If You Can't Measure It, You Can't Manage It: 6 Key Data Points to Diagnose your Travel Procurement System's Health

I often visit organizations with unmanaged or lightly managed travel to help them gain control of T&E. The biggest challenge is collecting complete and concise data on what their team is spending - regardless of where the trip’s components are purchased. If nothing else, new tools allow your organization to more easily aggregate all your data into a series of reports that can be used to evolve the right policies and procedures with which to manage this significant line item. Your leadership and rogue travelers aren’t going to jump on board with any system unless you make the case - with data - that managing versus simply purchasing this line item makes sense. What I have also found is that the savings opportunity alone (there are other benefits of managed travel) is between 10-20%. Following are six initial data points to diagnose to quantify the lost opportunity of rogue bookings and evaluate your tolerance for the loss:

1. Total volume. Overall, by product (air, hotel, car, sedan,etc.), by department, by cost center.
2. Average transaction cost compared to plausible benchmarks. Topaz International and other third parties provide this data, as do many TMCs.
3. Lost opportunity compared to lowest fare available. What the lowest fare was for the itinerary compared to what was selected by the traveler. This data is often available from TMCs and can’t be secured from public sources.
4. Preferred supplier performance and/or opportunities. Air program, hotel, and car. If you have them or, if not, where your volumes lie.
5. Travel purchase by source. What was purchased from your TMC, then online and call in with your TMC, then alternate sources (public sites, supplier sites).
6. Policy compliance. If you have details in your travel policy about what the company expects travelers to select (fares under $500 or within range of the lowest fare, per diem rates), how did the team do with compliance? Measure it within your suggested travel program. 

Often the mistake that is made is that a travel booking process is suggested, yet not required because the organization believes that all rates and rate sources are created equal and the only difference is the fee. So the team thinks it’s doing well by minimizing or eliminating the fee. Common wisdom is that the fee is 3% of the trip and the rest is 97%. So watching and managing the entire cost of a trip should deliver better results. The above data will help you do so.

 

How to collect all this data is a common challenge for those without a tightly managed program whereby the data can be provided by your TMC. Expense report data from your ERP is useful. Credit card data is usually helpful if everyone is using your corporate card system (another missed opportunity with many rogues). Then with data aggregators like TripCase corporate or Triplink you can at least require everyone to forward all bookings to these tools for complete data integration and evaluation while enhancing duty of care.

 

We have found that from this evaluation will come reasonable policies and procedures to better control this size able line item. We wish you luck! 

Three Things to Consider when Communicating a Travel Request to Ensure Consistent Results

With all the forms of communication we have out there you would think the world would be communicating better. We all know that is not true. Because we can communicate in so many ways, many of our communications aren’t complete, clear or effective. This especially happens in the communication between our agents and travelers. Travelers hope to get their request for travel off their desks and many times this request doesn't deliver some key facts we need to ensure the best value. Here are three concepts that we train our people to secure before delivering their consultation.

Results. The trick is to understand what the person wants to accomplish with their travel request. The impact or the result of the trip. We have called this the experience identifier question. What has to happen over the course of this trip for it to achieve the results you desire. It's important that we know what the purpose of the trip is and what the drivers to the traveler are. They may be arriving or departing at certain times that are in and around other requirements, staying near a certain location, getting in and out quickly or not, closing the deal, etc. I will quickly add also that the goal and the result are two different things. So my goal may be to get to Chicago by a certain time and back by a certain time but the result is much more. Knowing this allows us to provide better service.

History. This refers to what the traveler may like or not like based on their history about travel, that location, that trip, previous experiences, the trip requirements. When the traveler gives a detailed history including some or all of these items, the agent had a much better idea of what to include, what to avoid, and how to make the experience right for that specific traveler.

Tools. Tools like what frequent flier memberships, hotel programs, and knowledge the traveler may have are important as well. Most of this is usually in the traveler’s profile but reminding us of tools and preferences is useful. At times these tools allow us to uncover better rates or availability with this status as well. 

The basics of a travel request are pretty clear but embellishing requests with these concepts will improve communication and deliver faster better results. 

