Travel and Expense
Managed Travel Programs Are Changing - What to Do in a Multi-Channel World
Like it or not, corporate travel is changing. New supplier distribution strategies mean organizations are confronting new content distribution channels, while continuing to juggle challenges including cost, duty of care, and travelers’ demands for choice and flexibility.
You can choose many paths – and technologies – to access content, with online booking tools, travel management company (TMC) agents, alternative GDS solutions, supplier direct booking sites and apps, all among the options. All the choices have pros and cons based on your company’s specific needs. But a choice must be made on how travel content is accessed.
The stakes of change are high, in terms of control and visibility, as 46% of global business travelers make supplier-direct bookings1 and 60% of spending data lacks visibility.2
Our new white paper – A Multi-Channel Future: Are You Ready? –Built upon independent research SAP Concur commissioned with consultancy FESTIVE ROAD, is designed to help travel managers and their companies determine a path forward amid the disruption and opportunity. It delves deep into the current landscape, discusses common misconceptions, helps assess where your operation now stands, and examines strategies and paths that can prepare you for change.
Myth: "I don't need to address blind spend; it's minimal."
With direct and outside bookings on the rise, the ability to account for blind spend brings greater spending control and understanding of how your program works.
The Trends Fueling Change
A push and pull: Airlines are executing on New Distribution Capability (NDC) by distributing content through more channels than ever – traditional distribution systems, supplier direct websites and apps, and API connections via third parties. At the same time, business travelers are pushing their companies for flexibility and choice in where and how they book. Those travelers are a loyal bunch, too, wanting to stick with and earn points from their favorite suppliers. The challenge for travel managers is to balance traveler desires while retaining fare visibility, achieving discounts, and ensuring policy compliance.
The tech stack is growing: With technology enabling connectivity among business travel players, travel programs can access a wider variety of content and corral more useful data. New solutions also capture supplier direct bookings and enable NDC connections. However, travelers who are accustomed to the consumer experience in their personal lives want that level of user experience in whatever corporate travel tool they’re using.
Some managers are taking control: With so many tools available, some travel managers are taking the lead on technology, harnessing the array of options to provide flexibility but retain control of duty of care, compliance, and data. Depending on the approach, you can categorize a program as a closed shop, open shop, department store, or build your own (BYO).
Myth: It’s too hard to capture all your travel data.
Actually, you can access tools that will capture the data, driving policy decisions and enabling better savings and negotiations.
Steps to Crafting a Strategy
Pioneer? Early adopter? Capture and control? Focused mandate? These are the four types that FESTIVE ROAD discovered in its research to describe travel managers and the range of strategies they’re using amid the multi-channel environment. As you might imagine, these types range from those all-in to those sticking to traditional sources like agents and online booking tools.
Travel managers seeking to craft a response should start by taking a close look at the current state of their program. This involves asking questions such as, “How often are supplier-direct bookings made?” and “Are the patterns of traveler demands influencing content choices?” Then digging down to put numbers to the questions and see what traveler surveys and interviews tell about your program and the choices travelers make.
Next, investigate what your current suppliers say about access to content and possible implications involving cost and reporting. Having gained a better understanding of the current state, start exploring and considering what’s to be gained from new technologies and service channels. With considerations and information in hand, you can decide whether being a pioneer, pursuing a focused mandate, or something in between is the strategy that best fits the goals and needs for your company and its travelers.
Read Further and Learn How to Develop Your Strategy
Download a copy of the whitepaper to learn more about multi-channel trends, move beyond common misconceptions, and discover how you can build a multi-channel strategy that delivers the flexibility, compliance, and control your company requires today and in the future.
