Hat Trick! FCM Named Finalist for 3 Business Travel Awards
FCM Travel Solutions has been named a finalist in three categories in the prestigious 2020 Business Travel Awards. FCM is in line for Best Travel Management Company (annual UK sales over £200M), Travel Team of the Year together with client RSA Insurance plc, and Best Specialist Travel Service for FCM’s Medical Repatriation Team with client AXA Group.
Organised in conjunction with Buying Business Travel Magazine, the Business Travel Awards recognise and celebrate the achievements of the travel industry’s leading businesses, teams and individuals, who have performed outstandingly in their chosen field over the last 12 months.
Each year categories are carefully chosen to reflect the range of areas and skills that lie at the heart of a successful travel firm or department. The independent panel of judges, made up primarily of business travel buyers, devote a considerable amount of their valuable time, to review and mark each entry in order to identify those worthy of winning one of these highly valued awards.
The FCM Medical Repatriation Team provides a specialist service globally 24/7 to AXA Group, managing complex travel and logistics required to repatriate AXA travel insurance policyholders taken ill or involved in an accident whilst on holiday - everything from holiday curtailment to full repatriation of patients requiring inflight stretchers, oxygen and ambulance transfers. The team’s wealth of knowledge and tenacity is extraordinary, making the impossible happen to bring patients and their families home safely. Whilst the absolute priority is to repatriate patients as safely as possible, the team have also generated cost savings for AXA of £40K per month by applying their knowledge of creative ticketing and use of policyholders’ existing tickets.
The FCM/RSA Insurance plc Travel Team have rejuvenated RSA’s entire travel programme over the last 12 months. Many travellers were previously booking their own flights and hotels outside of policy because they had lost faith in the incumbent TMC due to poor service levels and outdated technology solutions. RSA procurement was previously inundated with complaints from unhappy travellers and bookers. Thanks to working in partnership to bring unprecedented consistency and professionalism to the whole travel programme, the FCM/RSA team has succeeded in ensuring vastly improved traveller and booker satisfaction levels. They have also introduced innovative technology, created impressive efficiencies and generated significant cost savings, which equate to a 13% reduction in RSA’s overall travel costs – two percent above target.
FCM’s entry for Best Travel Management Company focussed on its continued drive to innovate technology, products and processes in order to meet clients’ evolving needs, the challenge of industry disruption, and future-proof FCM’s business. In 2019 this included radically restructuring FCM’s UK operations teams into specialist types of servicing to give clients even greater support and personalisation. For example, low-touch teams handle purely clients with high OBT adoption, requiring minimal offline support; high touch teams manage clients serviced primarily offline; and specialist touch teams look after SME or niche sector clients. FCM also continued to drive development of a long-term GDS-enabled NDC booking solution in the corporate sector and innovative in terms of giving clients access to the widest possible choice of travel content via FCM Marketplace.
The judges said that they were “very impressed with the detail and creativity that went into the composition of the entries.”
“We are thrilled and proud to be named finalists in three categories in the Business Travel Awards. This is an outstanding achievement and a huge endorsement of FCM’s business model, our agile approach and culture of fluid thinking, plus the dedication and drive of our people, all of which enables us to deliver the right solutions for our customers,” said Graham Ross, UK General Manager, FCM Travel Solutions.
The winners will be announced at the Business Travel Awards ceremony and gala dinner at the JW Marriott Grosvenor House in London on 20 January 2020.
You may also like...