The Pros and Cons of Some Relatively New Travel Technology Tools and What to Consider

Experts predict that 2015 is the year big data will revolutionize the way we conduct business in the world of corporate travel. While every reservation--from airline to hotel to car to train--has always left a data trail, the increasing use of travel sites and tools, expense integrated with travel, smartphones, and widespread availability of Wi-Fi has brought with it an avalanche of data that can help improve the travel experiences. At the same time, with these opportunities, needs, and expectations come some potential cons for the traveler, and the company who purchases corporate travel. Here is a glimpse into some items to consider:

1. Personalization

Big data allows companies to track and extrapolate the needs and buying trends of the modern road warrior. This process, called personalization, is fast becoming a game changer at some travel sites. The travelers feels their wants and needs are considered, as they can immediately secure their preferences. Booking travel is a complicated juggling act with a lot of moving parts, including choosing an airline, seating preference on the plane, hotel location, preferred amenities, and required technology interfaces. Imagine the stress relief involved in seamlessly booking a business trip without having to continually regurgitate preferences for a morning flight with a window seat and in-flight Wi-Fi, and the need for a hotel with an in-house restaurant that will cater to dietary restrictions. Conversely, if a company has its set of preferences and wants its travelers to consider the widest range of fares and rates every time they travel to ensure the best value to the company, these tools can usurp these considerations. These tools (mostly supplier sites and public sites versus corporate sites which are skewed to company preferences) are set to say “Let’s not look at all the opportunities, let’s just give you your favorite airline, hotel, and car regardless of price and even company preference”.

2. Merchandising

Now imagine the traveler booking scenario above – booking through a public or supplier site - followed up with a notification to the traveler that a tremendous deal is now also available to upgrade their seat to an aisle or premium economy, speed through check in, have a bag fee waived if they purchase something else, or take advantage of a deal at their favorite tropical vacation spot. I’d even argue that airlines changing frequent flier programs so that miles are based on the flight price is opening up more merchandising. While some of these merchandising opportunities may make the travel experience improve, these opportunities may drive up cost (even in expense categories that you may not have ever even been addressed in your travel policy). They can also distract the employee from their core responsibilities with more spam and more considerations.  

3. New Travel Related Costs.

In the fall of 2013, 40 airports participated in the TSA PreCheck program; as we begin a new year, the number has jumped to 120 airports, with over 725,000 members enrolled in that time period. There aren’t many cons to these concepts as maneuvering through airports has become increasingly difficult. The only consideration in these opportunities is whether you will pay for the likes of them and how this is addressed in your travel policy. Add to these relatively new options (most of which I do not see addressed in any travel policies I have seen recently) including Wi-Fi costs on board aircraft, seat selection improvements, hotel and car rental add-ons and more. Who gets reimbursed for what, where do these line items go, and how much more time does it take to reconcile expense reports? In a recent T&E budget assessment in an RFP we received, it was determined that the company was spending more money on Wi-Fi during travel than on travel agency fees. And the entire RFP was focused of agency fee reduction. The automation of expense reporting is helping manage these challenges as more data can be evaluated.

4. Data security importance

Finally, some of the biggest news stories of 2014 involved data breaches within companies such as Target, Home Depot, and eBay. While the potential theft of information like credit card numbers and home addresses is unsettling at best, the information typically held by those types of companies pales in comparison to the wealth of information that travel necessitates. In addition to addresses and credit cards, business travelers--particularly on an international trip--must contend with frequent flyer numbers and ID cards or passports, not to mention confidential business-related data that may or may not need to be part of checked baggage. As the creation of new travel opportunities increases, so does the responsibility to keep travelers (and their information) safe. Ultimately, while there is always risk in navigating uncharted territory, the opportunity to do business and expand your horizons to see the world makes it all worthwhile. As everything from hotel internet access expands along with a rise in travelers using hotel apps to book, check-in, and secure concierge services, so does the risk of where data may end up. The bar has been pushed even higher, with many hotels beginning to utilize a mobile app as a hotel room key, thus allowing guests to bypass the front desk altogether. A convenience, but perhaps also a potential threat in that someone knows when they enter and depart their room? Then, while the ability to book a flight and reserve a hotel room online is nothing new, the switch to and focus on mobile capabilities is. While only 2 percent of passengers preferred using a smartphone for booking travel in 2012, that number is expected to jump to 70 percent in 2015. Because travelers are rarely separated from their phones, the larger value of mobile technology may reside in its ability to provide a seamless experience while in transit. With the advent of Geolocation, you now have the ability to receive status updates based on what part of the travel process you are in, from security lines to flight delays to full itinerary changes. Presently, half of U.S. airports offer mobile updates, and, based on your personalized preferences, they can even direct you to a good place to eat during your layover. Geolocation tools can also help advise and track employees when in “at risk” countries. For some travelers and countries people knowing where you are at all times makes them uncomfortable and maybe, in some instances, at risk. Also, knowing where your travelers are can be a risk if that data falls into the wrong hands. What is your best practice? Determining your culture and stand on these tools is important to consider and address.

