TE2 Corporate Travel Management Tools Exploring the Possibilities

Transcription

1 TE2 Corporate Travel Management Tools Exploring the Possibilities Sponsored By 3 February 2009

2 Presentation Approach Discuss key components of corporate travel automation OLBT, Mid Office, Back Office Reporting Telephony Look at how the pieces come together in advanced service models itmcs End to End Travel Automation

3 Goals Allow corporate travel managers to understand evolving systems Apply Technology to design and implement innovative solutions meeting unique corporate needs understand when buyers and suppliers may have different needs

4 Corporate Travel Management Tools distinguished from Agency/TMC tools although there is some significant overlap technology that corporations need to know to optimize cost and service levels What it really means..

5 we won t talk about. GDS

6 OnLine Booking Tools Corporate vs. Leisure Tools both present GDS content on a desktop Support corporate policy customized messaging negotiated discounts integration with travel agency records

7 OLBT Humble beginnings Significant skepticism about online booking Technical difficulties Travelers and arrangers didn t want to become agents Travel Managers concerned about loss of control introducing new applications always challenging Agencies (TMCs) felt they had to re-build every PNR and of course feared loss of market share 7

8 OLBT Humble beginnings Initial online rates were very small 5% - 10% considered successful 30% adoption was best in class no standard definition of adoption or success (fish stories) Most agencies surcharged online booking $40 + $5 online booking tools were an optional choice for techies Online tools created ITMCs to overturn agency pricing paradigm reflect the lower labor component of online booking and fulfillment 8

9 Humble beginnings Initial focus for OLBT s. Integrate with Travel Agencies Integrate with Travel Programs Controlled by Travel Managers Success despite questions from traditionalists 9

10 Drivers of Success Document aggregated savings in agency transaction fees Document lower ATP s online vs. offline same city pairs

11 Success All transactions now seen as eligible Mid office processing systems can manage almost any booking Typical efficiency rates over 90% Online adoption has skyrocketed Higher all inclusive adoption is key metric for many travel programs Leading online tools report average online adoption over 70% TMC s report 80%+ adoption rates starting at 30% - 50% common ITMC have guaranteed minimum adoption of 75% Smaller companies can book 100% online

12 Evaluating OLBT s User Interface ability to control information and format comprehensive information vs. simplicity micro manage balance of comfort vs. cost Watch for configurable frames dynamic messaging (on every page) support for hyperlinks/web services

13 Evaluating OLBT s Content (!) OLBT s architected to pull content from GDS technology capable of independent links API s exist (routines, structures, protocols) third party services Technology is not the problem question of vendor will (just like GDS) Risks of screen scraping Help is on the way! NBTA OLBT RFP

14 Evaluating OLBT s Social Networking (or not) not just an OLBT issue Fare lead vs. Schedule lead searches Apply different policy for different travelers seniority, location, Business Unit but how do we know?

15 Profile Integration GDS is the original master profile challenge is synchronization especially if multiple agencies involved OLBT s want to own profile and the problem is synchronization travelers or corporations may change data Usually need a third party profile server

16 Profile Integration Synchronization very challenging in cases with multiple agencies All TMC s have differences in storage formats Multi-agency profile synch requires independent server/service

17 Profile Integration Corporate Hierarchy data stored in profiles division, department, location travelers won t remember and chances of accurate entry are zero However if you can get all profiles accurately synched Beautiful things can happen!

18 Reporting Traditional Back Office reporting developed as agency accounting tool track sales (ARC reports), commissions (!) Back Office evolved into corporate MIS originally just thing Bar Code paper doorstops relational databases allow association between any PNR data elements needed report writers to convert data into useful information

19 Reporting PNRs can include (synchronized) hierarchy reporting by division, department, location and other data put into PNR by agency Lost savings reports confuse TMC s and clients Clients seek infinite variations holy grail of race track reports by division benchmarking performance over time

20 Reporting Metrics hard to perfect travel cost metrics change every day no two companies have same patterns ATP, lost savings, savings all chimera Benchmarking Travel spend difficult to benchmark Benchmarking service levels

21 Telephony Best Service Benchmark (KPI) speed of telephone response ACD phone switches allow routing of calls by inbound number into skill groups tracking individual agent performance optimized performance to manage costs Generates reports ASA, TSF, Hold Time, Lost calls IP Telephony

22 Mid Office Third party automation vendors developed ability to review GDS PNRs perform robotic checks for lower fares, seats, waitlists, and segment continuity key services for corporate TMCs weren t important or even desirable for CRS Original Quality Control sytems TMCs compared auto QC to manual QC

23 Mid-Office Current systems isolate any PNR element create tests around that data point dynamically pull resources from other dbs and use web services (API s) to test or change PNR datum or, create new workflow for any PNR based on data element e.g, division, department, location (hierarchy)

24 Mid Office Workflow Management Systems can pull data from other corporate systems to expand PNR and test on non-pnr data apply different tests or route PNRs to different desks or TMCs (depending on configuration)

25 Mid-Office Differentiation vs. Leisure Booking Tools Online Booking Tool Passenger TMC Mid - Office Corporate/Managed Profile Integration Priority Preferred Vendors Rules Based Policy Name Record Back-Office Pre-trip Disapproval Ticket 25

26 Mid-Office Differentiation vs. Leisure Booking Tools Online Booking Tool Passenger TMC Corporate/Managed Name Record Profile Integration Priority Preferred Vendors Rules Based Policy Mid-Office 26

27 Mid-Office Differentiation vs. Leisure Booking Tools Online Booking Tool Passenger TMC Name Record Corporate/Managed Profile Integration Priority Preferred Vendors Rules Based Policy Mid-Office Pass/Fail tests (fare threshold) Complex International QC (supplemental policy review 27

28 Integration of online and offline bookings Online Booking Tool TMC Offline PNR Mid - Office PNR Corporate/Managed Back-Office Ticket Corporate Travel Counselor Reporting Where to call for help? 28

29 Expanding the Model Logical temporal progression but what is the value in fusing the data? Is it worth all the integration necessary? What is the mid-office process necessary? 29

30 Expanding the Model l Proprietary to Rearden Commerce

31 End-to-End Automation TMC Back or Ticket Office Expense Report Audit

32 End-to-End Automation HR System Trip Info GDS Profile PNR TMC Mid Office Assign Trip No. Hierarchy Policy Rules GDS or OLBT Finance/Budget Info Project/Billing Codes

33 End-to-End Automation TMC Mid Office Policy Validation - by Hierarchy - by Location - by Project - by Destination PTA Corp Ticket Enhanced PNR Data includes Corp Financial Data Expense Reporting TMC Back Office Trip data + Extract of Corp Fin/Accounting TMC Accounting Corp MI

34 End-to-End Automation TMC Trip & Accounting Update Budgets, G/L, ERP Expense Reporting Automated Reconciliation & Audit Reimburse Travelers

35 Questions?

36 OBRIGADO!!! See you next LACTTE March 1 st to 3 rd, 2010