INSIGHT

Is it time to review your travel department?

OTR blog
If you’re one of the many organizations that has downsized or restructured your travel department due to COVID-19 and now find yourself strapped for resources – a travel department review could well be in order.
With the global vaccination roll-out gaining momentum and travel activity ramping up – the work required to effectively manage a growing corporate travel program can pile up quickly.

Without the right team in place and travel skillset on hand, your post-COVID skeleton team is most likely under the pump, struggling to cope with increasing administration, travel reporting or supplier management. Adding to these tasks are all the other things that come with having a growing mobile workforce like risk management and policy updates. If this is sounding all too familiar, read on!

Outsourcing all or parts of your travel management can reduce the stress on your existing team members and easily flex to suit the unique requirements of your travel program and volume.

FCM Consulting’s Outsourced Travel Resource (OTR) solution provides the flexibility to harness as much, or as little, support as you need. Curious if OTR is the right solution for you? Check out these five signs to see if you can relate:

  • Your Travel Manager or travel department was stood down due to COVID-19. Now you’re left without a dedicated person or team to oversee your travel management
  • You let go of your procurement or travel category manager and now lack the in-house expertise to handle supplier contracts and negotiations
  • The recent increase in travel activity has your existing Travel Manager swamped with basic admin tasks that could easily be handled by someone more junior
  • Your restructured travel department lacks someone with the technical know-how to maintain your online booking tool (OBT)
  • Your business needs help to update your travel policy or travel risk management program to ensure traveler health and safety.

 

The beauty of OTR is that companies benefit from the travel management expertise of industry professionals who have a deep understanding of the sector. Plus, your OTR arrangement can easily flex to suit your company’s travel volume and needs. This means if your organization is only traveling at 30% of your historical volume and over the next year your activity increases to 60%, your OTR team’s support increases proportionately. With OTR, the cost of your travel management is always aligned with your program’s requirements.

According to FCM Consulting, a growing number of national and multinational companies are opting for OTR due to the ease and flexibility the solution offers.

FCM Consulting can help your business identify where the gaps are in your travel management ecosystem and advise which OTR solution is best for your business. Below are a few examples of where OTR can help to streamline the travel management process:

Fully Outsourced Travel Department

Companies with small to mid-sized travel programs that don’t have a dedicated Travel Manager or team could benefit from a fully outsourced travel department. With this option, your company can tap into the expertise of a team of highly experienced consultants (which can include a Program Lead, Senior Consultant, Lead Analyst, Travel Category Specialist, Communications and Training Leader as well as a Project Coordinator, based on your specific needs). Your OTR team would be focused on:

  • driving program savings
  • enhancing traveler and stakeholder service
  • ensure traveler safety
  • promoting program sustainability.

Whether you need help with program admin, strategy and program direction, supplier benchmarking or training – this option saves you from increasing your headcount and gives you expertise on tap. 

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Outsourced Travel Admin

This resource would suit companies with a travel or procurement manager interested in offloading high-frequency, low-value tasks. This solution is perfect for organizations that need someone to manage the daily admin tasks of a well-run travel program — answering traveler queries or complaints, service issue resolution, scheduling reviews, distributing reports and running training.

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Outsourced Online Booking Tool (OBT) Admin

An OBT Admin is great for a company with an in-house travel or procurement manager who needs to offload OBT maintenance. If you need help to update messaging or policy, adapt supplier listings or fix a technical issue, this resource is invaluable to organizations looking for a simple way to streamline a key travel tool. Meanwhile, if it’s a dedicated resource you’re looking for, no worries. FCM Consulting can give you a dedicated industry professional who will lend a hand in any travel program area that your business needs help with.

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While the above OTR solutions have proven to be highly effective for many companies, FCM Consulting’s OTR is flexible and can be tailored to suit the needs and specific objectives of individual travel programs. Interested? We hope so!

Ready for a smarter way to manage your current volume of travel?

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