{"id":95875,"date":"2020-04-03T07:00:04","date_gmt":"2020-04-03T05:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.voyages-d-affaires.com\/?p=95875"},"modified":"2021-03-31T12:45:12","modified_gmt":"2021-03-31T10:45:12","slug":"interview-sebastien-marchon-rydoo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.voyages-d-affaires.com\/en\/interview-sebastien-marchon-rydoo","title":{"rendered":"Interview with S\u00e9bastien Marchon, CEO of Rydoo"},"content":{"rendered":"

What impact has the health crisis had on Rydoo?<\/h3>\n

S\u00e9bastien Marchon -<\/strong> Obviously, the crisis is affecting many sectors, and even more so the business travel sector. So we're being affected, but we're perhaps luckier than other players in that we don't just deal with the business travel<\/strong> but also the managing business expenses<\/strong>. Rydoo<\/strong> is also a global player, which has meant that we have been less affected by the other disruptions that marked the beginning of the year in France and Europe, such as the strikes<\/strong> or the Brexit<\/strong>. We can also consider that we are \"lucky\", because our business model<\/strong> is based on a subscription<\/strong>Unlike many players, and in particular the business travel agencies<\/a> or the publishers of reservation solutions, who receive a \"\u00a0fee<\/em>\" a commission on each booking. Finally, our solution is very much focused on digital, and in times of crisis some companies choose to accelerate their transformation by opting for lighter, less expensive solutions that focus on the user experience. There are a lot of companies knocking on our door today, because they want to accelerate their digitalisation. For example, we've just signed a very attractive contract in Germany, covering both business travel and the managing business expenses<\/a>after just three or four weeks of discussions. So our sales staff are still very busy.<\/p>\n

How have you reorganised your teams?<\/h3>\n

S\u00e9bastien Marchon -<\/strong> In 24 hours, Rydoo went from 100% of teleworking<\/strong> even before containment was declared. We're lucky enough to be a young company, we're very well equipped, we're used to using tools such as Slack, Zoom, Microsoft Teams<\/a>etc. So we haven't really seen any impact in terms of collaboration or even motivation. We are organising 'Morning Coffees', and we are in the process of preparing a digital evening to maintain our monthly event ritual. All in all, we're going to try to make the best of this episode. A crisis knocks some players down, and it's going to take some time for them to recover. For us, what we want is to be ready as soon as there's a rebound, and for that to only accelerate our growth.<\/p>\n

How has the tool adapted as the coronavirus has progressed?<\/h3>\n

S\u00e9bastien Marchon -<\/strong> When a crisis such as this develops on a global scale, a company's first concern is how to deal with it. security for business travellers<\/a><\/strong>. It was crucial, prior to any trip, for the traveller to use our booking tool, which enables the company to locate its employees. This has encouraged companies to promote their 'corporate' tools rather than the general public platforms. In any case, we didn't wait for the crisis to improve our tool. A new version is launched every Friday. We have ultra-fast development cycles, based in particular on weekly satisfaction surveys. We have around 1 million users, and we use their feedback to decide on improvements and new features for the following week. The Rydoo tool is therefore very much focused on the user experience. Even before meeting the needs of the company, we want to meet those of the end user. The more satisfied they are, the more the company will benefit. That's what makes us different from other players in the market, whose logic often consists of making a lot of adjustments according to the demands of companies, while neglecting the user experience. As a result of the crisis, we have pushed the functionalities linked to the security<\/strong>the \"compliance<\/strong> the company's rules and regulations, and travel policy<\/a><\/strong>. In times of crisis, safety is the priority, so the fact that travellers are staying in the right hotels, favouring certain flights and avoiding high-risk areas was all the more crucial. But it didn't really change our roadmap.<\/p>\n

Can you already put a figure on the impact of Covid-19?<\/h3>\n

S\u00e9bastien Marchon -<\/strong> We're watching the situation like a hawk, but it's impossible to give figures today because everything is changing so quickly. From the outset, we defined different scenarios that were more or less optimistic. And we have to review these scenarios every week. We monitor the situation continuously, and the truth today is not necessarily the truth next week.<\/p>\n

\"Rydoo\"
Rydoo teams reorganise in response to the Covid-19 crisis<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What was the travel situation at the time of the lockdown?<\/h3>\n

S\u00e9bastien Marchon -<\/strong> On average, the volume of journeys fell by 50%<\/strong>. But Rydoo's scope extends beyond the French market: we serve companies in Italy, where the rate had already fallen by 90%. We also work with Asia, Australia... The situation varied greatly from one country to another. On average, before the French confinement, we had been at minus 50 % for a week, and with the confinement, it rose very quickly to -90% then -99%. It goes without saying that our teams are busier dealing with cancellations than making bookings...<\/p>\n

Should we expect bankruptcies in the business travel sector, as we have seen in recent months in theaerial<\/a> ?<\/h3>\n

