FORWARD THINKING BY MARTIN FERGUSON
BRIGHT SPARKS: CREATIVE THINKING
THE EVOLVING BUSINESS TRAVEL LANDSCAPE THROWS UP MANY CHALLENGES, BUT PRACTICAL SOLUTIONS CAN BE SIMPLE AND EFFECTIVE
ON THE PAGES OF THIS MAGAZINE OVER RECENT YEARS we have delved into the proliferation of mobile devices, open booking (travel 2.0), personalisation, consumerisation, gamification, new distribution capability (NDC), direct connect, iBeacons, sharing econo- mies, travel management apps and much more. With each issue comes a new trend or buzzword into which we ravenous hacks sink our teeth. Topics evolve at their own rate, and have differing impacts on traditional travel management principles: cost, compliance and duty-of-care. It’s little surprise that travel buyers and managers have had to do a fair amount of pivoting to adapt to the evolving facets of corporate travel. Though for the most part, the majority of travel buyers have not so far been deeply affected – there has been change, certainly, but no revolution. But travel management is arguably on the cusp of a new era. Managed travel 2.0 advocates, who reside principally in the US, have long predicted that tech- nology and evolving consumer habits would lead to the fragmentation of the business travel supply chain. And now, in light of Lufthansa’s decision to intro- duce a Ð16 surcharge on every segment booked through the global distribution systems (GDSs), coupled with moves by major airlines to open up IT platforms to developers working with the NDC computer code, it seems that the castle
BUYINGBUSINESSTRAVEL.COM
walls around the travel policy, preferred supplier programmes, travel management companies (TMCs), GDSs and corpo- rate card suppliers could be starting to crumble. It remains difficult to predict how these developments will manifest themselves, though it’s safe to assume the status quo will disappear.
PROCESS AND PROCEDURE Dan Ruch is chief executive of Rocketrip, a US-based tech firm that helps busi- nesses incentivise travellers to adhere to travel policy via a data-driven budget and rewards platform. He says cost-control, compliance and duty-of-care are the three pillars welded into travel procurement and management. No matter how con- sumer trends and technology influence supplier strategy, these characteristics are non-negotiable within the evolving supply chain. The thrust of a recent speech to travel
buyers was to focus on getting creative around those pillars. And this is the key message: corporate travel policies and programmes are wedlocked to those three pillars, but how can human ingenu- ity be exercised to enhance process and procedure? Chris Vince is operations director
for Birmingham-headquartered TMC, Click Travel. While the company differ- entiates itself by marketing its hi-tech and digital credentials, Vince also cites non-tech creative solutions to long-
standing challenges. “For example, we have a telecoms company that has a sig- nificant long-haul programme,” he says. “It changed booked policy from business class to economy, but gives travellers extra annual leave at the end of a trip. The cost of premium travel outweighs the cost of the time off, which allows savings to be made.
“Then we have a client in the con- struction industry doing a lot of travel between the UK and the Middle East. The policy permits business class travel. To reduce costs, the policy now allows staff to volunteer to fly economy or premium economy, in exchange for sharing the amount saved on the business class ticket,” he says. Meaning if the economy ticket was only £1,000 versus a £5,000 business ticket, that’s £2,000 straight into the employee’s pocket. Suffice to say the Click client is saving money and has happy travellers.
GAMIFICATION FAIL Rocketrip’s Ruch says many of his US clients have already implemented the same strategy. “There needs to be intrin- sic motivation [for travellers to follow policy],” he insists. “It comes down to money. They rightly ask: what’s in it for me? Can I share half the savings? Then yes, I’ll start aligning my interests with those of the company.” He adds that gamification has to a large extent “failed”, saying that compliant-traveller
BBT SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2015 63
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 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132