 

As the creation of new travel tools increases and provides amazing opportunities to share and consider, so does your responsibility to address these items in travel policies to take control of your organizations costs, productivity, and safety. A dialogue and communication on these subjects will ensure an evolved travel procurement system that is good for the company and its travelers.

The Perils of the "If It Ain't Broke Don't Fix It" Attitude in Travel Management

I often hear that if it ain’t broken don’t fix it when it comes to many travel management programs. The issue is that many of the people who respond this way wear many hats - one of them being travel - and for the most part they focus on trip planning versus the management of this line item and the opportunities that go along with it. Many of you who read my blog have an idea that things may be broken that could impact the line time of T&E significant and know enough to enough that they need to know more.

So my question is often “why do so many organizations stay with the same way of working, often for many years, when it’s really not delivering optimum results?” From my experience, I would say the schools of thought likely fall into at least one of the following four camps:

 

1.       I am way too busy!  We live in a busy world with hectic jobs and high expectations. If you think that travel is under control because no one is complaining, I recommend that you ask yourself why. Is it because they are getting whatever they want, and then you have to ask at what cost does that come at? Can you place a value on the missed opportunities before you decide it’s not broken? You may uncover a whole host of improvements that can be made. And if time really is stopping you, send your data to handful of travel management companies, who will be more than willing to do this for and share their recommendations.

2.       Lack of Travel Procurement knowledge.  For most of our customers, travel is one of those things that seems to get added on to an existing job role or is a small part. As a result, sometimes the person responsible doesn’t know where to start. If this sounds familiar, reach out to a few TMCs, consider joining the Global business Travel Association, or even grab my book The Secrets of Effective Business Travel Procurement for tips on how to get started. You can get your free copy here. There are also consultants who can help identify opportunities and determine the right partners.

3.       Buy-in.  Making a change isn’t going to be successful without the support for your executives and other stakeholders, regardless of how much work you put in. Put together a travel team and ensure senior management endorses the project. Keep this group engaged throughout the entire process, you’ll be grateful for their support when you come to implement a new solution.

4.       Lack of resources.  Changing systems or even suppliers can be daunting, especially when travel is such a personal subject! Worries over resources and the cost of change can lead people to think ‘the grass isn’t always greener’. But if you choose the right travel management company, the change should be well managed by your new provider every step of the way. Their knowledge and expertise should make things as seamless and as smooth as possible - and, if you’re doubting their abilities to make this change pain free, they’re probably not right for you.

 

What are your challenges and questions? I would be happy to answer some question here and use this forum for you to secure advice from others like you. It’s always great to start a year safe in the knowledge that your travel management is in good hands. If not, check out the resources mentioned above, consider getting some second opinions on your business travel and when you’re ready to take the plunge, check out a webinar we are hosting next week on the A Travel Insiders Guide to Getting the Best T&EValue in 2015.

Open Booking: A Possible Distraction Dressed Up as an Opportunity

We have discussed open booking before in the blog. It is the concept of allowing some pieces of travel requirements to be purchased outside of your Travel Management Company (TMC). Some corporate travel professionals believe that the established travel management model—travelers booking at published and negotiated prices through global distribution system-powered travel management companies—is broken. Many travelers don’t want to play that game anymore when they think they can buy better and cheaper without corporate interference.

So what’s the solution? I have shared before that there are some legitimate reasons to book some items outside of your TMC. Philosophically, I and many believe those instances should be approved and identified within your travel policy, there should be a system to add to this list of exceptions, and you should have a way to support these bookings. But this is a belief that travel management is the rule with some exceptions versus a belief that using these tools for travel anarchy is a better solution to control, manage, and procure T&E - the line item. As 2014 ended, I started to see the hype behind open booking as a method to handle travel slightly wither and a small return to the procurement principles we have discussed return. One of last year’s BTN Top 25 execs, KDS CEO Dean Forbes, even called it “failure dressed up as innovation.” The following story, originally detailed in Business Travel News, helps paint this picture and reinforces what some top travel managers think about this subject.

Stephan Hylander, Strategic Purchasing Manager for Marketing and Travel from The Volvo Group, was named by Business Travel News as one of the top 25 most influential leaders this year. What was interesting was why. He doubled down on travel procurement principles and rebooted his company’s preferred airline program, for which BTN named him 2014 Multinational Travel Manager of the Year and he now is in this year’s Top 25 list.

