T


HE CONCEPT OF PARTNERSHIPS IN BUSINESS travel goes back a long way; as far back as 1845 when brothers-in-law Francis Hogg and Augustus Robinson formed Hogg Robinson, which became one of the UK’s largest TMCs. Today, when two companies are doing business, a winning partnership between individuals on either side can help things


go more smoothly. What makes a relationship work varies and depends on the individuals involved, but as we explore some of travel’s perfect partnerships, honesty and reliabili- ty are two traits that come to the fore.


FAITHFUL FRIENDS Chris Mabbatt, procurement business partner with the charity Guide Dogs, and Mary Joyce, head of implementation at Click Travel


After starting out in procurement at pharma- ceutical giant Bayer and then working in travel procurement at Vodafone, Chris Mabbatt wanted a change from the corporate world and decided to devote his ener- gies and expertise to the not-for-profit sector. He is now procurement business partner at Guide Dogs,


the trading name of the Guide Dogs for the Blind Associa- tion. The Reading-based organisation’s mission statement is direct: “We will not rest until people who are blind or partially sighted can enjoy the same freedom of movement as everyone else.”


The first and biggest challenge that confronted Mabbatt was “freedom of movement” of an altogether different kind. “We did have a travel policy, but people were doing their own thing, booking their own travel, paying for it on their personal credit cards, then claiming it back on expenses – it was all over the place.” In short, there was too much “freedom of movement”


and too little cost control – “and when you’re working for a charitable organisation, every penny counts,” says Mabbatt. Which is where Mary Joyce, head of implementation at


Click Travel, comes in. Starting late last year, she had to mastermind the overhaul of Guide Dogs’ travel activity, engaging Click’s IT brains to devise a travel management programme tailored to the charity’s very specific needs. Guide Dogs has 1,400 employees and between 30 and 40


have visual impairments. Only around ten of those needed to be able to use the new IT systems, but inclusivity and accessibility were key to the project. “What’s accessible to one person is not necessarily acces- sible to another,” says Mabbatt, “so we needed a solution that was accessible to everyone.” Joyce adds: “From the outset we knew it had to be a part- nership, and we had to be honest about what we could and


WORDS BOB PAPWORTH buyingbusinesstravel.com 2018 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 71


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