Regular readers of BBT will know Paul
Tilstone, the former ITM chief and senior vice-president of the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA). These days, he plies his trade as an industry consultant with his company, Festive Road. For many years he has played a leading role in bringing together the supply chain with the buyer community to discuss crucial issues like distribution. It should be no surprise – there are few people better placed to advise cor- porates on how to plan ahead. “Buyers must get creative,” he says. “It is too easy to work from cookie-cutter managed travel programme designs. But new entrants, changing demands and the technology revolution mean every travel management programme should be tailored to a company’s specific needs.” Tilstone says understanding your company’s culture, and commercial objectives, is key. “Find out how travel is perceived in your organisation. Then be honest about what is needed and what the best programme design would be. At one end is open booking. At the other, tightly mandated programmes. But there are many variations in between.”
</UNDER5TAND1NG_NEED5> The next step is also rudimentary, but all-too-often overlooked: listening to travellers and airlines to understand their needs before taking any action. Many pro- curement relationships today are focused on cost. Therefore buyers, says Tilstone,
should develop a more holistic approach to encompass price, distribution, product, loyalty and marketing. “For example, the creation of corporate specific bundles offered through chosen booking channels could mean better service for travellers, reduced overall costs and an improved buyer-airline relationship. To reach that point buyers first need to understand their traveller types and needs.” The third step is to find value. As the supply chain becomes more transpar- ent, traditional managed channel roles will evolve as a result of changes in the business world. There will be more focus on commercial terms. “It is a chance to develop the best supply chain model for your organisation based on the chosen travel management programme design. Ensure you understand your true needs and the cost and benefit of each supply chain participant,” he says. Forging partnerships and choosing the
right retailing mix is also high on Tilstone’s cheat sheet. He explains: “There are es- sentially three broad TMC/technology mix models in the managed space: there is the TMC that outsources booking technol- ogy; the TMC that has its own proprietary technology; and the technology-led TMC.” There is also, however, an increasingly
prevalent fourth option: choosing stand- alone technology. “In any case, getting the right retailing mix will determine how much control buyers have over NDC content, and
the way it is managed and delivered to the travel booker within policy,” he says. Finally, data will be the holy grail in the airline distribution chain, as it is in most contemporary retail supply chains. Retaining central control over the data provided to the airline and other suppliers will determine what offers are presented to travellers. “More data will equal better personalised offers. Managing the balance of data provision with policy compliant offers and data protection is going to be important,” says Tilstone. There were initial fears in some quarters that with NDC airlines were setting out to bypass GDSs and TMCs. Though the technology would enable disintermedia- tion, that is not the desired outcome. Car- riers simply want to market and sell their wares like any modern retailer. And there is real emphasis being placed on building corporate models with NDC standards. An investment fund, Travel Capitalist Ventures, has been established to support compa- nies in this field. The fund manager, Abrar Ahmad, told BBT his priority this year is to unearth developers to target and improve managed travel processes (see box, left). The Ravenous Bugblatter wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, but perhaps it is the beast’s rapacious hunger that should inspire travel buyers. Technology is driving change at an unprecedented rate; the corporate travel community must, therefore, have the appetite for knowledge, data and insight.
BUYINGBUSINESSTRAVEL.COM
BBT MAY/JUNE 2015
51
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128