Op-Ed: Travel Managers: Rise To Challenges As Roles Change

It has been an honor to serve as the president and CEO of the National Business Travel Association during a time of recovery and significant change in the industry. Since taking office in 2003, I have watched business travel recover from a slump that began with the downturn of the economy in 2000 and got worse with the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Travel manager members of NBTA have reported growth in their companies' travel expenditures for the last two years, and most indicate the industry has recovered to levels seen before the slump. That's great news for the entire industry.

And, while the amounts our companies are spending on travel may be similar to those seen in 2000, the ways in which we manage our travel programs have changed and continue to evolve.

Immediately following the recent terror attacks in London, travel managers went to work generating information on all employees in and around London and making sure those people were contacted. Thankfully, most of us found that our employees were safe, and we were able to quickly make any necessary changes to travel plans. Five years ago, some of us would have been able to do this quickly, but many would have had serious challenges in generating lists of travelers in a specific destination. The increased focus on risk mitigation has made us better at our jobs as we serve our companies in times of crisis.

As Sarbanes-Oxley requirements continue to change the way Corporate America does business, travel managers increasingly are required to ensure that travel policies are clear and that procedures generate an auditable information trail on all travel purchases. We are not all publicly traded companies directly impacted by SOX, but the stricter policy practices required by SOX compliance are spilling over into most American companies. This change puts travel managers in a strategic position to proactively protect their companies.

One-quarter of us now report into procurement or purchasing, and 30 percent report into finance or accounting. These reporting structures signal more than a change in the methodology of purchasing travel, they indicate a change in the way companies think about purchasing travel. Travel management is no longer just about negotiating savings and ensuring that travelers are safe and comfortable. We now manage every component of corporate travel, with duties including controlling costs, centralizing data, driving online purchasing and online expense reporting, mitigating risk, creating and enforcing good travel policy, negotiating and monitoring savings, ensuring good customer service for travelers and more.

I see these changes as a classic case of what happens when you do your job well—people keep coming back and asking you to do more. And travel managers have enthusiastically accepted these challenges, creating new systems, working with supplier partners and communicating with travelers to provide the greatest possible travel value.

Among the challenges travel managers have accepted is advocating for government regulations that enable businesses to make the most of travel. Travel managers are increasingly involved in advocating government policies that ensure travel is safe and secure, minimize undue tax and fee burdens, reduce negative impact on travelers and support the healthy conduct of global commerce.

Our roles will continue to change. Right now, some of our colleagues are spearheading exciting new initiatives that give us a view of what's to come. Travel managers are working within their companies to formulate strategic approaches to meetings management, applying some of the concepts and techniques of transient travel management to group and meetings spend. As the distribution of travel continues to pose challenges for suppliers, some travel managers are re-thinking buyer-supplier relationships, formulating distribution models with new financial benefits for corporate buyers and travel providers.

Corporate travel has always been a continuously evolving industry, and these types of initiatives will shape how we do business in the future. I urge travel managers to continue to be proactive, to watch closely what's happening in the industry, to take advantage of continuing education, to network effectively, to get involved in government relations efforts, to think and act strategically and tactically and to demonstrate their value to companies and travelers.

NBTA president & CEO Carol A. Devine is corporate travel manager for Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway, based in Fort Worth, Texas.