As part of an "aggressive" strategy to gain
transparency for its North American travel program, mail distribution firm
Deutsche Post DHL this year introduced a new travel management company, online
booking tool and expense management solution and implemented multiple credit
card agreements, in a process that Michelle Hunt, DHL regional category manager
of travel services in the Americas, said took only three months. The company in
2011 plans to expand those initiatives to 14 South American countries.
On the same day in February 2010, DHL in Canada, Mexico and
the United States began using Carlson Wagonlit Travel as its TMC and Concur's
Cliqbook booking tool and expense management solution, Hunt said. "We have
been very fragmented, and we have spent this year bringing things together and
consolidating," she said.
DHL operates 14 U.S. entities and 1,000 worldwide, resulting
in a disparate travel reporting framework, but Hunt said consolidating the
company's $5 million in travel spending in the Americas streamlined the
process. Travelers now "don't have the pain of completing the expense
report and saving the receipts," she said, referring to automation
available in the Concur system.
"If you make your travelers' lives easier, they are
more likely to adopt the program and tell people how easy it is," Hunt
said, adding that employees sometimes had said they did not file expense
reports because they lost their receipts, but "now we have taken that
excuse away."
More in-depth data for DHL's 1,500-property global hotel
program should help ensure that preferred hotels are honoring contracts. When
they don't, Hunt can use her data to seek reimbursement for those amenities
that were not, but should have been, included in the rate booked by DHL
travelers.
Minding The Mobile
Gap
DHL for U.S. and Canadian travelers recently turned on
Concur's mobile application, and for security and insurance purposes, DHL is
working with International SOS to track all travel bookings. For now, travelers
are tracked by the TMC and are asked to call when their itineraries change en
route. "We are trying to get our hands around the folks who make the
changes at the airport," Hunt explained. "There still is a gap out
there for everybody. We have to do the job of educating and making sure that
folks know to call in."
Working with DHL's security department, Hunt sent out "a
joint communication" notifying travelers of potential consequences to
bookings made outside of approved channels.
"From a procurement perspective, I need the data to
negotiate with our suppliers. From a security perspective, we have a
responsibility to our employees and our associates to make sure [travelers] are
safe and secure," Hunt said. "If you have corporate insurance, you
have to be able to validate this information and that they were traveling on
business. If they do not book [through approved channels], then I can't confirm"
the claim.
Noncompliant travelers are "easier to identify now,"
said Hunt. "We provide reports to all of our business leaders on a monthly
basis. We report a scorecard, and we code it like a stoplight—red, yellow or
green. If you have something that is yellow or red, we give [business leaders]
the opportunity to have the actual detail behind it."
Heading South Of The
Border
During the North American rollout in February, DHL used
Concur's basic training materials and customized versions to train travelers,
Hunt explained. "Once we customize the tutorials, we can do an online
tutorial that [travelers] can access at any time," she said. In Mexico,
DHL conducted onsite training. A help desk is available to travelers in all
regions.
DHL convened a post-implementation meeting with
representatives from all involved suppliers, including Concur, CWT and the
credit card companies, which touched on "lessons learned: the good, the
bad and the ugly," Hunt said.
In September, the company shifted its focus to South
America. Although implementation there does not present as great of a savings
opportunity in terms of agency transaction fees as it did in the United States
and Canada, the goal is to achieve spending transparency, Hunt said.
"The cost savings are less prevalent because the labor
is cheaper," Hunt explained. "I have almost a 50 percent difference
or more in the United States and Canada between picking up the phone and
booking online. I don't have that kind of a difference in South America. The
driver is to have control."
The online booking tool, she added, also can generate cost
savings "from the visual guilt," whereby travelers feel compelled to
book preferred suppliers. Hunt hopes that connecting the expense management
tool to the corporate card will allow more travelers to carry cards.
"In South America, we generally don't have credit cards
issued for a whole host of reasons, including credit fraud," Hunt said. "If
we can put a program in place where the card transactions are coming into this
expense solution, we can watch them to know that there is no fraud going on and
that they are not being used [for personal purchases] or anything else."
Hunt anticipates that the rollout in South America will be
quite different than in North America, owing to the many technological and
cultural hurdles. "We have different currencies, different languages and
certainly a different culture," she said. South America "is still a
service-orientated culture that doesn't support technology. Full implementation
depends on the resources internally in our organizations in those countries to
make that happen. Does everybody have a computer, or is there a computer
available to them to do online bookings or expense reporting?
"It's not something that happens overnight," Hunt
added. "You really have to take the time to involve your stakeholders. You
also have to understand the culture not just within that region, but within
your organization as well."
This report appears in
the Nov. 29 issue of Business Travel News.