Introducing a travel policy is one way of reducing the costs associated with business travel, and forms part of an overall strategy for optimising non-production purchases. Only small companies allow travellers to retain a degree of autonomy in their choices of air or rail travel, hotel reservations or short-term car hire. However, the introduction of rules should apply to any SME with an annual travel budget of at least 500,000 euros. For large groups, there is no doubt that making savings on a global budget of around a hundred million euros boosts their bottom line.<\/p>\n
More and more companies are formalising their travel policy in order to control their business travel budget. There are a number of levers that can be used to manage business travel effectively and take advantage of opportunities for optimisation. Hubert Joly, CEO of Carlson Wagonlit Travel, lists them as follows: \"Develop online bookings and optimise processes, capture hotel expenditure, consolidate expenditure linked to meetings and events, optimise air expenditure, minimise bookings outside the travel policy, consolidate global travel management, develop assistance for travellers and ensure their safety, and finally measure and monitor performance.\"<\/p>\n
So much for the theory. In actual business practice, of these eight savings areas, only two stand out clearly. On the one hand, online bookings are taking off in Europe and, on the other, the consolidation of travel, at a global level, is developing in large groups. The other levers will take a few more years to penetrate all companies.<\/p>\n
Online bookings are made using an SBT (self booking tool), an electronic tool which is a fantastic way of standardising travel booking processes. But it also requires a change in travel purchasing behaviour and stricter compliance with travel policy. According to travel agency networks, simply lowering booking costs and average ticket prices generates savings of up to 10 % of the overall travel budget for companies using SBT.<\/p>\n
But before taking the plunge, we need to take stock. \"The preliminary stage, which consists of making an exhaustive inventory of what already exists, is fundamental in order to put the project on a solid footing and also to facilitate the subsequent implementation of the electronic tool,\" explains Abdelaziz Bougja, project manager with the Veolia group. Next, companies generally issue a call for tenders to select an online booking solution. The application is then technically deployed and explained to staff, particularly travel assistants. Communication efforts to reassure staff are essential if a good adoption rate is to be achieved quickly. To encourage as many people as possible to adopt the application, it is advisable to set up the tool properly from the outset.<\/p>\n
At Unilever Netherlands, for example, one of the key criteria in choosing the tool was its ability to create a travel policy specific to each of the company's sites. In the end, KDS was chosen because of its global solution designed for world markets, including support for eleven languages and over 170 currencies. In addition, it offers multiple sources of information - GDS, supplier sites, the Web - configured according to the company's travel policy. Not to mention direct access to air and hotel fares negotiated by the company and to airline schedules. \"With this online booking solution, we are saving a million euros a year and have achieved a take-up rate of 83 %,\" says the Facilities Manager at Unilever NL.<\/p>\n
Even if they are sophisticated, SBTs can hardly be used to process certain types of trip efficiently: multi-segment trips, VIP trips and certain group trips.<\/p>\n
Still on the subject of savings, having access to low-cost airlines' offerings on GDSs helps to lighten the bill. Last autumn, EasyJet, a European low-cost airline, made its inventories available to GDS suppliers. Targeting the European business travel market, the airline signed distribution contracts with Amadeus and Galileo, which belong to GDS Travelport. This agreement between the various partners enables business travel agencies and their customers to view, book and compare EasyJet flights with those of other airlines. This is a way for EasyJet to increase its market share of business passengers, who currently account for around 20 % of its business.<\/p>\n
In large companies with subsidiaries, consolidation is not necessarily limited to accounting periods. It can also be applied to the travel programme. \"For this approach to be truly effective in terms of cost reduction, the travel budget needs to be at least five million euros a year\", recommends Christophe Renard, Director of the CWTTravel Management Institute. In France, more than half of the CAC 40 companies have already consolidated their travel programme.<\/p>\n
Whether at regional or global level, consolidation means concentration and standardisation. For example, for a company based in France with subsidiaries in Italy and Spain, business travel management can either be decentralised to the parent company and the two subsidiaries, or centralised at parent company level. In the latter case, the group generally works with a single travel agency network. With the help of this partner, it implements a group-wide travel policy, specifying in particular class constraints, advance bookings and prior authorisation for travel. In addition to changing travel habits and standardising the travel policy, the new processes and tools - travel portal, online booking tools, traveller profile management, even expense claims - generate their own costs. These are generally between \u20ac200,000 and \u20ac1 million a year. But over time, these costs pay for themselves through savings that can represent up to 12 % of the travel budget. \"By aggregating the overall volume of air tickets, hotel nights and car hire, a group can negotiate new conditions and select a limited number of suppliers,\" continues Christophe Renard. By simply consolidating purchases, it is possible to estimate an average reduction in the travel budget of around 7 %, with the biggest savings being made on air transport and hotels.<\/p>\n
In the end, companies can save up to 20 % by combining their travel policy, the installation of processes and the consolidation of expenditure. It's well worth the effort.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"