Profiles In Travel Management: Kodak Developing Global Travel Picture - 2009-10-05

Company: Eastman Kodak
Headquarters: Rochester, N.Y.

Eastman Kodak's multiyear global agency consolidation initiative, which this year expanded to 35 countries, has enabled the company to reduce costs, increase service center efficiency and greatly expand its online booking program, including deployments in Australia, Brazil and China.

Except for a few small-country operations and those of a few recent acquisitions, 80 percent of the Rochester, N.Y.-based company's travel is consolidated with BCD Travel, according to manager of global travel and fleet Bill Lasky

The move from country to regional service and fulfillment centers has given Kodak a firm platform to launch online booking in new markets.

Kodak is joining the minority of companies operating in China to have rolled out an online booking tool. Onsite agent operations in six Chinese cities have migrated into one Shanghai service center. The company is using BCD Travel's proprietary Chinese self-booking tool, which uses several technology workarounds with the Chinese government-regulated TravelSky distribution system. For example, it uses a profile management system that resides outside of TravelSky, giving Kodak and BCD better control over its reservations and traveler data. Kodak also uses a local BCD database that can apply fares not stored in TravelSky and automatically book the lowest fare or offer lower-fare alternatives after the reservation has been made. Kodak local management has decided to mandate online booking in China for domestic and simple point-to-point regional travel, Lasky said.

While original agency consolidation efforts started in 2003, Kodak in early 2007 began combining service center operations into regional locations to handle multiple countries' reservations. With BCD Travel, Kodak combined its Canadian travel operations into a U.S. service center, but maintained local fulfillment, enabling purchase data to go through the bank settlement plan and be issued in local currency.

In Europe, 11 countries are handled by BCD's service center in Mechelen, Belgium. Lasky said the decision to move all service to Mechelen was based on currency, language and the center's ability to work across time zones, as local workers council regulations restrict operating hours.

Meanwhile, Kodak launched a single online booking tool with fulfillment through the Mechelen service center, enabling the quick addition of the 11 countries and their travelers' profiles.

Kodak uses one tool in Canada and the United States and a different one in Europe. "There is not one tool that meets every need in every part of the world perfectly, so we want to remain flexible to make sure that we adapt to the local needs and requirements," said Lasky, who would not disclose Kodak's preferred online booking tool providers.

To support its global travel program, in January Kodak transitioned its travel operations from a shared services environment to its worldwide purchasing organization. Lasky, who had handled some Kodak travel purchasing for about three years until September 2001, took over global travel responsibility at that time.

About a half-dozen people, none of whom work on travel full-time, support the travel program globally. Members of the purchasing organization who oversee supplier relations support regional travel operations managers. Along with all reservations and fulfillment, BCD Travel supports Kodak's internal team with global and regional account managers. The travel management company also handles some air and hotel sourcing projects and administration of online booking tool agreements in some countries.

Kodak uses an overarching global travel policy with some region-specific language, such as in Europe, where there is greater emphasis on rail.

More than one year ago, the company implemented a more stringent pre-trip approval process that requires all international travel be approved by the CFO. However, agents do not stop the ticketing process when travelers book outside of policy. Instead, exceptions are reported to the traveler's immediate supervisor, and noncompliant bookings over a certain dollar amount are reported to Kodak's global travel manager.

Kodak, which has 12,000 travelers, in 2008 had companywide air volume of more than $40 million before imposing cuts that reduced total corporate travel spending by half. Lasky said that drastic reduction came from a company directive to reduce costs and "travel cost is a very visible piece, so there is just a much higher scrutiny on justifying the need to travel."