The people, technology, and thinking behind FCM’s award-winning approach

Customers challenges are the start 

Innovation, flashy features, and the next big AI thing is easy to talk about, although none of this is much use if it doesn’t solve a real problem. At FCM, the starting point is the customer. What’s frustrating their travellers? Where is the corporate travel program losing value? Which processes are creating extra work? And is there an opportunity to improve the way things are done? The right solution depends on the business, its people, and what the corporate travel program is trying to achieve. Here’s how that played out for three very different customers in 2026: 

• University of Western Australia (UWA): Transition to a new booking tool - FCM Booking - that better suited its workforce and travel behaviour, resulting in a 200% increase in domestic online booking adoption, alongside improved data quality and greater visibility for decision-makers. 
• Super Retail Group: Partnered with FCM and Qantas to introduce new distribution capability (NDC) content, unlocking access to more fares and bundles and an estimated AU$142k in annual air savings. 
• Shell: Worked with FCM to develop Athena, a bespoke AI-powered tool designed to anticipate travel disruption and strengthen the resilience of its global travel program. 

Three very different organisations, with their own internal processes, traveller types, and challenges. That’s the point. Corporate travel management should adapt to the business, not force the business to adapt to its limitations.

AI that understands the bigger picture 

Business travel is full of context. The company policy, traveller’s preferences, itineraries, approval processes, and hundreds of little details can turn a straightforward request into a complicated one. 

That’s where FCM’s AI intelligence layer and Sam, FCM’s AI business travel assistant come in. Embedded throughout the FCM technology ecosystem, helping travellers, arrangers and travel managers find answers and take action. The intelligence layer connects information, policies, traveller profiles and workflows, so responses via Sam can reflect the situation rather than just the question in isolation.  

Sam is also helping reshape the booking experience. With conversational booking, travellers can describe what they need in their own words and receive options informed by their policy, profile, past trips, loyalty status and preferred routes. Recommendations explain the reasoning behind them, helping travellers make informed choices while keeping program requirements in view. 

And none of this involves handing the whole travel program over to AI and hoping for the best. FCM’s AI intelligence layer works alongside FCM’s people, with consultants on hand for complex requests, nuanced decisions, and those moments when human connection is exactly what’s needed. 

The next step will bring Sam closer to the tools people already use at work, including the environments their businesses choose, like Teams, Slack, Claude etc. 

Putting the booking experience front and centre 

For travellers, the booking experience can influence how they feel about an entire travel program. If finding the right flight or hotel is a hassle, even a well-designed policy can become a source of frustration. For travel managers, meanwhile, the challenge is balancing a smooth traveller experience with visibility, control, and compliance. 

FCM Booking, FCM’s proprietary online booking tool, is designed to bring those worlds together. It handles around five million bookings a year, with an average booking time of four minutes, and more than 70% of searches converting into bookings. Because we own the technology, we’re not tied to a fixed roadmap. Customer feedback and changing travel conditions help shape what comes next.  

An online booking tool is only useful if people use it, and a great booking experience can support adoption, improve data capture, and give travel managers a clearer picture of what is happening.

Global consistency, without losing the local flare 

Every market has their own set of expectations, suppliers, workflows, and service needs. We know it and see it daily. So just as much as a global program needs consistency, it also needs room to accommodate local realities. 

FCM’s operating model brings global standards together with local expertise, backed by investment in systems, workflows, and the tools our people use every day. Behind the scenes, we’ve been reworking how tasks move through the business, cutting unnecessary manual steps, and giving consultants more of the information they need at their fingertips. The results of these changes include: 

• A 9% improvement in global service-level agreement (SLA) performance. 
• A 17% increase in FCM consultant productivity. 
• AI-powered automated quoting that cut average response times from 20 to four minutes.  

For customers, that means less waiting around and more time getting on with it. For consultants, it has meant spending less time on repetitive tasks and more time applying their expertise where it can have the greatest impact. 

Continuous improvement is part of the job 

Through the global Voice of Customer (VoC) program, FCM gathers feedback, escalates dissatisfaction, and investigates opportunities to improve service and processes. The aim is to understand not just what went wrong, but what needs to change to improve the experience next time. During FY26, this resulted in an 85% closure rate. In Australia, a recent redesign of the customer resolution process reduced average resolution times from 14 days to eight. The same approach runs through FCM’s technology and service delivery. Customer feedback helps shape booking workflows, reporting, support processes, and future enhancements. 

Our people are worth their weight in gold 

Our teams bring local knowledge, relationships, and the kind of practical problem-solving that doesn’t always fit into a workflow. They’re encouraged to challenge convention, think creatively, work across teams, and find a way through the tricky stuff. Across FY26, more than 65% of customers globally who commented on service resolution - including our people’s professionalism, problem-solving, proactivity and after-hours support - spoke positively about their experience. In Australia, that figure sits at around 67%. 

Proud of the win, but always up for more 

Being named Most Outstanding Global Travel Management Company at the 2026 NTIAs is a huge moment for FCM. We’re proud of our people, grateful to our customers and partners, and genuinely humbled to be recognised alongside some excellent businesses in our industry. 

Celebrating our own work doesn’t mean talking down someone else’s though. In the words of Flight Centre Travel Group founder Graham “Skroo” Turner “we welcome competition”. It keeps the industry on its toes, pushes businesses to raise their game, and gives customers more to choose from. And that’s good for everyone. 

There’s no single feature or service that can solve every corporate travel challenge. Strong corporate travel programs need the right combination of technology, expertise, global consistency, local knowledge, and a partner willing to keep improving alongside the business. The award is a reason to celebrate, but it’s not a cue to put our feet up. 

That's what we mean by alternative travel management.