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Case Study: Improved efficiency through online adoption

By engaging with CTM, the client, a large food manufacturing company, improved efficiency by increasing online adoption from 70 percent to 86 percent, and achieved more than $529,000 in savings.

Read on to find out more.

Overview

The client is a large food manufacturing company, employing more than 6,500 people across Australia and New Zealand.

With more than 60 sites, frequent travel is necessary for some employees and the client sought to improve the efficiency of their travel program.

With CTM’s assistance, a client increased efficiency and significantly reduced corporate travel spend through the implementation of CTM’s Smart Technology.

Objectives

Prior to engaging CTM, the client’s corporate travel was booked by a central team of travel managers located around the country, rather than individual employees. CTM identified that decentralising the booking process would improve efficiency, as employees could book their own in-policy travel.

Specifically, CTM’s objectives were to:

  • Introduce Smart Technology
  • Review travel booking policies and identify cost savings.
  • Facilitate the implementation of the online booking tool.
  • Introduce an online approval process.

Challenges

CTM needed to overcome several challenges to successfully fulfil the client’s objectives, without causing stress to employees or increasing expenditure on corporate travel. These included:

  • Policy understanding: As travel bookers had previously organised all corporate travel, many employees were unfamiliar with the company’s travel policy.
  • Policy flexibility: Travellers often needed to make bookings outside the company’s travel policy, so a clear protocol was required for when this was acceptable.
  • Approval structure: Without a clear hierarchy, there would be issues with internal approvals.

Solutions

To address these challenges, CTM provided comprehensive training and educated employees on how to book the most cost-effective flights and accommodation.

Employees were also educated on the company’s travel policy and factors that influence costs, such as booking methods, preferred suppliers and fare policy considerations. Those responsible for approving employee travel were given the necessary support to develop a detailed understanding of these policies.

An automated escalation process was designed for employees who requested travel outside company policy, and included clear steps for achieving an outcome in these situations.

Out-of-policy bookings would come through the approval process for domestic and international point-to-point travel.

In total, the client saved more than $529K

Results

CTM’s changes to the client’s corporate travel system yielded several benefits for the client. With individuals booking their own travel, the workload of the traditional travel booking team was significantly reduced, saving unnecessary admin work and freeing them up for more complicated itineraries.

The revised policy installed greater transparency of the travel booking and approval process, with the pre- and post-trip reporting tool allowing the client to monitor and review spend.

Travellers were empowered to make more cost-effective choices and consider slight alterations to their flights and accommodation to generate savings. In particular, the integration of Fare Forecaster made it possible for travellers to secure cheaper flights and accommodation with guaranteed availability up to 21 days in advance.

In total, the client saved more than $529,000, far exceeding the projected savings of $160,000.

Changes in purchasing choices accounted for a significant portion of the client’s savings. Online adoption rose from approximately 70 percent to 86 percent within the year, with a peak of 91 percent.

Restrictive fares rose significantly in popularity, with a 36.6 percent increase in uptake, likely due to the increased scrutiny of fare prices provided. And, despite multiple Qantas fare increases during this period, employee behaviour changes delivered $471,000 in savings.

By engaging with CTM, the client was able to dramatically improve the efficiency of their travel program and make significant savings. CTM’s experience with online systems made it possible to identify the best tools for the client and roll-out a new booking process with minimum issues.

Improve efficiency and drive savings to your travel program.

Contact our expert team today.