and mining firms, the “light touch” is not an option – one buyer said every meeting started with a security and risk update, and for some employees, training in kidnap and ransom scenarios is compulsory. Another buyer described annual e-learning modules with a high pass rate required for all travellers, plus a mandated booking channel: attempting to book through this channel to a “dodgy” destination triggers a phone call from the security division as to the reason for the trip, and “very high-level sign-off” before booking is completed.
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Meanwhile, other buyers said their companies allowed a greater degree of freedom, with some allowing use of sharing economy providers such as Uber and Airbnb – here delegates discussed how the concept of “risk versus reward” is illustrated by cost and choice versus safety standards and insurance cover.
Some buyers mandated against the use of these providers, despite the ability to gather data from these booking through expense management tools. However, BCD’s McGetrick said: “Don’t ignore the sharing economy. Look at Ryanair and Easyjet a few years ago,” referring to a time when they were not considered viable business travel options but now are an accepted part of the sector. The BBT Forum was sponsored by HRS, Enterprise Rent-a-Car, Lufthansa Group, The Anvil Group, Diners Club International, BCD Travel, Sabre and Grange Hotels. ■ The next BBT Forums take place on September 22 in Dublin and October 2 in London. For more information visit buyingbusinesstravel. com/events
Event location sponsor:
14 BBT JULY/AUGUST 2015
BUYINGBUSINESSTRAVEL.COM
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