CASE STUDY
Automated trip notifications for any-channel travel bookings
Background
JTI had custom notifications set up in Concur Travel, but they were too long and confusing for line managers and travellers. The team didn’t want to add any bureaucracy to their travel processes with a hard approval set-up. Nichola Rimmer, Global Category Manager Travel & Events and team needed a way to send a simple travel booking notification by email.
Evolution and customisation
As the features of the FCM Platform evolved, Nichola saw an opportunity to not only communicate a notification through email, but also in the platform.
Using the Advise flow option in FCM Platform, the flow is simple:
1. Traveller books trip, having spoken to line manager already.
2. Line manager and traveller both receive a notification and email when a trip is booked. It contains information such as
- A thumbs up or down emoji based on whether it’s booked in-policy.
- Which airline was booked.
- Itinerary information and total cost of trip.
3. Both manager and traveller can click through to the FCM Platform to view itinerary.
“We have Concur Travel active in countries with a large number of travellers, but we had a communications gap with everything that’s purely offline or other booking tools. FCM Platform has allowed us to reach everybody with the same simple process,” said Nichola.
Adding value
“It’s a big win for now to be able to send these notifications to travellers in countries where we previously had nothing,” said Nichola.
Line managers are more empowered now they are aware of what’s going on, can facilitate any support from a security perspective, and know easily what to challenge if anything is not correct.
Initially there were air and hotel notifications, but the team decided to remove hotel after spotting that most notifications had thumbs ups. This allowed the focus to be on air travel, where there are more opportunities to save money.
A change in behaviour
Nichola and the team have received no complaints on the amount of emails received, but are starting to see changes.
“I think this is driven by increased awareness. Travellers see that their line manager is copied on these messages and they know it’s something to pay attention to. These notifications also provide comfort to our senior management that there is some accountability and people are thinking differently before they travel,” said Nichola.
Over time, the notifications may cause managers to reconsider trips altogether.