Business Travel Executive, June 2018

BUYERS THINK TANK 38Business Travel Executive JUNE 2018 The Case for Travel In many corporations today travel has migrated from being perceived as a necessary evil cost center to being considered a dynamic investment to be optimized To ensure that travel makes the maximum contribution to the organizations objectives and the bottom line the role of travel managers in setting that vision is critical BTE Buyer Think Tank members Kevin McDonald Senior Director for Strategic Procurement at PPD and David L Smith Travel and Relocation Manager for Amdocs Americas share travels strategic position within their respective companies Point Kevin Emphasis on travel as a strategic enabler instead of a cost center has always been the focus at PPD Eighty percent of our travel supports ongoing clinical trials so getting employees where they need to be when they need to be there is critical to our business Operating in a global marketplace with drug trials ongoing in multiple countries we need to balance expense with responsiveness to our clients needs within a policy that supports employee retention and avoids traveler burn out Its our role to formulate policies operations and agreements that support that strategic vision We approach this in three ways We constantly benchmark our travel policy against like companies both in the Life Sciences space and in other vertical markets to ensure that we are balancing employee welfare against cost maintaining both our talented employee base while remaining competitive We run a CTD for our North American operations which covers 90 percent of our total travel spend This gives us the flexibility to customize our travel operations to fit our business needs but limits the options for tools and data that might be available in some large travel management companies With a robust set of online booking tools mobile apps agent availability afterhours service and other services passport visa invitation letters etc we maintain greater than 98 percent compliance to policy We also take an internal approach to duty of care that combines our travel data and third party support to ensure employee connectivity care in a crisis We leverage spend volume and travel patterns into agreements with strategic partners airline hotel car and drive business to take advantage of those agreements As our travel needs change from trial to trial we find ourselves constantly adjusting our locations and volumes to meet the business need Its important that those agreements include employeefocused benefits that can be negotiated to make life for the road warrior more comfortable As a CTD we are also running a business within a business so our agreements support that model There are many ways that travel can be optimized to give an organization a competitive advantage PPD has chosen to focus on employee availability to meet our customers requirements while balancing cost competitiveness Counterpoint David For our large travel program the evolution from being seen only as a cost center and a stumbling block to being a partner that supports business growth was and is difficult From a high level it just looks like large numbers on a report or spread sheet Humanizing those numbers down to actual people with needs was one of the first steps my travel team took toward becoming that strategic partner Constantly reviewing the travel trends in our high volume areas helps us anticipate needs and deliver both traveler service and cost savings thanks to the volume we give our vendor partners Once our business units saw greater employee satisfaction and travel cost reduction the lines of communication opened Since that pivotal point we were considered a business enabler and not a policy enforcer Now prior to a project kicking off travel is made aware in advance giving us the opportunity to pave the way for safe efficient and cost saving options Simplifying travel booking by updating and refining online booking tools and involving talented travel agents from our TMCs increases traveler efficiency Linking other services such as passport visa assistance IT services etc means employees are spending less time trying to book a trip and more on the actual job they need to do Deploying tools for duty of care not only enables us to assist in times of emergency but also supplies us with another rich data source Reviewing where are people are enhances our view and helps us find where we could improve lodging and transportation options My job as a business enabler is a long way from being completed to my satisfaction I look at many of my colleagues and what they are doing with their travel programs in awe and a bit of envy sometimes I study their success and find ways to implement those successes into my own program in my own way In an industry with so many changes every day positioning travel as a strategic partner is a job that is never truly done BTE Folding your program into the larger corporate strategy is a critical step forward