Business Travel Executive, June 2018

PHAT DATA 30Business Travel Executive JUNE 2018 Your travel management company can be a treasure trove of Phat Data if you take the initiative While travel management companies are just a piece of the overall data pie they are a unique piece So its critical for travel managers to have comprehensive conversations with their TMCs around their programs data strategy to establish expectations and a plan of action Where does a buyer start when we are still looking at the same set of reports that we have looked at for years It all starts with the conversation The creation of your Phat Data strategy starts with taking an inventory of the data that you currently receive The TMC is certainly a big part of that data set While its only a piece of the pie we realize its a critical piece because it provides great insights into whether your program and policies are effective Therefore the vital point is to ensure you are obtaining actionable data from the TMC some of which you may already receive and some that you have never asked for before Whether your travel program is a large global program or a small to medium enterprise as a buyer you should be having conversations on the data set that you are receiving Sharing your strategy with all suppliers is important and since the TMC is holding a huge amount of data you the buyer should be setting the expectations for the information you need The next step is to determine how that information can be made actionable to fit into the overall success of the program Its no longer enough to slap a pretty dashboard on the same old stale data TMCs should be moving from data reporting to data analytics and many are But the analytics are only as good as their effectiveness for the travel buyer and the program As a real world example when economic times arent exactly booming the typical response is for companies to cut their travel budgets by X percent Not necessarily the best idea but it happens In these situations buyers are oft times not involved in the decision making nor do they have input into how to spend the remaining travel dollars more wisely Buyers need to start thinking more proactively and preparing to present options to their leadership when budgets are being cut One of the best ways to do Phat Data Taking Information into Action Part of a continuing series Next month Holy Hotel Data Data the TMC By Jennifer Steinke