TMCs
where an organisation is looking for sector expertise from its TMC, such as financial, oil and gas or NGOs. For a company that has offices world-
wide and needs feet on the ground in many locations, it is important that the TMC has a global reach. Two options are that all business could go into one location and be fulfilled there, or booking could be made centrally and fulfilled locally. “We had two big wins recently on our Follow the Sun service, a dedicated operation in three locations, which trips from one location to the other as the day progresses,” says HRG’s global sales director James Stevenson. “The client gets one number and a team that has access to all their information. It takes away the need for a 24-hour service.” Splitting business between two TMCs
that have strengths in the US and the rest of the world, for example, is a third option. Central collection of data is essential, with an agreement that one incumbent will feed that into the system of the other. Capability is critical in this scenario. “Generally, a company wants to be matched to a TMC that is most suited to its volume of bookings,” says Adrian Parkes, CEO of GTMC, which represents TMCs. “But it also depends on whether it needs a specialist because it is in a sector such as marine, offshore or sports. It’s important to understand where you fit and the level of engagement you want from them.” Size comes in the form of a combination
of ownership or partnerships, but central control is essential. “Ownership in key markets is important, but you also need to look at the way in which a partner network is managed,” states HRG’s Stevenson. “How long has the travel company
been running a partner network? What is the average length of time partners have been with the network? That will give an indication of how experienced they are in giving global data.” Other deciding factors are how practised partners are in working to global service level agreements (SLAs) and managing multinational clients, how partners are measured and how they judge success.
BUYINGBUSINESSTRAVEL.COM
“One client used a sustainability programme for planting trees to give something back”
A partner may have stronger supplier relationships in its home market, but a po- tential pitfall with a partnership structure is that a global account can be relatively small in a local market, with the attendant risk that it will be treated as such. Stevenson says: “If you are spending US$100,000 in one market, you want to receive the same level of service you get in a market where you spend US$10 million.” Consistency of service and clear, straightforward lines of communica- tion are a prerequisite.
CULTURAL FIT Ensure your TMC’s culture is compatible with yours. “You want as close a cultural fit in values as you possibly can; it is a people-to-people business and the right level of engagement of employees and travellers with the TMC you are bringing into the business is important,” says Parkes. The US software company mentioned
earlier worked on this basis. “The global presence with majority-owned local offices ticked many boxes, but it was the culture
and technology that went a long way to driving a decision,” says Robinson. In some companies cultural fit may cover corporate social responsibility issues, in- cluding environment, equality, community activity and more. Many organisations put such questions into an RFP as a box-ticking exercise, but an Inform Logistics client is a major player in the environmental business and its RFP includes issues such as carbon calculations and offsetting. “They cannot be seen not to be choosing that,” says Flint. A Travel and Transport Statesman
client used a sustainability programme for planting trees to give something back and improve the environment just to improve compliance. “That is a really good way of making people do the right thing; the effects of the policy were very positive and had a positive impact on employees’ morale as well,” says joint managing director Mervyn Williamson. “Nowadays, these programmes can be of real benefit to travellers and an attractive part of a package, an important part of recruiting and retaining staff.”
BBT March/April 2018 83
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