Travel$ense User's Guide (PDF, 139 MB) - NBAA

134• The Internet hasn’t replaced anything, yet.• Communication is more important than ever.• Nothing will ever replace face-to-face communication.TRAVEL$ENSEOf the ways to communicate listed above, six did not exist 20 years ago.Regardless, face to face still is the most efficient and effective way tocommunicate. Being there – being on-site – holds the potential to yield thehighest quantity and quality of information exchange possible. All interactivesenses are involved; you can smell trouble and opportunities. The potentialintimacy and resulting insight from being on-site are maximized, as is the trip’svalue. Finally, your competitors are already there.If go you must, who decides? How? Is the trip really necessary? What’s thetrip’s purpose and anticipated outcome – its “mission”? What’s the best way toaccomplish the mission: by phone, fax, videoconference, mail, or the Internet?By using the scheduled airlines? Or by using company-operated or charteraircraft? Is the decision art, science or a little of both?All this begs the issue of company travel guidelines. Are they definitive, acceptedby all, top of mind? Does every “authorizer,” for every flight, do so rationally,using not only their “feel,” but data; consistently, applying the same standardsfor all trips; and equitably, not unnecessarily favoring or discounting travel byany means?Are there exceptions allowed? How much latitude do the authorizers have? Oris yours one of the companies in which groups of employees wishing to use theaircraft keep appealing decisions until they can find a doctor who will say yes?There is, of course, a perception that airline travel is less expensive than travelby business aircraft, and cost is always a powerful motivator. What’s more, an indepth,real-time analysis of the true cost of business travel via three alternativesis complex and difficult to calculate for two reasons:• The tangible benefits of business aircraft are difficult to track.• Their intangible benefits are not easily measured.Consequently, many companies can’t accurately value the true cost of businessaircraft travel. As a result, travel decisions – how to go – become hunches.What’s needed is a new and better approach. Using Travel$ense, you can createa business travel decision matrix customized to reflect your company’s ownpriorities and values. You can facilitate a three-way comparison of true travelcosts – airlines versus two user-defined alternatives, such as company aircraftand charter aircraft. And you can illustrate the most cost-effective way to travelon a dollars and cents basis, from the CFO’s perspective. At the same time, youCopyright © 1999, National Business Aviation Association, Inc.