“This is reflected in RFP [request for pro- posal] questions that extend beyond service delivery to include support for emissions tracking, strategic procurement, traveller tracking and savings delivery. TMCs can’t expect buyers to have their finger on the pulse of all the industry issues,” he says. So it’s vital that TMCs share inside knowledge on current trends, says William- son. “When buyers are well informed, they make better decisions. It’s our responsibility to be the savvy independent broker, a role that’s proving, more and more, to be the key to client success when taking on sup- plier negotiations on behalf of corporates.”
COST PRESSURE There are more TMC products and services available to the buyer community than ever before. However, most in procure- ment – across industry sectors – are under pressure to cut costs. Adam Knights, man- aging director for ATPI in the UK, says this trend has been particularly acute in the energy sector. The recent fall in oil price has put many companies under severe financial strain. He says: “There is huge focus on price.
All TMCs are being challenged to provide a core service for less money. There has, therefore, been a move towards menu pricing. Contracts are often re-bid to drive prices down. The question is: did clients know what they were using before?” Knights recounts the story of one company that renegotiated a deal to cut cost, but hadn’t realised what was included in the original deal. The new contract didn’t cover certain things that had been taken for granted. “Procurement has to be clear on what they use, whether it is account management, MI [management informa- tion] or handing data to a third-party travel security firm,” he says.
RISK AND SECURITY TMCs have positioned themselves as central to travel risk and security strategy since the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act became law in 2007. At the time, most efforts were focused on traveller tracking. The world is, in some ways, a more unpredictable place than it was nearly a decade ago. Wildcat terror attacks have scared many organisa-
58 BBT MARCH/APRIL 2016
“There have never been so many sources of data: corporate cards, expense tools, in-house systems and TMC data itself”
tions into taking action – travel security is no longer just an extra string to the TMC bow; it is at the foundation of service. Stuart Birkin is director of account management at Chambers-CTM. He says his company has recently received an unprecedented number of security- related requests from clients. The TMC has increased collaboration with a number of third-party specialists, such as International
SOS, iJet and Anvil, to provide an extra layer of security. “The subject now finally has the attention of most executives, no matter the size of their business,” he says. “However, there still needs to be greater awareness. There are a number of different levels of information and protection out there that can be matched to a customer’s requirements and budget, either provided by the TMC or an external provider. There aren’t really any excuses for a corporate not to have at least basic traveller tracking in place.”
DATA MANAGEMENT Most of the large global TMCs, including CWT, American Express Global Busi- ness Travel and BCD Travel, have their own consultancy divisions. These are, to a large extent, responsible for collating data and identifying areas of policy or programme improvement. It is a space in to which many smaller independent TMCs are also moving. Ryan Taylor is global travel buyer for the Sparrows Group – he heads up the winners of Travel Team of the Year at this year’s Business Travel Awards. Taylor says data management and analytics remain an area for improvement, and calls on TMCs to up their games. “Data feeds are coming from every-
where,” he says. “There have never been so many sources of data: corporate cards, expense tools, in-house systems and TMC data itself. For many companies there is a huge need to outsource data management to a specialist company. TMCs have an important role to play in this, too. But this comes back to getting people around a table, and working together to perform analysis and make recommendations.” Juliet Reffold, head of account manage- ment for Statesman Travel, says until now data has been used to squeeze airlines and hotels in the hunt for value. But she believes focus on different data sets could have an even bigger impact on the bottom line of travel budgets. “For instance, increasing the client’s average time between booking and travel by a few days can often produce greater savings than weeks of negotiation on an airline deal,” she says. The hysteria surrounding so-called ‘big
data’ appears to have simmered in the last 12 months. Graham Ross, UK head
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