If corporate negotiated fares are going to stay relevant, they need to be literally the best deal in town, and that’s why Hylander persuaded his key preferred suppliers to agree to discounts on all fares, “even if it was only 1 percent lower” in the case of the most heavily discounted classes. “Our travelers should always notice they are getting a slightly cheaper fare ... through us,” Hylander said. According to Hylander, “the first time we spoke to the airlines, they looked at us with horror.” The result: a return to the traditional airline deal proving a win for all parties. For Volvo, average paid fares fell 10 percent in 2013 and another 2 percent in 2014. Travelers gained by knowing the easiest option also was the best-priced. And the preferred airlines won too, as typical market share climbed from 65 to 70 percent to more than 90 percent on key routes.

By ensuring all travel is booked in one place, Hylander could maximize leverage. Surely the leverage of Volvo is larger than the leverage for most of you reading this blog. That said, air, hotel, car, and even other expense category deals can be had when you can control purchasing and supply data. We have found that maximizing the four pillars of T&E Value should always be a focus. They are again: leverage your total volume for supplier opportunities, enforce the right policies at the point of sale, expand rate considerations without bias, and utilize pre-trip approval systems for exceptions.

Credit —Amon Cohen of Business Travel News.

I would love to hear your comments. Hopefully you learn something from me and I would love to learn something from you!

Ten Scary Travel Risk Questions Which Help Determine if You Need to Look at Travel Risk Mitigation.

The insurance industry provides coverage for when things go wrong. With a volume of travelers on the road, things can go wrong for the traveler and the company with impacts felt in many ways. From medical emergencies and accidents, to weather events, plane crashes, or even terrorism, companies should be prepared and most are not. If you don’t know if you need this and do not know what to ask yourself, you are not alone. Please take these questions to your executive team – to include legal and HR - and see what they feel most uncomfortable about and then ask for help. From your overall insurance provider to specific travel risk mitigation companies, there are tools and solutions.

1. Have you ever had to find and support travelers after an event like a plane going down, an earthquake, terrorism, or catastrophic weather event - or could you realistically have to?
2. Do you offer any pre-trip intel and alerts to your employees/travelers today? If yes, how, with whom, and are you comfortable with the reliability of this data and frequency?
3. How do you track all travelers and assets, and do you rely on others to communicate on the company’s behalf to travelers already on a trip or in route to a destination?
4. Do you have travelers being sent into high risk locations that you believe are not prepared for travel? Do you have a way to determine which places are high risk?
5. Would you claim you have a duty of care or travel risk management system in place? What is it and where would employees find it?
6. How do you assess how many travelers you have globally and where do they go to determine the level and type of care required each year?
7. What support do you provide to travelers when they have medical emergencies or accidents on the road and how is the process communicated so they know how to use it?
8. How would security or medical evacuations be handled? With one number 24/7 worldwide? Does your security or medical response firm handle worldwide security & medical evacuations?
9. Do you have a Travel (Operational) Risk Program with communications, Travel Risk Management Policy, Travel Approval Process, and training?
10. Who is responsible for employee safety in your organization before and during travel? Do you have a corporate security team? If yes, how many people are there on that team?

If you are not comfortable with your answers here, you should have a risk assessment. We have partners who would be happy to contact you and provide this assessment. They can also share tools, best practices, and technologies. Please let us know how we can help you address these items. Thank you to our friends at iJET for helping us pull these questions together.

Be safe out there!

6 Tips to Take Control and Deliver a 10% Improvement on T & E Value Without Losing Your Mind

As the year begins and goals and objectives stack up like planes on a runway, we often times have to pick a few battles. I want to share the key items below that you may choose to pay attention to which would deliver at least a 10% improved T&E program for your organization in 2015. My recommendation is that you pick a few and do them well as this second largest controllable cost for the average company. In a few weeks we will be hosting a webinar that will deliver a more extensive review of what to pay attention to for 2015 in T&E; to register, click here.

1.      Measure advance purchase and eliminate outliers. Determine who buys tickets less than 7 or 14 days in advance and council them. Newly-released Travel Leaders data indicates that business travelers who booked their domestic airline ticket 7-13 days in advance saved 9% on average, while those who booked 14-20 days in advance saved 24% on average compared to those who booked less than 7 days prior to departure. This data also reveals that in 2014, 73% of all airline reservations were booked seven or more days in advance, and 47% of tickets were booked 14 days or more prior to departure. Even if they always buy their shuttle flights to New York the day before travel, remind them that they can save significantly by purchasing 7 days in advance. Even with cars and hotels, the general wisdom is to book early and book a flexible rate leveraging partnerships like you get from your TMC.

