The Travel and Meetings Society plans to release on Tuesday a free technology tool designed for travel managers to assess their end-to-end set-ups and "identify where specific strengths and/or gaps exist," the organization told BTN.
The tool takes the form of a downloadable Excel worksheet that allows users to select two paths: a broad assessment that includes about 30 questions across 10 categories, or a more comprehensive one, with an additional 172 questions across five more categories, said airShopRQ executive director Jeremy Jameson, who worked with TAMS on building the product.
Users can focus on their company's priorities, and the workbook allows for geographical designations and distribution of weighted scores, depending on how the travel program is set up, Jameson said. Users first identify their program priorities, then can set geographic regions and rank them by size. Users also can elect to have scores apply globally or only to certain geographies.
"The tool is cumulative, so if a corporate travel manager started with the high-level assessment, then decided to do the comprehensive one, their initial answers will be remembered," Jameson said. "It's highly flexible."
Both the light and comprehensive options include questions in 10 categories: business intelligence tools, connection platforms, direct connections, duty of care, end-traveler booking interface, expense management, health and safety, payment methods, physical security and pre-trip approval. The comprehensive version of the tool includes five additional categories: content aggregators for air, car and hotel; human resources information systems; passports and visas; sustainability and tracking; and traveler on-trip communications.
Jameson estimated that completing a high-level assessment within a single geography should take about 30 minutes. Once complete, results will show in charts with scores by geography and by category. "A corporate travel manager can compare how their geographical regions are performing in terms of technologies and integrations, and they can see by category where they need to be focusing a bit more in order to get the scores as high as possible," Jameson said. The tool also comes with an instruction tab.
The development process started with input across the TAMS leadership team, totaling about 30 people. A core team of five to six people helped with prioritization, including which questions to include, Jameson said. He added that 100 additional questions were cut from the final product, and TAMS conducted a beta test with five corporate travel managers for their overall feedback, which also helped to determine those 30 questions that are in the high-level assessment.