The Voice of the Customer

Egencia Travel Managers Share Insights and Challenges For those of you who think your travel management challenges are universal, youre right. And for you others who believe your obstacles and issues are wholly unique, youre right as well. Such were the findings of our recent poll of Egencia Travel Managers who participated in our study, The Voice of the Customer. Background
In an effort to learn the challenges and concerns of travel managers across a broad spectrum, we conducted phone interviews with Egencia clients across North America from a number of different industries, including retail, manufacturing, business communications, utilities, and education. Their average air spend ranged from $1 million to $8 million. Their annual revenue was between $23 Million and $96 Billion. The clients we interviewed all managed small travel departments, comprised of one to three employees. Some managed their programs on a day-to-day basis, while others managed travel strategically. Some managed their programs full-time. Others had additional roles in other departments of their organization, such as Operations or Procurement. Titles ran the gamete, from the expected; Corporate Travel Manager, to the unexpected; Executive Director, Strategic Sourcing/Contracts. On average, those who managed travel on a regular basis spent about 53 percent of their time on travel. The majority said they planned to spend about the same amount of time on travel in the coming year.

C O N T E N T S Background 1 Tech Savvy Mandating Top Issues Safety First Travel From A Single Source What You Value Most In A Travel Program Transitioning To A New TMC Last Words Summary 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 5 5

Time on Travel
55% of respondents manage travel daily and spend, on average, 53% of their time on it 45% manage strategically and spend, on average, 35% of their time on it

Managing Travel in 2012

5% of respondents plan to spend more time managing travel in 2012 20% plan to spend less 75% plan to spend about the same amount of time on travel

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2012 Egencia, LLC. All rights reserved. Expedia, Egencia, and the Egencia logo and Get Ahead are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Expedia, Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. CST #2083922-50

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The Voice of the Customer

Egencia Travel Managers Share Insights and Challenges Tech Savvy or Not So Much
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55% of respondents dont mandate travel 18% of those said it wasnt in their culture to mandate 64% of those strongly encourage their travelers to follow policy and use only their designated booking tool

Mandating
About 45 percent of the companies we spoke with mandated that their travelers conform to their travel policies. 55 percent did not. This is where industries and culture really came in to play. Universities and more creative organizations, such as publishing houses, tended to frown upon mandating. More conservative industries, such as financial institutions, tended to mandate. At least one respondent felt that her companys reluctance to mandate had a direct bearing on their low online adoption rate.

C O N T E N T S Background 1 Tech Savvy Mandating Top Issues Safety First Travel From A Single Source What You Value Most In A Travel Program Transitioning To A New TMC Last Words Summary

As might be expected, many companies have gone mobile; its not just teenagers at the mall who are madly texting and phoning, but executives at huge corporations as well. While many companies still equip employees with Blackberries, quite a few are fazing them out in favor of Androids and iPhones. Other companies let employees select their preference or they use personal devices. Respondents said that their travelers were mobile hungry and excited to use travel phone apps. According to one travel manager, Mobile apps are very important in terms of flexibility and technology. Travelers want to do it themselves. If it isnt easy to use, travelers wont use it, or will be frustrated. While virtually all of our interviewees were onboard when it came to using mobile devices, the use of Skyping and other types of technical alternatives to face-to-face contact varied widely. Few relied on Skyping, but many more used phone conferencing as a means of communication. Externally, most respondents met face-to-face. The vast majority of those polled had not yet figured out how to make use of social media in their travel program. While this may change in the future, it seemed to be the case for now. One company had created a blog in order to provide better one-on-one communication with travelers and hear their feedback. They planned to use the blog to offer recommendations and training to their travelers.

Were just starting to use video/web conferencing for internal meetings, and weve tested a virtual internal meeting. Customer meetings are still face-to-face.

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www.Egencia.com

2012 Egencia, LLC. All rights reserved. Expedia, Egencia, and the Egencia logo and Get Ahead are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Expedia, Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. CST #2083922-50

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Your Top Issues Driving Change

The Voice of the Customer

Egencia Travel Managers Share Insights and Challenges

C O N T E N T S Background 1 Tech Savvy Mandating Top Issues Safety First Travel From A Single Source What You Value Most In A Travel Program Transitioning To A New TMC Last Words Summary 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 5 5

One of the issues driving change in travel programs came as no surprise, as it is a challenge for just about everyone in these recessionary times: cost containment. While only 35 percent of respondents listed cost containment as the number one issue driving change in their travel management program, other issues selected by respondents were also economy-related, such as the necessity of doing more for less, reducing travel and expenses, tracking airline fees, and learning to be more innovative (in the interest of cost containment). Other change drivers mentioned were mergers and acquisitions, shifting to a global footprint, and mobile options.

