Navan's Kim Hamer talks...
- What travel buyers say they need now
- Why end-to-end is so important
- Performance grades for Navan's AI agent Ava
- Market volatility and resulting opportunity
Longtime travel buyer Kim Hamer joined Navan as chief travel advisory officer in September. She sat down with BTN VP of content Elizabeth
West to talk about the new role and her read on industry transformation. A former
program manager for companies like Visa, Huron Consulting, Keysight
Technologies and Baxter, with an early stint at Accenture, she has championed
innovation and knows where buyers confront challenges, both internally and with
supplier partners. She was named BTN's Travel
Manager of the Year in 2022. Edited excerpts follow.
Business Travel News: You've been in your new role at
Navan for four months. A chief travel advisory officer is not something the company has
had before. What are the objectives of the role?
Kim Hamer: The goal for Navan has always been: How do
we address the needs of the frequent traveler and the needs of the travel
program leader as a part of that? It was really around putting someone in the
customer-leadership role who's been there before. I've been there before, and I
know there are ways to … move the industry forward. I really felt that Navan
was a company that had the infrastructure to do that—building out the products
and services necessary to address buyer and traveler pain points.
Now, it's [about] how will we put someone in a role to
impact the buyer, elevate the buyer. So I have a chance to come in and actually
impact not just one account as a buyer but on a much broader scale by working
with my former peers to improve and create the next generation of travel
program and traveler experience.
BTN: Navan has not always been viewed as a candidate
for complex global travel programs. But there have been some major recent wins,
including your former employer Visa. Navan also has landed at least one of GE's
spinoff programs, and Adobe is a long-standing enterprise-level program on
Navan's roster. Talk to me about winning those bigger clients.
Hamer: We're incredibly excited about the wins we've had. … I would say we are in a really good place to
be able to support a client at any level. When you look at those that are in
the large enterprise space, our global footprint rivals anyone in the industry,
and we are very proud of what we've accomplished. We will continue to work with
our current customers and prospects to show them ways that we continue to
innovate. I think it's important to add one of my mantras is that [enabling
travel] is not just about one piece of the ecosystem. Navan continually looks
at what it means to support someone—from the time they decide they need to take
a trip until the time they get reimbursed. Having that end-to-end bias is
incredibly important in how we address the market. We know we have to be able
to work with travel buyers and finance leaders—and the like—to say here are the
ways that we can address what's happening in the market today and here's how it
will continue to show value.
BTN: Where do you see the biggest opportunity in the end-to-end
value proposition?
Hamer: I had a real "aha moment" in my first week of joining
Navan in terms of the end-to-end system. Having integrated payments really was
a game changer for me. I'm a frequent traveler. I'm on the road all the time,
and knowing that I don't have to complete an expense report so long as I'm
within policy was huge. It made the mental load of travel so much easier. As a
traveler that really excited me. As a program administrator, there was a
different piece. I hadn't applied for my corporate card, so I hit a button and
within 30 seconds I had my card in my digital wallet. Obviously, it wasn't a
physical card, which I didn't receive for a couple of weeks, but I didn't need
it. It was immediately in my mobile wallet. That's great for the traveler, but
also great for the program manager to take that piece away. So I think you're
going to see a lot more on the mobile front, and a lot more development on
integrated payments.
BTN: When I talk to buyers—particularly large, global programs—most
are very conservative with supplier change. They are skeptical that tools are
in place globally to return enough value to justify the change management.
Programs like Deloitte and PwC have so-called "de-globalized"
programs to innovate. Most large buyers are unwilling to do that.
Hamer: My response to that is, you don't have to.
BTN: Talk to me about that process—not every buyer is tasked with
innovation and some have no appetite for it. How do you get to the skill, the
will and, ultimately, the bill to innovate?
Hamer: Let's not sugarcoat it. We know the scrutiny of managed travel
is at an all-time high, and lots of people want to do the right thing. My role
is to take some of the learnings [from my own experience] and the new toolkits
in play to help buyers along that innovation journey. I have to help them
visualize how they can transform, taking the pain points they have and actually
converting what [Navan] has done into practical use. Show how it will impact
their program, how they can actually improve and the steps they need to take.
