GREAT Expectations

Whatever you expect from your TMC, be clear about it right from the start, writes Gillian Upton

Which came first, the chicken or the egg? The causality dilemma neatly sums up a common issue between client and TMC, when what clients expect from TMCS after implementation depends on what they specified during the RFP. It's a flawed process which doesn’t always result in what the buyer wants.

So, who’s to blame? Service delivery can be a deal breaker and it’s often not clear who or what caused the issue but Clive Wrattan, CEO of the Business Travel Association, which represents 80% of the TMC community, has an opinion. “Buyers need to give more time to TMCS before the beauty parade and TMCS need to be selective in what they pitch for.” He advises TMCS to be brave and declare that they can’t deliver on certain requirements.

To move forward, TMCS must stop overselling and under-delivering. “It’s all smoke and mirrors with all of them,” sums up independent contractor Roger Peters.

Gray Dawes, however, declined to pitch for the BP account and for very good reasons. “I didn’t even look at the documents as it’s so out of our comfort zone,” says Dave Bishop, the TMC’S Commercial Director. “I don’t want to waste buyers’ time.”

The right fit

Best practice should be a clearly defined RFP with the minimum of relevant questions and issued only to those TMCS that can deliver. After all, it’s not worth including a high-tech TMC if the bulk of bookings are offline, for example, or a national TMC if the buyer is a regional or global player.

Some TMCS, including Traveleads, prefer to take a more tailored approach. “We believe in having a personal partnership with our clients, which starts with getting to know them inside out,” says Sally Cassidy, Group Director of Sales. “This way, we tailor our service to exactly their needs, offering them something beyond the ordinary travel management solution.”

Bringing in a new TMC is often linked to desired change, perhaps to improve online adoption, to implement a self-booking tool, to consolidate supplier management, or modify travel policy. Whatever the reason, buyers should look for experience and success in the specific field with similarsized companies.

The key driver for BP in finding a new TMC, for example, was the technology and consumer experience and Egencia was miles ahead on both counts.

A TMC'S capability, whether geographical spread and/or technological prowess, is one of the three Cs that will influence TMC selection. The other two are culture and cost. Technology is a major driver in terms of capability and proprietary technology is

the desired option, but so is cultural fit. It's vital that the TMC aligns with company goals and ethos.

“We see a direct correlation between an engaged, empowered and culturallyaligned workforce and the satisfaction of our customers,” says Debbie Carling, CEO Europe at CTM.

Cost factors

Opinions vary as to the importance of cost, which is often confused with value. “A travel management company should be able to easily demonstrate a positive return for the cost of their services, whether through achieved savings, increased efficiencies, enhanced traveller safety or traveller wellbeing,” says Carling. “The value of a TMC'S services should far outweigh the cost of those services.”

In the past, size has mattered and global buyers have gravitated towards the 'big three' TMCS. The BP award demonstrated that this is no longer the case, but there are other considerations.

Buyers might not want to be a dominant account in a small TMC because that TMC might not have the experience to manage it well enough. Conversely, being a small account in a large TMC might mean not receiving sufficient support.

”It’s important to evaluate where your

Technology is a major driver in terms of capability and proprietary technology is the desired option, but so is fit. It's vital that the TMC aligns with company goals and ethos”

business will sit,” warns Wayne Durkin, Head of Sales and Account Management at Good Travel Management.

All down to penalties

Service level agreements (SLAS) and key performance indicators (KPIS) written into the contract will ensure that key objectives for that year are met – as long as they are properly policed – and they should not be added post-rfp. Otherwise this could muddy the water in terms of a TMC being able to accurately price the specification from the outset.

“A good SLA should be succinct enough to be workable and focus on the key success metrics,” advises Scott Davies,

CEO of ITM. He also warns that penalties within SLAS should be appropriate to focus teams on success but not so punitive that they end up driving fear and negativity within service teams.

SLAS have gone beyond response times of, say, picking up the phone within a certain number of rings, partly because of the move away from telephone as a form of communication. That’s been taken over largely by in-app chat capability. SLAS now embrace savings, cost avoidance, traveller wellbeing, traveller satisfaction and, according to Douglas O’neill, CEO of Inntel, also “external meeting room and event ROI and reduction of carbon footprint”.

SLAS differ by industry vertical. For example, professional service companies and legal firms demand more of a TMC, usually expecting the TMC to undertake all transactions. This will be reflected in the SLAS. Others will expect the travellers to do their own travel booking via a selfbooking tool, so SLAS need to reflect that particular requirement.

“A bank may be concerned with traveller experience, as in premium cabins at the last minute, so a set of KPIS will focus on that, whereas a manufacturing firm may seek cost efficiencies and change their sourcing patterns and SLAS around that,” says Michael Valkerich, VP Global Customer Group, CWT. “Different organisations will invest in a TMC in different ways. We don’t believe in a single vision for each client.”

Either way, SLAS mean nothing if the quality doesn’t provide good service.

Johan Persson, Director of Account Management UK & Ireland at Amex GBT, points out that: “When people get through [from waiting on a call] and the service is fantastic, they’re not judged on speed, but on quality.”

Click Travel identifies savings and they are written into the contract as a performance metric. ”With our client Veolia we did just that,” says MD Jill Palmer. “We marked them as red, amber and green, with green being the easiest, then Veolia’s internal