[PULL_1]"Travel is one of those things where there's a lot of personal involvement; it's a sensitive area," he continued. "It impacts people in ways that are a lot different than if they don't get their pens and pencils delivered on time. You have to deal with things basically on an emergency basis. Procurement does the same thing. There are issues and problems. Systems break and have to get fixed right away ... so from that perspective, it's about learning how to deal with suppliers, internal employee customers and senior management; learning about the internal politics, when to bite your tongue, etc.; and realizing that we're basically a service organization."
Education, cross training and diversity are big parts of Steiner's philosophy, including a global orientation and participation in trade associations. "We try to make sure employees are cross-trained in other areas, so they may have a specialty area in facilities or in shipping and receiving, and as far as a secondary backup area, they may be familiar with emergency operations and those types of things," he said. "We want them to have the opportunity for growth within the company." The firm's global travel manager, for example, also serves procurement as a small business liaison and diversity program manager.
"Procurement in a lot of cases gets a bum rap, where people say we look at things quantitatively rather than qualitatively," said Steiner. "People think of short-sleeved guys with pocket protectors concerned about cost. New procurement managers understand that travel is unique, with a human component, but [that] it's not totally unlike any other service. So it's about providing that empowerment to employees and working with suppliers to trust them to work on our behalf. We look at our travel management company as an extension of the procurement department, and we want them to make money off of us. The new age of procurement is about understanding the needs of suppliers to create that copasetic relationship--so we're not just trying to go for the jugular and get the lowest cost. We're there to set up a long-term relationship, so we have a vested interest. If you build upon that trust, and trust that they're giving you their best offer to do business ... then you can work on innovative ideas like how to make contracts easier and faster."
Speed is a signature of Steiner's time with Fair Isaac. Moving beyond a "slow, cumbersome and archaic" travel approvals process that involved a variety of travel management companies and limited corporate policies, Steiner's team within two months built a new, comprehensive travel policy and soon thereafter struck new airline, car rental, charge card and hotel deals. Fair Isaac then established its first-ever "globalized" TMC relationship, resulting in a 12-nation consolidation by Oct. 2005 with Business Travel International.
BTI's announcement in early 2006 that its two owners would go their separate ways created a "quandary" for Fair Isaac, but Steiner's group wasted no time in bringing its original consolidation to a new partner, American Express Business Travel. Fair Isaac rolled out Concur Technologies' Cliqbook corporate booking tool in conjunction with Amex, and now reports 50 percent usage of the system, even without mandates.
Steiner expects difficulty in continuing a 15 percent year-over-year savings rate, but said expanding into meetings management and further fine-tuning airline and hotel programs should help keep a lid on costs.