2.      Ensure unbiased fare search and reset policy thresholds that balance traveler comfort with company value. In recently years the incentive to a traveler to be biased toward their preferred suppliers has reached an all time high. If they book on public sites, those sites recall what that traveler likes and pushes back to them all their preferred choices without a deep consideration for price. With airline status you not only can qualify for upgrades but your status determines when you get on the plane, what you pay for bags, and more. Also, many airlines are distributing miles based on the cost of the ticket and not the miles. So higher priced tickets get more miles- which lead to better comfort. Bias can also lead to limiting the alternate routes which can be considered. 10 years ago there was one option to get from New York to Baku with just one stop. Now there are as many as 10 different connecting airports that can be considered. Don’t let your travelers become creatures of habit to the point of costing your organization time or money over which is reasonable to you. I am not here to say that these comforts aren’t important, but you should evaluate the cost and your organization’s level of tolerance compared to budgets, goals, and culture. Lastly, low-cost carriers like Southwest, JetBlue, and Virgin America are prime time carriers and should be unbiasedly considered. Then there are “ultra low-cost carriers” like Spirit and Frontier to address.

3.      Consider class of service adjustments and incentives. Maybe suggest Premium Economy versus Business class for certain long hall trips and Business versus First for certain tiers of travelers. For those of you that provide incentives if your travelers fly Economy instead of Business when approved per policy, maybe allow them to fly Premium Economy with a smaller incentive.

4.      Benchmark your results. There is plenty of data that can help determine how you are doing compared to other organizations. You may want to compare yourself to others and compare the results of those using your TMC and those going outside of your system. The average cost of international and domestic trips last year – including combined air, car, and hotel – reached a five-year high. The average international trip cost in 2014 was $2,525 as compared to $2,461 the year prior, and the average domestic trip cost in 2014 was $990 as compared to $956 the year prior.

5.      Leverage Deals. Most companies can have some sort of preferred supplier program. It may be a car deal, airline rewards program for the company, a contractual discount, or hotel agreements with your most frequented properties. Knowing what you spend, using the data to ensure you have the best deals with the right suppliers (a good account manager from a TMC should help you), and directing your people to those deals in all the right situations will help you win. With air, car and hotel, ensure all road warriors join at least one frequent flier or preferred club like National’s Emerald Aisle. Most people sign up for all the airline programs but for car and hotel hidden extras are found. Emerald Isle for example lets you bypass the counter and, more often than not, get a free upgrade. Address and consider who your preferreds are and who travelers probably should not use. Watch and address secondary brands like Ace, EZ Rent, Economy, Firefly, Midway, and many others who often leave travelers less satisfied with their experience resulting in challenges, issues, and productivity concerns.

6.      Leverage automated expense tools and their data to further direct value. With the increasing use of automated expense tools you could now more easily evaluate the total cost of stays and direct efforts to make better choices and negotiate costly extras – it’s not just the room rate. Is the Hampton Inn with an airport shuttle, free breakfast, and free WiFi for $129 a better option than the Courtyard by Marriott down the street with no breakfast and no shuttle for $115? What about the Ritz Carlton that is $359 as compared the Grand Hyatt at $329, but the Ritz Carlton includes free breakfast, free WiFi, and late checkout because the traveler is a customer of ours?

Take whatever tips hit you here and evolve your policy making sure that expected value is clear, including brand and price expectations. Use pre trip authorization to enforce what you come up with. If and when - and it will happen - someone wants a fare or rate that is outside the value policy the company put in place, have a system to say yes or no with the right data to make the right decision. Do a few of these well and make the most of your travel dollars while not getting yourself crazy. We can work on some more next year!

And remember, to learn more about how to get the best value on your Travel and Expense, register today for our March 5 webinar entitled:  A Travel Insiders Guide to Getting the Best T&E Value in 2015.

Ten Key Policy Rules Important to Any Organization's Travel Policy

In the current travel management environment our customers have both online and call in access to reservations. What we often find with our smaller accounts is that few clear programmable policy rules direct travelers to what the company believes is the best value. In some instances policy is unclear and as a result rules can’t be established, in some instances the requested rules are complicated and can’t be programmed, or in many instances there aren’t very many rules at all. For larger corporate customers, the opportunities inspire complications in policies that make launching and managing to expectations hard for the travel manager and complicated for travelers. Why wouldn’t travelers then want to book outside of your travel procurement process if it’s complicated? We have found that clean, simple, and easy systems that leverage these rules if they are going to deliver a real result is the best methodology.

Following are the top ten rules that systems like GetThere and Concur can enforce and the actions that can take place to enforce these rules are below them. Mid-office technology and automated pre-trip approval systems can be leveraged to enforce more rules in a few different ways but at the front line of policy enforcement these are the key categories to consider. Because these are easily programmed into online tools, they too can be easily enforced for call in reservations. They are the basis of good travel policy overall and should be addressed.

