Interview: IJet's Bruce McIndoe

Denver - IJet Intelligent Risk Systems in May was acquired by 3i-Mind, a provider of risk management software. IJet president Bruce McIndoe last week spoke here on the sidelines of the Global Business Travel Association annual conference with BTN executive editor David Jonas. Topics included that acquisition, the company's growing sales team, pros and cons of direct iJet contracts versus using services through travel management company arrangements, and lessons learned from recent world crises and natural disasters. Excerpts follow.

Why did the acquisition occur?

The [iJet] board of directors in 2008 said we needed more money to roll out what we are doing globally. They were going to go into the market to raise funds, but in 2008 the market completely dried up. In early 2010, we revisited and the board looked at two options: raising funds or strategic acquisition. The best deal that was put on the table was a strategic acquisition. It's everything we wanted: deep pockets, global footprint and technology.

What does all that allow you to do?

They committed as part of the acquisition to do capital investment for iJet relative to our technology, and they also committed to building a global sales platform. We will probably quadruple our sales force in the next 24 months. On the technology side, 3i-Mind has incredible intelligence processing technology that is going to raise our game on the intelligence side, so we can be deeper, faster and more specific on the intelligence we produce for clients. We have almost 70 analysts, and making them more productive is huge for our clients. Being part of an organization with offices in many countries gives us more local access to our clients, partners, etc.

What has been the profile of iJet's customers?

We have around 600 clients. Probably two-thirds of those are U.S.-domiciled corporations.

Are they all very large?

They are generally Fortune 2000-type clients.

With a larger sales force, will that continue to be the profile?

We are basically trying to have the success that we have had in North America move to Europe and Asia. Our business is operating risk management, and travel is just one component.

How much work do you do with travel management companies?

We are the major risk management partner for American Express. We are the primary partner with Carlson [Wagonlit Travel]. And we work with dozens of other travel agencies.

What would be different by working with iJet through an arrangement with a travel management company versus using iJet services directly?

One is ease of buying. Procurement people can wrap this up in one contract with a TMC and not deal with two suppliers. The bigger guys have more volume and margin to usually provide better pricing than our rack rate if you come to us independently. Some people who look at working directly say, "The travel piece is nice, but we also want [support for] expats, facilities and our supply chain." The TMCs don't sell that. If you want a full operating risk management solution, then you end up coming direct. Or, we could do a hybrid program where they still buy the travel [support services] from a partner and we augment the platform.

What new products and services have you developed?

We upgraded our Critical Contact [communications service]: mass two-way communication to travelers. I can now go out and do text, email and voice [messages to travelers]. I can type in a text message, and [the system] will call your cell phone and speak the message to you. It may say, "Press 1 if you are OK. Press 2 if you want to be connected to a response coordinator." It's very useful when an organization needs to contact dozens, hundreds or thousands of people.

I assume that people in your position learn new things from each new crisis or natural disaster. Given the earthquake and tsunami in Japan and upheaval across the Middle East and North Africa, what have you recently learned?

Egypt was a perfect case where there was predictive intelligence, but some clients did not heed the predictive intelligence. Now clients are more attuned to the fact that they need to pay more attention to things before they become problematic. In Japan, organizations got religion around the fact that it's not all about transient travelers. It's about expats on long-term assignments and people in the facilities in Japan. Some organizations found that the systems didn't work or weren't coordinated. The travel manager in three seconds could see all the travelers in Japan, but the rest of the company—mobility, facilities, etc.—fumbled the ball. The second lesson: when they went to the human resources systems and downloaded all the information on Japanese employees, [most] of those employees did not have their cell phone number in the HR system. Some CEOs basically said, "I am paying for those phones. Why aren't the numbers in the system?" They were really angry. Lots of companies now are scrambling to get phone numbers loaded in.

Why does it take a catastrophe like Japan's to force organizations to take these steps?

In general, my clients have 30 things on their plates, and it's the crisis of the moment. They dealt with it, and corrective actions fade off into history. And companies are running leaner. It can't be tasked out to a junior travel person because [many organizations] don't have any.

What other areas have emerged?

I have been spending time with clients on cyber information asset protection and social media risk. Those are the new things that companies have to deal with, balancing the benefit with risk issues, quantifying it and mitigating those risks.

Is one way to mitigate such risks sending travelers overseas with clean laptops and requiring them to access files remotely?

To some degree. Cloud-based storage is a potential solution. There are all kinds of technical solutions, but the first line of defense is cognizance. Some are completely clueless about what competitors or certain nation-states out there try to do. There is basic blocking and tackling: encrypted USB, encrypted hard drives and virtual private networks. You do those three things and you are in pretty good shape.

What are the next steps for iJet particularly or the travel risk management discipline generally?

This whole explosion of mobile technology is a huge shift for everyone. All industries are scrambling. Figuring out how to leverage location-based services on mobile devices while being sensitive to privacy and civil liberties is going to be a big issue in the travel industry for years.