FEATURE – TMCs ABTA SURVEY Almost 60% of corporates say TMCs are ‘good to great’ at helping them manage compliance within their travel policy, according to a recent study conducted by FCM Travel Solutions and the African <strong>Business</strong> Travel Association (ABTA) among travel buyers in South Africa. Over 80% of South African corporates polled in the study indicated that their employees rarely or only occasionally booked out of policy and that in most cases, this non-compliance was from senior management. Achieving compliance at a time when corporate travel is becoming increasingly consumerised requires a more flexible approach, according to ABTA founder Monique Swart. “<strong>Business</strong> travellers are demanding personalisation and relying on the same tools they use and travel experiences they have in their personal lives,” she says. “The indication, thus, that over 70% of surveyed corporates’ policies are strict or rigid should raise concerns.” “The survey also indicated that only 30% of corporates actually consider and cater to the needs of their business travellers regularly and more than half were not concerned about the negative impacts of business travel on their travelling staff and trying to mitigate these. Traveller friction has an impact not only on the staff member, but also their ability to perform to achieve company goals.” Among those most-cited areas of anxiety for South African business travellers were flight delays, missed flights and perceived poor service from airlines and hotels. Corporates that are aware of the impact of traveller friction say they are looking at ways in which to mitigate the effects, including limiting travel where possible and introducing traveller-centric policies, including ‘bleisure’ and wellness programmes. The study further showed that among those most desired ancillaries by business travellers in South Africa are seat selection, access to airport lounges and good service, with onboard entertainment and on-board wi-fi being the least-demanded ancillaries. From a sharing economy perspective, almost 90% of business travellers are using Uber and Airbnb for business travel purposes, according to the study. As many as 40% are doing so without the permission or endorsement of their companies. Technology in the corporate travel space is clearly important to South African companies. “The survey found that over 65% of corporates like to use all the technology that is relevant to them,” says Swart. “There is a cost associated with this, however, and with cost savings being one of the key objectives of a company’s travel programme, technology should be used to help with cost cutting efforts.” “We offer our own in-house corporate booking tool for clients who require this,” she says. “However, interestingly, in recent months we have seen a shift in business from online travel agents back to the traditional Harvey World Travel Stores.” So, whilst technology obviously has a huge role to play in travel management going forward, there are going to be instances where travel managers and/or travellers will defer to the consultant for that human touch. How the two elements co-exist is explored further in the chatbot sidebar. PRESSURE ON FEES Of course, the threat of, or greater influence of, technology is not the only challenge facing travel management companies. Spend is down in the corporate space and TMCs are having to fight hard to justify their fees. Again, as is the case with technology, these TMCs are under pressure to ‘show value’ and prove their worth. “We do find an extraordinary amount of focus on a cost that equates to less than 8% of the overall total costs of a corporate travel programme,” says Vankeirsbilck. “Our focus as TTS is to find value opportunity where we actively encourage clients to focus their attention on the overall cost of their travel programme, rather than just the service fees, by focusing on travel policy adherence, traveller behaviour, travel supplier consolidation, and technology solutions, which will achieve far greater savings on their total cost of travel rather than saving a relatively small amount on service fees. It is imperative for a TMC to add value to a client’s total cost of travel programme, and this is where the true value is derived.” McNeil agrees that the discussion needs to move away from the transaction fee. “In the current economic environment, procurement departments are under pressure to drive cost savings, and one of the easiest targets within the travel procurement space is the 28 | SEPTEMBER2017 Visit businesstravellerafrica.co.za
Engage travellers with options that work for them and for your company. To learn more about how BCD Travel can help you and your organization’s travel programme, contact us at sales@bcdtravel.co.za or on +27 11 274-4000 or visit www.bcdtravel.com Copyright © 2017 BCD Travel. Unauthorized reproduction strictly prohibited.
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