1. Vendor preference rules - Encourage or block vendors. They can be set to only allow a special airline to be used when traveling from point A to point B. Example: you may choose to push only one NY-WAS shuttle airline. Preferential displays can be set for air, car, and hotel.
2. Class of service rules - Remove a class of service like business class or allow business class only for flights over a certain amount of hours.
3. Change ticketed flight rules - Direct travelers to call for changes or requires use of a personal credit card.
4. Complete itinerary rules - Require an air, hotel, and/or car booking or any combination with every reservation.
5. Advance purchase rules – Demand travelers to book at least a certain amount of days in advance or action* is required.
6. Data requirement rules - Ensure the inclusion of a department or other codes with every reservation.
7. Tiered policy rules – Establish rules by employee tier. Example: staff can only book coach; VIPs can book business class or whatever they want.
8. Maximum airfare rules – Enforce one or both of the following, or one of the action* items below transpires.
• Dollar Amount = a pre-determined dollar amount (i.e. $500.00) that any itinerary booked cannot exceed or action* is required.
• Threshold Policy= a fare selected over the lowest fare + the allowed threshold (i.e. $100.00) requires action*.
9. Ideal itinerary rule - Direct travelers to an ideal itinerary between two points and anything selected other than it may require action*.
10. Form of payment rules – Define credit card policy use. Example: who is allowed to use what card type (for air and hotel)?

3 ACTION categories are available to choose from and pop up boxes can direct travelers to the action desired:

• Hard stop= not allowed to book outside of policy options; no exceptions and/or approvals for either booking method.

• Soft booking = Allow booking with warnings that ticket cannot be issued without approval. Approval paths and responsibilities are then defined. If no approval response is received by the ticketing timeline or if the approval has been denied a new compliant trip must be booked.

• FYI = send a notification at time of booking of the non-compliant itinerary, but NO approval required.

Where this gets complicated is when you sum up the different rules and paths this could take. In these instances it can get cumbersome for all involved. While it’s important to consider and address these items, we have found that if you start small, consider the real results of these rules, keep only the most effective, and watch the data, the impact of your travel management system will improve.

Improve These Four Things to Save Big on Travel in 2015

I see a lot of articles, especially around this time of year, about how to save money on travel. They often suggest a certain website, a certain day to book, and other creative approaches. While I don’t dismiss all of these thoughts, these articles are often geared toward individual travelers. In my experience, the best way to get savings results for organizations is by doing some basic blocking and tackling. If you simply focus on these four things and manage them extremely well within your travel program, you will get the best value.
 

1.      Leverage Deals. Most companies can have some sort of preferred supplier program. It may be a car deal, airline rewards program for the company, a contractual discount, or hotel agreements with your most frequented properties. Knowing what you spend, using the data to ensure you have the best deals with the right suppliers (a good account manager from a TMC should help you), and directing your people to those deals in all the right situations will help you win.

2.      Expand considerations. Three things should be of concern: (1) Not every site delivers all potential suppliers and fares; (2) Some are set to be wildly biased to their preferred suppliers; (3) Some sites are wildly biased to the traveler - it knows what the traveler likes and pushes that to him/her in a way that makes it hard for them to consider everything they should. Yikes. Make sure you direct travelers to a unbiased tool or tool that is biased to the company’s preferred suppliers. Not doing so will drive costs up.

3.      Enforce policy. Most organizations direct their travelers to fly coach, except in a few extraordinary circumstances. Do you dictate which coach fare? For example, should the traveler take the full coach ticket to LA for $1,200 or the same basic routing for $285? Policies so often fall short in defining thresholds over which travelers should consider other options. An alternate airport or time, a connection, or the travelers non-preferred airline may need to all be considered. Your culture should respect convenience but within some reasonable limits that are well defined. Call it, name it, police it (see below).

4.      Pre Trip. If and when- and it will happen- someone wants a fare that is outside the value policy the company put in place, have a system to say yes or no with the right data to make the right decision. TMCs have people and automation to make this happen.

 

Do these well and make the most of your travel dollars. Work with your team to make the right decisions to enforce so you have the data and buy-in that makes it work.

 

To learn more about how to get the best value on your Travel and Expense, register today for our March 5 webinar entitled:  A travel insiders guide to getting the best T&E value in 2015.

