In each issue of Business Travel Executive, the members of our Buyer Think Tank offer their individual thoughts on what’s hot, what’s cool and what’s coming next in managed travel.
The Think Tank is a team of eight veteran travel managers from programs that run the gamut in size and complexity – but each member contributes a unique viewpoint. Travel Buyer’s POV brings fresh perspectives and ideas to inspire innovation and thought leadership in the corporate travel industry.
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to disrupt and complicate life, and in particular travel. But one thing is certain: The global business travel industry has not yet seen the end to all the changes that are emerging. And no one recognizes how far-reaching these changes will be better than corporate travel professionals.
Shine On
The pandemic has really shined a light on areas in corporate travel that are due for improvement – the need for flexible systems and improved communication to travelers. In the beginning of the pandemic, we struggled with making sure potential travelers were aware of pre-trip approvals or other internal policy that were needed to travel, either domestic or internationally. We also wanted to point travelers to the most reliable websites to find their destinations’ requirements.
Since a great deal of information needed to be at the ready, and with the constant change of COVID conditions, policy updates, and destination restrictions, we created a new intranet site dedicated to travel in the time of COVID. With the additional site, we can now post regional updates globally and very quickly, allowing employees to pull the information needed instead of our having to push it. Being a large global program and a company that is very keen on employee safety, we needed to create and implement an approval workflow that is super flexible, as conditions and approval requirements change.
None of this was easy and I see now that we need much more accurate and flexible tools to let booking, approval, and duty of care to work in harmony.
– David Smith
Steady As She Goes
Managing change, or what I now refer to as the “What Now?” management style. Change has always been a part of travel, but this level of uncertainty has not. I can’t remember a time when it has been so significant. Managing a program in the midst of the global pandemic has required a constant hand on the rudder and increased internal communication.
Working with Risk and HR, we were able to keep our employees aware of the changing guidelines. The pandemic has allowed us to take on some good changes – we’ve been able to review our programs, improve processes, and add new tools. We introduced a new credit card program and fleet program, and audited our booking and expense tool. Looking at change as an opportunity instead of a problem has strengthened us.
– Cheryl Benjamin
Blessings & Bugaboos
As a travel buyer charged with making sure that my company has the best possible travel services, the last two years of the COVID pandemic have been challenging to put it mildly. The hyper-inflated emphasis on duty of care has proven to be a blessing and a bugaboo. The blessing comes from the opportunity to prove our worth as travel professionals to the C-suite and Safety and Security professionals. The bugaboo is that the shifting sands of COVID policy and restrictions have made any consistent efforts to direct travelers almost impossible.
At NetApp we have an overarching COVID policy added to our travel policy. We have required pre-approval at the VP level for all travel. Just as we did pre-pandemic, we continue to monitor all travel bookings via our Safety and Security Department. Our online booking tool is plastered with banners and advice about travel restrictions. We added new technology that overlaps our online booking tool with destination restrictions and requirements. In addition, our travel management company has an app that provides up-to-date information about what’s needed to navigate travel by destination.
What we have not done is completely stop travel. With approval our employees can travel anywhere unless restricted by governments.
– Mark Ziegler
Change is Forever
Managing constant change in a corporate travel program is nothing new for travel managers. As professionals, we have always been flexible and ready to adjust or change. The last many months – years – have brought a new meaning to the words ‘managing change.’ Isn’t it ironic that even a slight change to a travel program can cause so much panic? Today’s travel programs must include approvals from other departments – Risk Management, HR, and at times even the senior leadership. And a global program requires even more approvals.
In my experience, it does not matter how many times a change is communicated, everyone wants to talk to you and/or your agents. I always try to make myself available for travelers, administrative assistants and executives to help them understand what the changes are and how they work.
In short, change is forever. Embrace change – it could make your processes, your program and your life easier. A great example is computers; time was, all we had were mainframes and now we have laptops. I love my laptop.
– Gloria Gonzalez