S\u00e9bastien Marchon -<\/strong> The business travel industry has already been hit hard by a number of crises, whether economic, social or even health-related, with the previous examples of H1N1, SARS... And unfortunately, each time there has been an impact. There are historic players who are suffering a great deal. Some are trying to transform themselves, with varying degrees of success. And new players are appearing and upsetting the traditional players with much more agile, digital solutions. These players are faring better because they are much more flexible and can change their business model more quickly. What is likely to be more complicated for these new players is their financial structure. When a company sees its revenues double every year, there's not much of a problem finding funds. On the other hand, when it comes to managing a downturn, it's much more complicated to raise new rounds of financing. Rydoo is fortunate to have a single, solid shareholder, Sodexo<\/strong><\/a>which fully supports us. Unfortunately, I think there will be some breakage, but I hope it will be as small as possible, and above all that as few jobs as possible will be sacrificed.<\/p>\n

If a traveller has to contact our call centre, it's a failure for us<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

You rely heavily on online. But in the face of the crisis, haven't your offline teams had to step up to the plate?<\/h3>\n

S\u00e9bastien Marchon -<\/strong> There's not much you can't do through the app. Cancelling a flight or a room, reorganising a trip, finding an establishment at the last minute: all these things can be done through the application. We have been working on this for many months. If a traveller needs to contact our call centre, it's a failure<\/strong> for us, and a waste of time for him. Our role is to ensure that our technology meets 99.9% of travellers' needs, even in times of crisis.<\/p>\n

How long will it take for business travel to return to normal?<\/h3>\n

S\u00e9bastien Marchon -<\/strong> It's obviously very difficult to be definitive today. I think that even once we have found a solution to Covid-19, and we can start travelling again, nationally and then globally, companies are not going to immediately reopen the floodgates and their travel budgets. Unfortunately, there are many companies that have been hard hit economically, and they will logically be looking to reduce their costs<\/strong> as much as possible. Probably until the end of the year, at least. So we may be able to start travelling again from September, but we'll have to wait a few more months for companies to stop the travel freeze. I think that by the end of the year, there may be some national rail travel. But the real upturn in business travel won't happen until the end of the year. 2021<\/strong>and it will be progressive.<\/p>\n

I hope for our planet's sake that we will be able to travel less, and above all better.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Should we really expect a return to 'normal', or will travel habits and our relationship with the office change for good?<\/h3>\n

S\u00e9bastien Marchon -<\/strong> Surprisingly, I hope not. I think we travel too much<\/strong>. We are getting used to virtual meetings<\/strong><\/a>And there are a certain number of meetings that aren't necessarily worth travelling to for face-to-face contact. I think, and I hope for our planet's sake, that we will be able to travel less<\/strong>and above all travel better<\/strong> by being more selective in our travels. I'm not advocating \"zero travel\". On the contrary, travel is still very important, and there's no substitute for shaking hands at certain meetings. It will remain necessary. Human beings are an eminently social creature<\/strong>We can't replace everything with technology. My hope is that we will be more intelligent in the way we travel, by being more selective. But that doesn't mean I'm shooting myself in the foot. Today, 8 out of ten companies are not equipped with a business travel or expense management solution. My challenge is not to get my customers to travel more. It's about equipping the vast majority of companies who use spreadsheets for their business expenses and consumer websites to book their travel. But I want my customers to be more careful about the way they travel<\/strong>We all have a role to play in tackling global warming.<\/p>\n

Could Rydoo diversify its activities to include alternatives to travel, such as videoconferencing?<\/h3>\n

S\u00e9bastien Marchon -<\/strong> This is not currently on Rydoo's roadmap. On the other hand, our shareholder Sodexo is positioning itself on mobility in the broadest sense. At the moment there are no plans for virtual meetings, but it could make sense because Sodexo's mission is to improve the quality of life of its customers, and that involves internal processes, mobility and tools. So why not? The crisis has forced us to use virtual communication tools, to adopt positive habits that should last.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

S\u00e9bastien Marchon, CEO of Rydoo, takes a look at the impact of Covid-19 on business travel and the company's solution for booking and managing business expenses. He also looks ahead to what business travel might look like once the crisis is over.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":95903,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[79,143],"tags":[1093,1357,1471,1605,1619,2089],"type-darticle":[51],"n_magazine":[],"class_list":["post-95875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-outils-de-gestion","category-interviews","tag-notes-de-frais","tag-compliance","tag-visioconference","tag-securite","tag-sante","tag-teletravail","type-darticle-interview","vapo-free"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n"J'esp\u00e8re que nous pourrons moins voyager" : S\u00e9bastien Marchon, Rydoo<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"S\u00e9bastien Marchon, CEO de Rydoo, fait un point sur l'impact du Covid-19 sur les d\u00e9placements professionnels et sur la solution de r\u00e9servation et de gestion des frais professionnels port\u00e9e par Sodexo. 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