Savings at every level at EDF and Gaz De France

When it comes to managing business travel, Europe's two leading energy companies, EDF and Gaz de France, have undergone a veritable transformation in just a few years. In 2001, they were working with 415 travel agencies and using 19 information systems that did not communicate with each other. In terms of negotiations with carriers, contracts only existed for around thirty airlines, even though EDF has operations in the UK, Germany and Italy.

Following this observation, an efficient organisation was put in place to reduce the costs associated with business travel. The multitude of travel agencies has been replaced by a business hub made up of 120 travel agents based in Saint-Étienne under the Carlson WagonLit Travel banner. Negotiating contracts with airlines now covers around 800 routes, with an annual budget of over €100 million. "To save money on business travel, we introduced basic purchasing rules, but we didn't implement an online booking solution at the time, because it didn't deal with the SNCF," explains Lucien Isnard, travel manager at EDF.

EDF is developing decision-making tools that integrate the constraints defined in the Group's travel policy. For a given destination, the people concerned can ask themselves whether it would be wiser to take the train or the plane. And when they get there, they can rent a car or take a taxi. What's more, they try to plan their journeys in advance so that they can make the right purchases. And when travel isn't essential, they don't hesitate to communicate by videoconference.

"To find opportunities that will enable us to reduce travel costs, we also have to take into account the global context and its environments: legal with the 35-hour working week, regulatory with industry agreements, social and economic", continues Lucien Isnard.

This professional and his team are constantly faced with serious difficulties in managing the contradictions generated by these four environments.