CASE STUDY
Driving consistency in consolidated global travel management
Key Highlights
This independent global risk consultancy specialises in helping organisations manage political and security risks in complex and hostile environments. The firm had a fragmented travel programme across its operations, which spanned Africa, Asia, the Americas, Europe, and the Middle East.
Service quality and costs were inconsistent, leading to frustration among travellers. They turned to FCM for help.
Challenge: a fragmented global travel management programme
The consultancy’s travel programme was disjointed across its global footprint, with different agencies managing travel in each market. Key issues included:
- Inconsistent service levels, including some markets where service was poor.
- Higher-than-expected costs in certain key locations.
- Lack of detailed reporting and visibility into travel spend.
- Difficulty ensuring policy compliance.
"Visibility and consistency were the key issues to be addressed, along with some pricing issues. It was challenging and very time-consuming to ensure policy adherence with inconsistent data," said the firm’s global travel manager.
Solution: compliance, collaboration, and unification
An initial plan to find new local solutions in each market was scrapped due to FCM’s high service level achievements with the firm’s UK travel programme. They chose to consolidate travel with FCM across each of its markets.
FCM implemented a phased approach to unify the programme. FCM’s global account manager worked closely with the firm’s global travel manager and key stakeholders to ensure a smooth transition and continuous improvement.
"Implementation was thorough, smooth, well-managed, and took between four to six weeks. We encountered only minor issues which were rectified very quickly," the global travel manager added.
Tactics used to implement this global consolidation included:
- Ongoing collaboration to simplify policy and drive compliance.
- Delivery of consolidated global reporting.
- Multidimensional visibility into financial and booking data.
- Alignment of reporting with travel policy requirements.
- Reporting on missed savings due to non-compliance.
- Identification of countries and travellers with high exception levels.
Results: improved service quality and cost control
By consolidating its travel programme with FCM, this global risk consultancy firm achieved significant benefits:
- Enhanced service quality across all markets.
- Better cost control and value.
- Increased visibility into spending and compliance data.
- More effective supplier negotiations and budgeting.
"The change to FCM Travel has improved service quality and kept costs under control. The global management information has brought a raft of global governance benefits through increased visibility of spend and policy compliance information," said the global travel manager.
FCM’s programme enhancements helped position our client to effectively manage travel at scale as it continues to grow.
Get ready for global travel programme success
Is your organisation facing challenges and inconsistencies across its markets? FCM can help. We offer global expertise, personalised service, cost-efficiency, and comprehensive reporting, with a proven track record of global consolidation success. Contact us today for an initial travel programme consultation.