35% of clients stated that cost containment was the number one issue driving change in their travel management program

Safety First
Virtually every person we queried worried about their travelers safety. In fact, for those who chose to mandate, some said they did so for the sake of safety. If we didnt, there would be a risk that if something happened, we wouldnt be able to find them, said one respondent. Another client said simply, Travel safety is a BIG issue. Some respondents restricted the locations where travelers were allowed to travel. Several said that their primary concern was being able to reach travelers in an emergency. A few said they kept a handle on it through online reports and special emergency services that help track travelers during an emergency.

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2012 Egencia, LLC. All rights reserved. Expedia, Egencia, and the Egencia logo and Get Ahead are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Expedia, Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. CST #2083922-50

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The Voice of the Customer

Egencia Travel Managers Share Insights and Challenges Travel from a Single Source
2 2 3 3 4 4 5 5 5 The majority of those we interviewed felt it was important that they work with a single travel partner, for the reasons of ease of use, reporting, and simplifying things administratively. Others felt it was not important as long as their travelers got a good price.

C O N T E N T S Background 1 Tech Savvy Mandating Top Issues Safety First Travel From A Single Source What You Value Most In A Travel Program Transitioning To A New TMC Last Words Summary

What You Value Most in a Travel Program

Account Management was the number one element our survey respondents valued most, with technology coming in a close second. Ease of use and that ever-present issue of saving costs were also mentioned. Perhaps one of our interviewees said it best: I dont know how you dissect and say one thing is more important than another. Service is a big deal. Cost is a big deal. Technology is significant to us because if you really want to drive cost down, you have to use the technology. Theres no doubt about that. The more technology you are able to bring to the party, and improve the financial model to us, and incorporate things travelers can enable (because they will if you provide it), then thats a good thing. Cant take each one separately. You have to have all of those elements to have a successful travel program.

45% of respondents said Account Management was what they valued most in their travel program 40% of respondents said technology was what they valued most in their travel program

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www.Egencia.com

2012 Egencia, LLC. All rights reserved. Expedia, Egencia, and the Egencia logo and Get Ahead are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Expedia, Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. CST #2083922-50

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Transitioning to a New TMC

The Voice of the Customer

Egencia Travel Managers Share Insights and Challenges

When asked why they thought some companies struggled with their change to a new travel management company, respondents offered a variety of answers: being afraid of rocking the boat, getting executive support, and making the cultural change from a legacy agency. Several cited the difficulty of change itself. People avoid change and have no confidence change will happen effectively, said one travel manager. With us, its hard to make a change when we want because there are so many other changes taking place, said another. Those who overcame challenges to have a successful travel program gave credit to training and getting buy-in and support from upper management.

Last Words
C O N T E N T S Background 1 Tech Savvy Mandating Top Issues Safety First Travel From A Single Source What You Value Most In A Travel Program Transitioning To A New TMC Last Words Summary 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 5 5 We asked our interviewees to provide advice for those who are new to corporate travel and first embarking on managing a travel program. While several joked, Run Away! there were some legitimate suggestions, including: Mandate (or be prepared for the worst) Learn the system and make sure you are fully trained on it prior to launch Communicate regularly with your travelers Lean on your Account Managers Educate your travel arrangers and travelers Be prepared for not everyone to be happy

About Egencia
Launched in 2002 as Expedia Corporate Travel, Egencia has become the fifth largest travel management company in the world as a result of our commitment to delivering a higher standard of corporate travel service and innovative technology. Our success is directly attributed to our customers ability to move their businesses ahead, through their valued relationships with our company and more importantly, with our people.

Summary
In summary, it would seem that corporate travel managers are dealing with many of the same challenges that managers in other corporate departments may be facing: budget cutting, getting buyin from upper management and employees, the difficulty of making transitions. These are universal challenges that your online travel partner should be willing to address. At the same time, your needs are distinctly your own. A travel management company that offers a solution which will not only help you save money but also cater to your own unique needs with top notch customer service seems to be the winning ticket to an outstanding travel management program.

866 328-0110

www.Egencia.com

2012 Egencia, LLC. All rights reserved. Expedia, Egencia, and the Egencia logo and Get Ahead are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Expedia, Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. CST #2083922-50

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