Every travel manager starts from the same premise: to deliver the best experience possible for the travellers while getting the best return as possible for the company.
That is clear but what exactly those procurement professionals with responsibility for travel need to manage is not as obvious as it once was.
Not so long ago corporate travel was primarily about the travel management company booking published fares through the GDS so the key relationships might have been with the TMC, the payments provider and, in some cases, the technology company. The channels that are relevant to modern travel programmes have proliferated: online booking tool, non-GDS content, community marketplaces (eg Airbnb), itinerary apps such as TripCase, supplier websites, content aggregators, social media, etc.
Unlike paper clips, travel management does not start with the order and finish with the signature on the delivery note. There are many more factors to consider in travel but the tactics are sometimes confused with the objective — separate those and you will more easily identify where intervention is needed.
Corporates have historically outsourced the service to access channels, make bookings and ensure that travellers get to where they need to be at the right price and in policy. The trend now is to outsource more than service. What is needed is evolving. Today's managers are often doing procurement across a number of categories — they are not necessarily travel managers.
More and more companies are looking for a total managed travel solution and that means outsourcing the management of a number of channels, not just sourcing and managing supplier relationships.
There are five main areas of travel management that are commonly outsourced but each could include a number of channels.
1. Data
Obtaining the actual information is necessary to inform travel strategy and leverage purchasing. There is also the need to understand what insight the numbers are giving and what they suggest is needed for the programme to support corporate strategy. But transactional travel booking data is no longer obtained from just one source. There is also data from expense management tools, content aggregators and non-GDS content such as independent hotels and low-cost carriers. Payments data too is vital.
Data can be gathered from various sources. ©iStock/Teradat Santivivut
Data will be coming from different sources and in different formats. Somehow these data streams will need to talk to each other. Total travel management means finding a way to integrate the channels into one seamless process so data can be viewed as one output to control expenditure and drive compliance.
2. Management
Data is necessary but not sufficient to manage the programme. Devising the right policy and continually reviewing it to make sure it remains fit for purpose will drive compliance. As the trend is increasingly to move away from high dependency on contracted rates and do more spot buying, it is very important that managers have evidence that people really are booking the best fare on the day. This is something that needs quite a bit of management.
Travellers too will need managing.
3. Communication
Whether the programme is managed by a travel management company or a corporate client, either as an individual unit or as a consolidated programme, one of the biggest current demands on time and opportunities is how and what to communicate with individual internal stakeholders. You will need to communicate with travellers about why the programme is designed the way it is and discover what their needs and wants are — these do change over time. You might want to explain why travellers can't fly on their preferred carrier all the time.
Communication is two-way. Travellers will want to share their experience. Social media is a useful channel for travellers to share their experiences with other company travellers.
Travel managers also need to have a dialogue with everyone from the chief executive to budget holders who want to get the most for their money.
There are many aspects of the travel programme that need to be conveyed in different ways to different levels. But don't lose sight of what you want to achieve. Communication can help you to win the hearts and minds of your internal customers. Make them part of the solution rather than imposing it.
4. Suppliers
Relationships with suppliers will remain important. This can be done in-house or outsourced but as contracting is ultimately with the corporate there always has to be some degree of engagement.
5. Measurement
Monitoring the accomplishments of a programme is important. KPIs must be identified, given reasonable targets and measured. Take a step back and look at the return on investment rather than the detail. If elements are outsourced, measurement should be done jointly. Everyone needs to agree on what they are aiming to achieve; the metrics can let everyone know "this is what success looks like".
The broad travel programme objectives may remain the same but the channels involved have not only increased but are also much more varied. Some of the management may now be external rather than internal but many of the guidelines remain constant.
- Be clear on what you want to achieve and have a dialogue
- How is the structure helping you achieve financial objectives?
- Embrace the (internal) customer. Ignore your customers at your peril
- New services to help the experience of the traveller will regularly appear; this can be an opportunity to introduce new ideas
- The voice of the customer is getting louder because there are more ways in which they can let you know how they feel about the service
- Communicate that you are using different booking channels. If you don't, travellers might assume that you're not doing so and looking everywhere to find the best solution
- There's more convergence in purchasing. What procurement category managers will be responsible for will be even broader in future
- The choice of relevant business travel apps is increasing all the time. Corporates should choose those that are based around supporting their travellers and these will vary from company to company
The channels and scope of business travel are set to increase even more. Meetings, groups and events are more and more becoming part of a category manager's role. Venue sourcing, delegate registration, meetings management and group travel are now routinely being looked after by procurement. The production elements are likely to follow shortly.
The fragmentation and complexity of this plethora of channels creates opportunity but also a need to rely more on the management skills and expertise of those who can navigate and manage those categories on behalf of customers rather than the customer needing to be an expert on everything.
Companies increasingly want employees to focus on their core business and they are investing less in support services such as people in travel which for them is a means to an end.
The challenge now is to identify those channels that are best managed in-house and those best outsourced.