7 Questions to Ask Before you Loosen the Reigns on Travel

There has been buzz recently in the world of corporate travel management. Studies show that more employees are “going rogue”. And while travel managers know this isn’t a good thing, they often lack the data to make the case for a more managed program. Millennial workers spend more freely and travel spend is a costly line item. Should you let them spend freely or not? Adopting a completely ‘unmanaged’ travel policy can be fiscally irresponsible as major value can be found in managed travel solutions: negotiated rates, duty of care, customer service, policy enforcement delivering better value, and data aggregation speeding reimbursement. Before you consider loosening the reigns, here are seven things to ask:
 

1.      What is your company culture on the subject of the procurement of anything? From travel to computers to office suppliers. Do you let people do whatever they want?

2.      Do your employees already do a good job managing their travel? Most companies I visit who don’t manage travel well don’t know this answer. Comparing your results against national averages or other companies like yours or even comparing the results of those inside and outside your travel procurement system can help determine the opportunity to make a systemic change or not.

3.      Does your travel volume justify preferred supplier agreements that can be leveraged for air, hotel, car and more? You may be leaving substantial dollars on the table by not having such a program.

4.      Have you evaluated the risks of not knowing where all of your people are at all times and not having support systems in place to ensure a level of “duty of care”? You want to keep all of your people safe from medical, security, legal, reputational and travel risk.

5.      Do your employees very clearly understand what the best value means to your company - or just themselves? Clarifying what the best value means makes a big difference. It may also vary per project they are working on. The best nonstop, best price out of their favorite airport, best value on their favorite airline, etc. Defining these expectations with reasonable thresholds in your travel policy makes a big difference.

6.      Does booking outside of a TMC cost your company more time to process expenses, budget, reconcile the credit card, get reimbursed etc.? Consider all of the costs.

7.      What is the cost of change? Business trips change often; personal trips do not. When changes happen, employees may have to spend more time away from their real duties getting routed or changed, change fees and cancellation costs unnecessarily appear in your budget, delays and changes make your people less productive at work as they arrive late for meetings. The right support could improve productivity of those traveling.

 

Many times travelers don’t see the value of your system to manage travel. Defining what it should be and reporting the opportunities and results can justify such a process

Insights into the Job of the Travel Manager

I am often asked by executives what Travel Managers do as they have never seen one. The study, “A Day in The Life: The Role of Travel Managers,” sponsored by Sabre Travel Network, surveyed more than 700 North American and European Travel Managers and looked at the role of the Travel Manager, the value these managers bring to their organizations and a potential evolution in their role in the near future. I felt this data was useful in explain what someone in charge of this sizeable line items does and how some of these objectives could be built into the job description of someone who does this full or part time. This data can also be useful in setting goals for someone in this role.

When asked about their current responsibilities, the study showed Travel Managers are pulled in many different directions.  The vast majority of Travel Managers cited procurement-related activities (e.g., evaluating and negotiating with preferred travel service providers and obtaining and managing contracts with their providers) among their daily tasks. Travel Managers also are frequently responsible for activities related to managing internal and external stakeholder relationships, developing and monitoring programs and policies, as well as other areas such as evaluating technology solutions and applying business analytics. 

 

“As it’s done in so many industries already, technology will transform the role of the Travel Manager over the next few years,” said GBTA Vice President of Research Joseph Bates. “Thanks to the automation of so many processes, Travel Managers will be able to expand their role and further demonstrate their value.” 

 

“New software and services are rapidly changing the way companies manage all procurement categories, and travel is no exception,” said Greg Webb, President of Sabre Travel Network. “Strategically-minded travel managers are achieving superior results by using more sophisticated technology and hiring more tech-savvy team members. We see this shift in the research and among our clients.”   

 

Additional key highlights of the report’s findings:

 

Travel policy compliance represents the biggest challenge for Travel Managers, both in ensuring that the travelers follow company policy as well as obtaining senior leadership buy-in for new policies. Additional common problems include keeping costs down, managing globalization, using data to direct decision-making, and keeping up with technology advancements available for travel.

 

In addition to technology, Travel Managers also expect to see an increased reliance on data and analytics to make decisions, further globalization of travel programs and an increased focus on safety and security in the next three to five years.

 

While the majority of Travel Managers are currently being asked to calculate company savings from having a managed travel program, quantifying it has proven difficult. Quantifying company savings, both financial and non-financial, stands to further showcase the value Travel Managers bring to their organizations.

What Does “Open Booking” Mean and How Will It Evolve in 2015?

