<B>A Quarter Booked Online</B>
<B>Name:</B> Jennifer Loftin
<B>Company:</B> Cisco Systems Inc.
<B>Location:</B> San Jose, Calif.
<B>U.S. Booked Air Volume:</B> $65 million
<B># Employees:</B> 30,000
<B>Technology Vendor:</B> GetThere.com
<B>Innovation:</B> Driving adoption of online booking tool to 25 percent in eight months.
Many companies struggle with slow online booking adoption rates that taper off below 20 percent, but Jennifer Loftin, manager of global travel and expense technology at Cisco Systems Inc., has grown usage of her company's system to 25 percent of transactions since she implemented the tool late last September.
"She has had outstanding success with online bookings in a very short time," said Dorian Stonie, Internet travel technologies manager at Hewlett-Packard.
Loftin believes she can continue to raise that number and ultimately reach her goal of a 75 percent adoption rate. Loftin attributed acceptance of the tool to the corporate culture, which encourages the use of e-commerce tools. "The culture is in favor of adopting any online tools to save the company money and enable the employee to be more productive," said Loftin. "One of the most compelling things is the ability to empower employees to give them access to the information when they want it."
When Cisco went out to bid, it was with very straightforward goals. "We created a list of requirements and evaluated all of the vendors based on that set of requirements. We wanted to know, 'Can they fit into our architecture, are they innovative in their thinking of new products, do they have a product road map and ultimately is that vendor going to be able to deliver?' "
Cisco partnered with technology provider GetThere.com, whose online booking tool has been saving Cisco money both in direct travel costs and transaction costs. Cisco on average has realized cost savings of $100 per air booking, and 66 percent savings on cost per transaction.
About 12,000 of the 30,000 employees within the company already are using the online booking tool, and that number is increasing dramatically. And while the company is growing at an amazing rate, bringing on between 1,000 to 1,200 new employees each month, that growth has not been an obstacle for Loftin. In fact, it's been an opportunity, as she has been able to immediately educate new employees about the company's preferred method of booking travel and get them in the habit when they first come on board. "Rather than having to convert them to the tool, we just tell them this is what we do here. It's very easy to do with new employees," said Loftin. "We tell them they can call, but this is our first choice."
With the help of GetThere.com, Loftin introduced the capability so an online profile is automatically created for new employees via a PeopleSoft feed from the human resources department.
Traveler profiles, as well as information, online card applications and card statements, reside on a specific travel and expense portal within the company intranet. The travel and expense Web site is the second most visited Web site on the whole corporate intranet, after its stock price information site--though investor information also helps to increase use of the online booking tool. "As long as we educate them on the cost savings, we all buy into it because we all are shareholders in the company," said Loftin.
Loftin also has introduced a dedicated customer support desk for questions related to the booking application.
"We are able to cut down on head count, and let agents do their jobs," said Loftin. "We really stay close to travelers, and ask: 'What are their needs?' We monitor questions to determine if they are asking the same types of questions, and prioritize enhancements."
Loftin, in concert with GetThere, also created an application that sends a random survey to every tenth traveler who books online. Loftin this week will begin sending out the survey with questions about overall satisfaction, ease of use, speed, utility of the Web versus the phone, effectiveness and quality. Loftin said the survey is a way to understand where improvements are needed, as well as solicit positive feedback. "Rarely do people send you good things," said Loftin. "This is a way to proactively go out and ask for a response.