Travel Manager Of The Year

Colleen Guhin, Texas Instruments

By Mary Ann McNulty

Dallas - In the constantly evolving travel business, the travel manager's job is never done. It's always being refined.

But in the past year at Texas Instruments, the level of refinement has reached new heights as travel manager Colleen Guhin and her team of four began to reengineer the travel process, developed an intranet travel Web page, produced an award-winning video outlining travel procedures, initiated a study of European travel best practices with other companies and agencies (BTN, Aug. 5), and issued an automation request for proposal that's viewed as second to none.

In refining TI's travel program, Guhin also has raised the bar for other travel managers. That's why Business Travel News has selected Guhin as its 1996 Travel Manager of the Year.

Recognizing that travel management would change radically, starting with the commission caps and continuing through electronic ticketing and other distribution changes, Guhin executed a travel reengineering project last year. The objectives were clear: one, determine the cost and efficiency of the current travel process; two, evaluate alternative methods that would improve the process; and three, understand customers' perceptions of travel automation.

The stakes were high, as the distribution changes threatened to unravel TI's corporate travel program. Airlines have been sending TI employees diskettes to book their own travel directly and earn 500 frequent flyer miles. If travelers use the software, Guhin said, TI will lose control of the booking, the data and the negotiating leverage built over the past seven years.

Following textbook examples of business process reengineering, Guhin formed a multifunctional reengineering team and hired consultants to conduct the research so she and her travel team could continue to perform their jobs. The consultants conducted interviews and focus groups and sent surveys to 8,000 travelers and arrangers to determine their needs and perceptions. The response was clear: Travelers wanted automation and they wanted it now, Guhin said. Top priorities were automated booking and automated expense reporting software (BTN, Feb. 12).

For the reengineering project, the team mapped the current travel process and associated costs. It also developed the RFP with detailed criteria for both automated booking and travel, as well as entertainment expense systems. The project included justifying cost savings and securing management buy-in to proceed. The latter was eased when the team projected savings of over $1 million in the first year and as much as $10 million over five years.

Although the dearth of automated booking and T&E expense management systems on the market has slowed TI's vendor selection, Guhin has chosen one booking product to beta test. Guhin declined to name the product, but said the plan is to distribute it to 500 employees for six months. Guhin intends to distribute it to a diverse group of employees-both frequent and infrequent travelers, employees with high-tech and low-tech exposure, those based at headquarters and those in field offices, and both travelers and arrangers.

On the expense reporting product, Guhin intends to wait until the fourth quarter of this year before moving forward. For now, Guhin has asked travelers not to use the airline booking systems and told them of steps the department is taking to meet their expectations.

As if the reengineering and RFP weren't enough to tackle in a year, the travel department also launched an Intranet Web page in May. Topics include detailed hotel information for TI's preferred hotels worldwide, company travel policy and procedures, details on agency services and contacts, hot topics and news, expense reporting guidelines, frequently asked questions and an area called "sound-off" where travelers can solicit information from corporate travel and key suppliers.

TI also hired a consultant to develop cultural information about frequently traveled international destinations, Guhin said. The intent is to help TI's 20,000 travelers better plan and execute their business travel.

"Our travel page is getting more hits than any other page on our intranet," Guhin said. Any of TI's 57,000 employees can access the site, provided they have a browser installed on their computer.

In the same theme of servicing travelers, the travel department produced a video called "Mission: Travel," designed to familiarize travelers and arrangers with proper travel planning procedures. The video won an award from the International Association of Business Communications.

Also during the past year, Guhin reorganized the travel department staff to better align with the direction of the travel industry. Richard Wooten was hired as travel systems specialist, charged with improving automation of the travel process and improving the productivity of business travelers on the road. Yvonne Wootten (no relation to Richard) serves as manager of travel strategies for air, hotel and ground transportation issues. Dee Plana is manager of customer service and liaison between employees and suppliers. Erma Bownes provides administrative support and handles almost 80 percent of the e-mail and phone queries that come into the department. "I certainly haven't done all this myself," Guhin said of her team's accomplishments over the past year.

Guhin joined TI 16 years ago and moved to the travel staff in 1989, working with Richard Stouffer, who remains her boss, to develop and execute a strategic travel program. Early on, TI didn't even know how much it spent on travel. But using her background in math and MBA in logistics, Guhin quickly put a process in place to capture the data and then to consolidate domestically and globally.

Several years ago, TI completed consolidation of its $90 million global air volume, using American Express as its agency and payment system.

After crossing every hurdle during the past year, Guhin is convinced that her team is reengineering travel the right way. "Every time we get past another challenge, it's validated that our process is good," she said. "We did it right.