In 2009 corporate booking tools were just starting to gain traction. Get There, Reardon, Cliqbook were the major players. Since then, these tools and concepts have matured and now some 40 plus percent of corporate travel bookings flow through online booking tools.  Concur has matured the technology to integrate expense management with travel management and is now a power player (they were recently purchased by SAP), who not long ago introduced the concept of “open booking”  the ability to manage travel while letting employees book where they prefer, but still capture all travel related expenses on a single platform. From what I see, the early hype around open booking hasn’t been matched by rapid adoption. So where will it go in 2015? Market research firm PhoCusWright predicts that open booking will gain momentum particularly in the Moderately Managed and Lightly Managed segments. I believe that PhoCusWright is spot-on with its prediction but that raises the all-important question: to what extent?

 

As someone who believes down to my very soul that Travel and Expense (T& ) needs to be managed and supervised even more than most top line items, the tools coming into the market can, will, and should help achieve this concept - not replace it. At its most basic level, I believe that organizations will embrace open booking if it can help them effectively manage travel, with greater flexibility and at a lower cost. The value of these tools all starts with good data. For managed travel to work, we must first solve the challenge of full data capture. If employees are occasionally allowed to book through any channel they prefer, there must be a way to bring all of that data together in a consistent, real-time format.

Current popular solutions rely on travelers to forward their confirmation emails via alternate sources to a data aggregator, like True Trip or Trip Link (solutions associated with TripCase and Concur). These emails are then parsed and converted into useful data for reporting and other purposes. I believe that 10% of the lightly to moderately managed market will pay to subscribe to these tools. When they do, and they get everyone to forward emails to it, the evaluation can then begin. The travel manager can determine if they have in fact found a better value (as they often claim), where all travelers are, if they have gone outside of their TMC for a legitimate reason you can approve in your travel policy moving forward, if and when preferred supplier agreement should have been used, etc. Together with their TMC, some of these customers will consider this enhancement and work through these types of evaluations if they choose to manage travel at a higher level.

By nature, organizations considering open booking will tend to have more relaxed cultures. However, that doesn’t mean that they want a T&E free-for-all. Open booking solutions can provide support in this area if these tools are used and under the intent of even more tightly managed travel.

Note: Challenges exist and in a future article we will address how these and new technologies and methodologies are beginning to address these issues. It’s no surprise that this method has gaps that include: road warriors not forwarding their emails to these data aggregators, preferred supplier agreements cannot be used or credited when travelers book outside a managed system, how to support these reservations not made by the TMC - even if the TMC can see them, they don’t own them so making changes, cancelling, and receiving updates to flight changes and other services provided by your TMC have to be a more manual process - and how to measure the impact of time when travelers go outside the system to report on and reimburse these expenses.

What You Can and Should Want for Travel in the New Year

Name some travel metrics that you would like to see improved for this year. Ideas typically fall into categories like this:

• A specific way to measure savings for domestic, international, or overall travel.
• Online or overall travel program adoption.
• A better handle on hotel and car costs and averages.
• Meeting travel cost assessments.
• The results of supplier deals.
• A drill down on many other expenses like ground transportation (taxi, Uber, sedan, meals, etc.).
• Satisfaction with your travel program or its parts.
• The quality of data, for example, how often the right project or department code is provided.
• Compliance in a few key areas.  

Travel Management Companies have a wide range of travel data to share on these topics and can and do share it often. This is travel-rear-view-mirror data that can be used to set up a dashboard. While it may be important to you as the person in charge of travel, how is travel impacting other departments and how will travel be impacted by other departments?  You should think bigger and there is more that you may want to consider for this new year.

How can we bring better results to our organizations by adding a few of these considerations to our dashboards? Examples may include:

• How is your policy on cabin class effecting employee retention? Does HR know?
• How is travel anarchy effecting staffing time and costs in finance to manage expense reports and process credit card statements? How is this impacting them?
• Does the travel program and its policies and procedures fall into alignment with the culture of our organization for managing large line items like Travel & Expense?
• Where is travel going to reduce or increase based on our business plan for 2015?
• Will the sales team travel more or less?
• Are we completing one project and adding some that will effect demand? Are certain projects increasing or decreasing in demand?
• Will our team be traveling to riskier parts of the world, do we think that travel is riskier overall, or will travel to risky parts of the world decrease and what should we do to comply with our duty of care commitments to employees? Does legal think all of our processes and procedures comply with our risk tolerance for doing business?

So what will be important to travel and the company’s business plan for 2015? Which of all of these items belong in your dashboard? Let’s face it, we are all stretched and want to leverage our time by making the minimal investment to get the maximum return. So really assessing what can and should be in your dashboard can help leverage your time and deliver results that you can focus on for the maximum impact. Data is not better by the pound. Its quality over quantity. “Measuring what matters” can bring improved results for the new year!

What will be the most important data for you to measure this year?