Nearly one fifth of travel buyers who outsource data analysis are unhappy with the service they receive.
A survey released today (November 30) revealed that 19% were “not very satisfied” with the data they are given while a further 54% were only “somewhat” satisfied with what they receive.
Only 27% said they were “very satisfied.”
The survey also found that 19% of buyers’ time was spent “normalising and consolidating data for effective use.”
The survey was conducted by the Institute of Travel & Meetings (ITM) UK & Ireland which polled members with a global travel spend of £34bn.
The survey focused on the origins and use of data and its role in measuring a travel programme’s success.
The survey found that the most frequently used sources for data were TMCs and card companies.
About half of corporates (49%) analysed data in house while 45% outsourced it to TMCs or meetings companies.
Other main findings were that:
- 42% of buyers have specific, annual, measured targets to achieve
- 62% of those with targets have bonus/pay incentives related to achieving the targets
- 43% of buyers use specific, annual, measured targets in supplier performance review and contract renewal stages.
Paul Tilstone, ITM’s ceo, said that “clean, effective and complete data” was one of the aims of business travel management.
He added: “Whilst there are still clearly some issues with achieving 100% coverage and buyers are spending considerable amounts of time working through data, where it is linked to specific annual targets it clearly influences sector pay and supplier selection in nearly half of cases.
“There also appears in the research to be a real demand ahead for more diverse data sets compared to more standard data requirements in the past.”
www.itm.org.uk