CASE STUDY
Elevating a global service standard for a consulting firm
Background
This independent consultancy specialises in helping organisations manage political, integrity and security risks in complex and hostile environments. Its unique combination of services, geographical reach and the trust their clients place in them ensure they can help clients to effectively solve their problems and realise new opportunities across the world.
With operations across Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe and the Middle East, FCM managed the travel programme in Germany, Singapore, South Africa, UAE and UK.
Objective: Bring consistency to a fragmented travel programme
When they approached FCM, the consulting firm had a fragmented travel programme, using different travel agencies around the world. In some markets service was poor; in others, too expensive. Complaints were emanating from regional offices regarding attention to detail and obtaining the best fare.
"Visibility and consistency were the key issues to be addressed, along with some pricing issues. It was challenging and very time-consuming to ensure policy adherence with inconsistent data," said the global travel manager.
The global travel manager's objective was to partner with a travel management company (TMC) which could:
- Provide a consistent service in all markets
- Represented good value for money
- Offered consolidated reporting, including C02 information.
Initially, the consulting firm considered local tenders, and FCM was appointed as the UK TMC. But after experiencing the excellent service level provided by FCM, the global travel manager decided to appoint FCM as the TMC in the other countries. It also became clear that consolidation across these markets would result in far more benefits than challenges.
Challenges
Even though the consulting firm had a mature travel policy in place, inconsistent data and the lack of consolidated reporting had resulted in difficulty with enforcing policy adherence. In addition, the policy was quite complex, which further hindered compliance.
Despite the negative service levels the regional offices had previously experienced, there was a resistance to change. It was important to demonstrate a tangible benefit for both global and local contacts.
Solutions
Implementation
Using FCM's implementation blueprint, the consulting firm's global account manager and the FCM implementation team worked with the global travel manager and key local stakeholders to manage the changeover to FCM.
"Implementation was thorough, well managed and took between four to six weeks after financial agreement. The process was smooth and project managed by FCM. We encountered only minor issues which were rectified very quickly."
- Global Travel Manager, Consulting firm
Data management and policy compliance
Several solutions and tools have been put in place to help the client's goals around policy and data.
- FCM reviewed all policy requirements with the global travel manager and made it an inherent part of the management information.
- Reporting was set up to be aligned with the policy.
- Reporting on missed savings due to non-compliance was introduced, which captured the reasons for people booking out of policy.
- Travel policy was revised with the global account manager and simplified.
- Through tools, the consulting firm can also identify individual countries or travellers where a manager is approving too many exceptions and not supporting global deals.
Results
The consulting firm now has increased visibility of both reservation and financial data. This provides them with the intelligence to drive policy management and supplier negotiations, and enables business leaders to develop more effective strategies for future travel budgets.
"The change to FCM Travel has improved service quality and kept costs under control. The global management information has brought a raft of global governance benefits through increased visibility of spend and policy compliance information"
- Global Travel Manager
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