Press Release
For Immediate Release
3 July 2008
TRAVEL PROFESSIONALS DISCUSS MANAGING THE UNMANAGEABLE
Alexandria, Va. --
A significant degree of expense is outside the control of business travel managers and innovative strategies are now required to maximize cost control. This was the primary message of a recent PowerTalk convened by the Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE) in Ottawa on 17 June. ti
Presenter Tony D’Astolfo, Vice President, Worldwide Sales, Rearden Commerce, illustrated how the trickledown effects of rising fuel costs are dramatically impacting every aspect of travel management. Travel managers must now not only plan for monthly increases in airfares, but also for increases in surface transportation and any other service that ultimately relies on fuel.
“Today’s reality is that the travel manager needs to broaden their business focus to include non-traditional areas of T&E spend, for example, entertaining, parking and car service,” said D’Astolfo. These elements may lack the glamour of highly negotiated airfares, but they add up and can make a substantial contribution to the bottom line.
A study by Culpepper Research revealed that planning, booking, and managing all facets of a business trip can take up to 20 percent of a traveller’s day. Travel managers can reduce this investment in time and the concurrent loss of productivity, by providing highly automated and easily accessible options. This raised another point on how key demographics have changed. A younger, more mobile workforce has grown up with technologies like Google and Amazon, and expects employers to provide them with work tools that are as easy to use as those they use outside of the workplace.
According to D’Astolfo, the authoritative travel program mandate is “old school,” and does not always engender buy-in. “Guiding employees to choose to park off airport, rather than on airport, can provide significant savings,” he advised. By guiding travellers to choose a similar product at lesser cost, i.e. dining, parking, car service, and other expenses – it is possible to save $250 on a typical business trip.
The speaker also advised that travellers have their view shaped by many resources today, such as websites “seatguru.com” and “flightstatus.com.” D’Astolfo made a compelling argument for incorporating as many of these resources into travel programs reference materials as possible. “If companies can provide the technology tools to the end users within their own world, they can gain control, enhance productivity, and delight the end user at the same time,” he said.
To drive these savings, the extended T&E supply chain needs to be controlled by using some well-established best practices. These include vendor sourcing and management, service provider sourcing and management, the right payment systems, and running it all through the right technology.
A challenge was raised through a question by Philip Schaus, Manager, Strategic Purchasing from Siemens Canada Limited: “One could argue that air is more and more unmanageable because of unbundling. How do you recapture the costs of air travel on general ledger?”
D’Astolfo replied, “Balancing hidden costs with the needs of your traveller is a challenge. Part of the solution is education within your company. Senior management needs to know and understand what the impacts are. Otherwise, they just see that costs are going up and they don’t know why.”
“ACTE Executive Forums and PowerTalks have continued to grow in popularity and attendance in Canada,” said Monica Hailstone, Regional Director for ACTE Canada. “Each event picks up the education or the dialogue from where the previous session left off, with topics that are timely and relevant to the business travel industry and to our members.”
ACTE will hold its Canada Education Conference in Toronto, 16-18 November 2008. For more information, or to register for the event, please go to http://www.acte.org/content/Canada_08/Conference_Home.
ABOUT ACTE:
The Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE) represents the global business travel industry through its international advocacy efforts, executive level educational programs, and independent industry research. ACTE's membership consists of senior travel industry executives from 82 countries representing the €200 billion business travel industry. With the support of sponsors from every major segment of the business travel industry, ACTE develops and delivers educational programs in key business centers throughout the world. ACTE has offices in Asia, Canada, Europe, Latin America, South Africa, and the United States. For more information on ACTE, please go to www.acte.org.
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For more information, contact:
Debbie Flynn
CEO
Brighter Group
The Pod, London's Vertical Gateway
Bridges Wharf, Battersea
London SW11 3BE England
T: 020 7326 9880
F: 020 7326 9890
E: [email protected]
W: www.brightergroup.com