Identifying the Data That Matters

Forsythe's Michael Wereski pulls the travel data he analyzes from multiple sources: Cornerstone Information System's iBank reporting solution, Forsythe's two expense management systems and reports from other vendors. As procure-to-pay supervisor of travel-and-expense management, Wereski spends as much as 40 percent of his time pulling reports and analyzing the data. "At some point we just get buried in it," he said. "The challenge we have is what to do with [the data], how to organize it and present it in a simple fashion … and make decisions without taking forever."

The problem is one of scale. Small and midsize enterprises have fewer resources to devote to the piles of data available to them. "Small firms face the same [data challenges as larger companies] and sometimes it's even worse because of the different resources and budgetary challenges and systems," HSBC regional head of travel services Michael Lyons said at the recent Association of Corporate Travel Executives conference. During the same panel Tom Tulloch, North America managing director of business data intelligence firm Pi, added, "I don't know of any solution that's a turnkey, plug-and-play, inexpensive solution for smaller companies."

Still, SMEs can take measures to improve data management.

Access the Right Data

SMEs typically depend on data provided by their travel management companies, but that data usually is limited to air, hotel and some ground transportation bookings, according to Travel and Transport general manager of strategic initiatives Brian Beard. Often, the data the TMC provides is not as robust beyond air because hotel and rental car attachment rates are low, he added. Additionally, some SMEs may not have an expense tool or don't tend to issue many corporate cards. "They don't have all the data sets to pull from to be able to see their entire travel management program," Beard said.

An expense management system can provide more visibility into expenses that aren't booked through appropriate booking channels. If air and hotel are booked separately—through a ghost card, for example—managers have to integrate the additional data sources into their analyses. Or an expense tool can bring that back into the fold.

Configure the Tools

It's important that travel managers invest time up front to configure their existing tools, such as booking or expense management solutions, because that will determine the quality of the data output, PayForTrip CEO Cindy Allen noted at ACTE. Allen, previously vice president of Concur TMC services, said a tool like Concur's integrated booking and expense product can be more valuable when configured for a particular company. "Where a lot of SMEs fall short is that they don't invest the human resources and the discipline to stay on top of how they have the technology set up," Allen said. "Take a deep dive with your partners, whether it's your TMC or booking tool partner."

Tools should capture employee ID, cost center, amount, location and merchant or merchant code. Air and hotel spend data additionally should have data fields like class type, number of nights and ancillary purchases.

"It's not only important for the travel manager to get data, but it's important for the TMC to get HR data so when the traveler travels, the TMC not only knows who the traveler is but what the employee ID, phone number and cost center is within the organization," Beard said. "It really helps us on the back end to do all the process."

Companies have different goals, but in Wereski's case, he aims to improve savings. He does so by monitoring essential things like air, hotel and rental car spend, city pairs, individual employee spend, vendor volume and top travelers and their travel patterns and class categories. He also keeps an eye out for trends and anomalies.

Work with Key Partners

Lyons suggested that an SME should "really challenge its TMC to what they can do from a human perspective with their own resources." TMCs should be motivated help SMEs find solutions because what works for one client will probably help their other clients, he added.

By becoming resellers, TMCs may give SMEs more access to data-intelligence solutions and provide them with more favorable pricing than an SME might achieve directly with a third party, Beard said. Also, as with other technologies, the more time passes, the more affordable they will become.

Forsythe has been renegotiating with its TMC, Frosch, to include more robust data-mining solutions from providers like Cornerstone and Grasp Technologies.

More TMCs may begin to cater to all company sizes and offer to collect expense and credit card data for a full-service offering, Beard said. "There are TMCs that are starting to go down this path … and that will resonate well with SMEs."