What modalities are available for outsourcing corporate travel management?
SILVIA MAGDALENO, traval manager of BUSINESS TRAVEL CONSULTING.
When we make the decision to outsource the travel management of the company we must assess in the first instance that we entrust the management of the account to a company or person who is a professional of corporate travel. We must assess, at the same time, if the experience is based on account management from the point of view of the travel agency or from the company, since the strategic vision is different depending on the location of the professional we are going to hire.
The outsourcing of travel management allows those companies that do not have a Business Travel professional within their organization to benefit from all the advantages of having one. A good travel policy that is well implemented and highly compliant can save 20% on the cost of services without taking into account the optimization of related costs. Good practices, efficient supplier management and the self-booking tool, among others, are great allies.
There are companies that have never had a business travel professional and, being aware of the great benefits they can bring to their bottom line and the comfort of their travelers, outsource the service indicating that at the end of the project the trips must remain working independently in the company. Some of them are considering to continue carrying out outsourced monitoring for a few days a month and other companies are asking for internal staff to carry out this monitoring.
Other companies are in the process of hiring or contracting a travel agency. For some of them it is the first time and others are simply checking how the market is doing and have the help of a professional to guide them through the process. There are also companies that have numerous suppliers and want to centralize the negotiation, but do not have internal staff that can dedicate their time to this task.
At the moment, the outsourcing service of corporate travel management is done a la carte because it depends on the need and the case of each company. Some outsource all the management and others only part of it.
The vast majority of companies that consider outsourcing do so because they do not have specialized personnel or, in the case of having a travel manager, they do not have the material time to take on a new project. The day-to-day management of travel involves a lot of dedication, which limits in-house professionals from moving forward with negotiation or follow-up tasks.
Among the processes that are most commonly outsourced are the following: selection of the travel agency; the implementation, negotiation or centralization of suppliers; the creation, implementation, review, revision or updating of the travel agency; and the creation, implementation, revision or updating of the travel agency;The creation, implementation, revision or updating of the travel policy; the monitoring of invoicing to detect deviations and the proposal of new ways of optimization.
Bearing in mind all the above, we could say that we can outsource a wide variety of services but we could summarize them in two main modalities: - Partial or punctual management of a part of the corporate travel management process, negotiation with suppliers, centralization - of a part of the process of corporate travel management, negotiation with suppliers, centralization of a part of the process of corporate travel management, negotiation with suppliers, centralization The company's travel management process, negotiation with suppliers, centralization, internationalization, travel agency bidding, timely follow-up of invoicing, review of cost-saving levers, etc. In these cases, there should always be internal personnel in the company who are closely involved in the process and who can follow up on the work carried out after the fact. The external company can work for a period of time or for several days a month on the designated project. - Comprehensive management of the corporate travel account. In the event that there is no business travel professional, the complete service can be outsourced with a travel manager who will carry out the entire management for the optimization of costs and the satisfaction of the traveler, in such a way that he/she becomes the intermediary between the travel agency, the company and the traveler. The external company, in this case, is available on a daily basis offering the necessary support in the daily management.