Suzanne Neufang
Corporate booking tool provider GetThere last week announced Suzanne Neufang's promotion to general manager. Previously serving as GetThere chief marketing officer and Sabre Travel Network vice president of corporate segment strategy, Neufang spoke to The Transnationalabout global capabilities and coverage, and the company's "collaboration" services.
One of your competitors [Concur] a few months back said only three booking tools "even come close to being global," and "zero of them are actually global." Do you agree?
Absolutely not. Maybe the competitor that was speaking didn't have very good luck themselves, but GetThere has a really good track record in going global with those companies that choose to do so. Does that mean it's easy? No. Does that mean there needs to be strong corporate focus as well as GetThere focus when these global projects happen? Yes. The combination of the right project management, focus, technical capabilities and global team on both sides is the recipe to make that successful. We have a big handful--more than just one or two or three or four--of large, important companies that have been able to work with us to help make their programs global.
Some corporations follow the philosophy of using one tool around the world, and others seek out "best-in-region tools." It sounds as if you are seeing more of the former trend. Can you explain exactly what you are encountering?
It really does depend on what a corporation's goals are. I don't want to undermine the goals of a corporation that has decided to have a regional approach. Often that happens because there is not a single decision-maker at the corporate level. There is certainly a lot of sensitivity among our customers when they are in that kind of corporate culture. It is a healthy mix of both that keeps us on our toes when we work with corporations for what they want and what we think we can deliver. We have had phenomenal success with those companies that have decided to go global. When that is coupled with a single GDS and a single TMC, it is a recipe for continuity for a corporate travel program around the globe.
GetThere claims deployments in 79 countries. Is there a pressing need to fill any gaps?
On that list of 79, we go where our [customers] take us. That list has grown progressively, certainly in my five years here, because of the zeal of corporations to move their online workspace to corporate employees that they have globally. I wouldn't say there is any pressing need. If [a corporation] puts a new country on the list, we work to see the capabilities of both GDSs and TMCs there, roll up our sleeves and get to work. While the United States has been GetThere's stronghold during its history, all of the other regions are pacing themselves as large growth regions for us. We have leaders in every region. That is a key thing that Chris [Kroeger, Sabre Travel Network senior vice president] brought to his focus on GetThere these last couple of years, and now we are set up on a global scale to grow with those corporations we serve, even a local or regional level in each of the regions.
How many customers are using the collaboration services announced last September?
We have several customers using the pieces that we have rolled out already. The development continues on the later phases. For the early phases, such as demand management and the employee collaboration piece, we have lots of customers on it. I can't give a specific number--that is not something we would disclose anyway--but I can say we have been very successful with those early phases.
Which of those early-phase services are most popular?
Demand management continues to be very important, and the lessons of 2008 and 2009 now are part of the corporate travel playbook: making sure the right types of travel are happening within corporations, and not just opening up the spigot generally as the economy gets better, but making sure it's the right people on the road with the right customers. The kinds of tools we put in place in '08 and '09 for them are certainly the ones that are resonating very well. As we go into the summer and the fall and deliver more around this [product and services] suite, we'll see a lot of interest generated both at the corporate travel manager level as well as the end-user level for the types of things that appear on their desktop and their ability to collaborate with each other.