Managing a strict travel policy for a global carmaking giant that’s expanding into remote regions is no Sunday drive. Bob Papworth talks to Ford's Stephen Swift
THESE ARE TRYING TIMES for Stephen Swift. His employer – the Ford Motor Company – is increasingly moving into low-cost manufacturing areas in places including Turkey, Romania and Russian Tatarstan, roughly 500 miles to the east of Moscow, all of which present what are politely known as “traveller issues”.
At the same time, Swift’s beloved Liverpool FC has relinquished the services of the revered Kenny Dalglish and installed former Swansea City boss Brendan Rodgers in his place – a move which could present what are politely known as “supporter issues”.
The latter challenge may be beyond Swift’s control; but the former certainly isn’t and, as Ford’s travel manager for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), he is rising to it. “As we are looking to low-cost-country sourcing for manufacturing, we are moving farther east,” he says, “and logistically these areas present a very different travel experience for our employees.”
Some Russian airlines, for example, have a disconcerting habit of making last-minute equipment changes, substituting western-built regional jets with antiquated Yaks, with an attendant lack of traveller-friendly comforts.
“In the case of Romania, we have had to work hard with local hoteliers who share little in common with western European hoteliers and their operating methods,” he says.
The fact that he recognises such local difficulties as matters that need his attention is a manifestation of Swift’s approach to travel management.
On the one hand, Ford’s travel policies are pretty strict; on the other, there is a clear recognition that the company’s travellers have better things to do with their time than argue with Russians and Romanians. “A priority for us is making sure we find a way to ensure that travel to more remote and less-developed regions is as safe, secure and simple as possible, given that the infrastructures are so different.”
Having done that, Swift takes a firm line on policy. “We mandate strongly the lowest available fare. Approval levels are set high – to vice-president level – for all travel. Any traveller not taking the lowest available fare is asked to complete an out-of-policy justification and get it re-approved.”
Again, even-handedness is the name of the game, so where the lowest available fare is for a flight that arrives at lunchtime and departs five hours later, what Swift calls “a commonsense check” rules that a next-day return counts as being within policy.
All European trips – 75 per cent of the total – are in economy class, with the business class option reserved for the 14 per cent that are intercontinental (only 11 per cent of Ford’s EMEA business trips are domestic), and Swift reckons the company achieves 98 per cent policy compliance.
And travel, he insists, is here to stay. Asked whether he thinks video-conferencing technology will ultimately supplant the need for business trips, the answer is an unequivocal “never”. Mobile technology, on the other hand, is hailed as a real boon.
“The safety and security of our employees is paramount, and any technology that enables more regular communication can only be of benefit,” he says.
All-round players
So far – with the exception of the upheavals at Liverpool FC – all so very good, but not everything in Swift’s travel management garden is rosy.
Having graduated with an honours degree from the University of Surrey, Swift went on to spend nine years with British Airways, then three years with Forte Le Méridien Hotels and Resorts, before joining Ford in 2001. The breadth of his supply-side experience, coupled with more than a decade in travel purchasing
and management, marks him out as an all-rounder. And although he himself does not say as much, his concern is that there just aren’t enough like him. “It’s about capability,” he says. “I’ve often thought that travel managers and buyers should generate a league table, ranking the effectiveness of the account managers at each company. We could vote on how effective we think each company’s representation to us is.
“It would show the industry how their company is perceived by the people who control the purchasing of their products. For instance, it may help to highlight the revolving door of constantly-changing account managers and just how frustrating that is.”
He adds: “Hopefully, it would also get more companies to focus on the training of their account managers, as I think the overall standard in the industry is varied at best. Our best relationships tend to be with long-standing account managers who have taken the time to understand our company and who tailor their presentations and pricing accordingly. This is proper partnership and, in my opinion, it works.”
Utopian ideals
However, given an unlimited budget and a magic wand, it is not the suppliers’ account managers he would most like to see changed. “I’d most like to see a travel management company come up with a decent content aggregator that pulls every distribution channel into one place, so you could have hotel allocations, net fares with internet-based airlines and non-GDS [global distribution system] hotels, as well as GDS content, all in one system.
“It will never happen because of the deals between the GDSs and the travel management companies, but from a travel purchasing perspective, that would be Utopia.”
It is a rare thing indeed to hear a diehard Liverpool supporter suggest that Utopia and Anfield might be two entirely separate entities, but these are trying times. One can only hope, for the sake of the wet-behind-the-ears account managers beating a path to Stephen Swift’s door, that Brendan Rodgers turns out to be the new Bill Shankly.