Case Study
Strategic change for a multinational advertising company
Key Highlights
Background
A leading advertising and public relations company was using two travel management companies. The client decided to consolidate that to one: FCM.
Challenges
With a diverse travel requirement, the organisation’s employees had the flexibility to book their air travel from any of the two TMCs and hotels could be booked directly. Every company segment had its own local suppliers with whom they could book cars.
This fragmentation caused several challenges, including:
- Non-compliant bookings
- Inefficient duty of care
- No visibility on travel spends
- No negotiating strength with suppliers
Strategy
In 2017, the organisation decided to consolidate their travel programme to a single TMC, which was FCM. FCM proposed changes that could improve their booking efficiencies and generate savings on transaction fees:
Customised tools and approvals
A customised online booking tool was set up as per the company requirements. FCM implemented 56 online booking tools with different approval mechanisms that suited respective segments and standardised the organisation’s travel policy. The tool was designed in such a way that it would easily fit in with the change in management that they wanted to implement.
Hotel booking policy change
The client mandated the usage of preferred hotels on the online booking tool. The objective was to improve the hotel programme compliance and encourage travellers to book through FCM.
Communication and change management plan
Employees from different segments were initially very resistant to using the online booking tool, with adoption only at 8-10% in 2018. FCM ran marketing campaigns for the group's companies to increase the adoption rate.
Actionable reporting
Monthly dashboard reports were sent to the CFO which displayed
- Analysis of the travellers’ travel spend
- Buying behaviour
- Travel programme recommendations
- Benchmarking the hotel programme
- Changes observed with the implementation of the booking tool
New car programme
In 2018, the client also consolidated its car programme, but gave employees the flexibility to use three suppliers. One of them was FCM's car programme with its range of services and products.
Result
Within one year, the organisation achieved major travel programme success which included the following:
- Compliance and 70% online booking tool adoption
- Consolidated reporting and CFO dashboards
- Improved risk management – travellers were well-informed about locations.
- Consolidation of hotel bookings, enabling a better negotiating deal
- 5% savings on annual travel spend
- 26% savings on TMC fees
- 4% savings on consolidating hotel spend