It's never about turning everything upside down. It's about applying today's
tools to make this stronger or that better. And, not for nothing, to free up
time for travel buyers to be more strategic and show returns via automation and
AI. We can help elevate the travel buyer so they can focus on things that
really matter and talk about speed to value and how they are providing it.
BTN: Navan has seen good results with AI agent Ava. While I know you
aren't an engineer, tell me what value that and some of Navan's other tech
investments are delivering to buyers right now.
Hamer: Ava handles about half of the requests that come through chat
without having to engage with a live agent. Not to say humans can't do that,
but it's one of the aspects of AI that has worked really well. It takes a lot
of rote taskwork out of the day-to-day and enables live agents to focus on
things that matter most. On the content front—where we have direct APIs to [global
distribution systems], low-cost carriers and [a comprehensive] lodging
offering—we get the right content in front of travelers at the point of sale. I'm
very passionate about that. And one other point about the speed to value: Our
infrastructure and platform is built on how to get to market faster and improve
value for the traveler and the travel buyer. We flex and implement in a quick
way because we do have a lot of native automation. That translates into getting
programs to that value point faster.
BTN: What do you tell buyers who might be wary of AI?
Hamer: Buyers have to manage and improve the user experience. So how
can AI get you there? You have to look at how to use it strategically. It's not
here to take your job; it's here to enhance what you do.
BTN: We've gotten feedback over the years from buyers regarding poor
account management and agent assistance at Navan. Your role puts you in a
unique position to address that. Can you?
Hamer: As a buyer, I like to say, "You're only as good as your
last worst trip." And I've heard those perceptions in the marketplace
around our capabilities that we're a great tech company, but not so great on program
or traveler support. But I would absolutely disagree with that. We have the
human element in addition to the technology support, and we have the global
footprint. That's a very different position [than where we were] two or three
years ago, when maybe there was a disconnect.
Our Net Promoter Score
and customer satisfaction scores were shared in our recent earnings output. NPS
is at 45 and CSAT is in the 90s. Part of my role is to say, "Hey, we've
addressed prior concerns." For the buyers I've spoken to, a lot of them
have said, "You know, I heard this—but I haven't talked to you guys for a
few years." I think it's really important to say that we've put a lot of
work into the support we provide to customers and we want to make sure they are
really happy with those results.
BTN: As a TMC that just held an IPO and, from your own words, one
that is very well positioned to capture every level of client, do you view the merger
between American Express Global Business Travel and CWT as a big
opportunity to capture market share?
Hamer: From my point of view, our IPO has really helped us—and will
continue to help us—build trust in the community with full transparency. It
will show an integrated end-to-end product and how that allows us to innovate
quickly and listen to our customers. There's a lot of volatility in the market,
and the one thing I can tell you is that we're here from a stable position and
we're going to continue to focus on business as usual.
BTN: And, specifically, do you think Navan will benefit from GBT-CWT
dropouts?
Hamer: There will be a number of requests for proposals that continue
to come out. For buyers looking to be innovative and who want a real change
with access to content and the ability to address end-to-end needs in one
platform that will streamline process, they should come talk to us.
BTN: When you listen to Navan customers, what are they asking for?
Hamer: Our customers are looking to deliver a strong user
experience—and they define that experience in a number of ways. It can be
through tech-enabled automation or human support when you need it. They want
awareness around the journey and the ability to call a hotel when an employee
is flying New York to London for example and, check-in is at 4 p.m., but the
traveler won't arrive until 10 p.m. They want that kind of service, along with
the right data and analytics to tell the value story of that service
internally. They want integrated payments to support the expense process. They
want AI to serve them from a fraud protection standpoint. All of those things
are part of what we are hearing from our customers, and as those change, we
will address new ones—whether it's distribution or payments or whatever the
next shift is. My personal view is that payments will be a big change driver in
2026. We're ready for it.