TECHNOLOGY STRATEGY


don’t – and for corporates looking for a technology partner, there are arguments in favour of both types. The list of those companies that develop


their own in-house technology includes HRG, Capita Travel and Events, and Hill- gate Travel. Antoine Boatwright, Hillgate’s CIO, says the difference between working with a technology provider directly and a TMC with their own technology is like the difference between handling “a super- tanker or speedboat”. “Technology companies are very pro- cess-driven; they are offshored and the distance between the coder and the person with the requirement is so large that it takes a long time to turn into product,” says Boatwright. Despite that, there can be advantages. “Some tech providers have the scale that allows them to negotiate on a much larger basis with third parties you might wish to engage with,” he says. However, technologies such as the cloud have enabled TMCs to scale quickly. “TMCs, meanwhile, understand travel


first hand and they see it from the oper- ations side. They see the requirements and the service delivery and can optimise both,” he adds. The pharma buyer clearly believes


that owning the technology relationship directly with providers, particularly the online booking tool, is vital and that managing them at arm’s length through a TMC does not work well. “I have seen it in the past from other jobs. You get so much more mileage if the technology is firmly in your hands,” she says.


“Some tech providers have the scale that allows them to negotiate on a much larger basis with third parties you might wish to engage with”


On a journey: Parexel’s technology strategy


BIOPHARMACEUTICAL SERVICES COMPANY Parexel has more than 18,000 employees worldwide, with its headquarters in Massachusetts and annual revenues of more than US$2 billion.


Over the past eight years, the company has embarked on a journey to make its travel programme world-class, and ensure


BUYINGBUSINESSTRAVEL.COM


it is anchored in a robust technology strategy. Ben Park, Parexel’s


director of procurement & travel, takes the view that the approach to travel technology is unique for each company. “There is no one- size-fits-all solution,” he says. That said, there are some key ideas that are universal – the need to go digital without exception,


to simplify and standardise processes, to centralise payments, to build highly scalable processes and let systems communicate with each other. For Parexel, the starting point was to use technology to collect global data about their company in terms of number of countries, the age and gender split of employees, etc, with the aim


of designing a programme that meets the needs of each diverse travel group. Each generation has different needs and gender mix plays a role in a travel programme set up as well. Parexel’s technology


journey can then be split into four levels; core, basic, advanced and master. These are summarised as follows: (continued on p87)


BBT January/February 2018 85


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