Shifts in corporate alignment related to strategic sourcing and other initiatives have travel managers exploring or receiving new responsibilities in meeting planning, security and, to a lesser degree, expense reporting, while simultaneously leaving behind administrative duties from troubleshooting to processing traveler requests.
The amount and pace of change is one cause for ongoing industry pessimism, but travel management functions are not disappearing. Even though certain responsibilities may move from one silo to another, astute managers will resist turf battles and instead focus on demonstrating how they can support company objectives.
Recent employment studies by the Association of Corporate Travel Executives, Business Travel News and the National Business Travel Association's Institute of Business Travel Management all portray a fluctuating career path. According to an ACTE poll of 84 travel buyer members conducted last year, 92 percent said their responsibilities had changed, with 45 percent indicating they had increased in the prior year. Thirty-seven percent of respondents said their responsibilities had both increased and decreased, while 10 percent said they had simply decreased and 8 percent said, "unchanged."
"There is a continuum that starts with acquiring technical knowledge, moves up to people management skills and, ultimately, reaches what may not be learnable by all managers—creativity skills," said Management and Marketing Consultancy president Rolfe Shellenberger, citing a classic Harvard Business School text. "Note how good travel management touches all three of those levels."
One of the fastest growing responsibilities in the ACTE study (see chart, right) was "development, control, analysis and reporting." The study was referring to the travel budget, but skills around such functions can apply to myriad places in the enterprise. Increasingly, the gathering and reporting of data by travel managers is encompassing new sources, such as expense reports
(see story).According to A.T. Kearney chief global procurement officer James Haddow, travel manager responsibilities include travel security—which "is here to stay and needs to be part of the core skill set"—information technology, IT security, reporting to senior management, budget planning and collaborating with finance, IT and human resources to pool policies. Other, less directly related, responsibilities that travel managers have taken on over the years include corporate housing or relocation, air or auto fleets, incentive planning and telecommunications.
"You have to look at what you can do to increase your value and become more visible," said Keith Boccuzzi, vice president and general manager of the Northeast region for TQ3 Travel Solutions. "The one that comes to mind right away is safety and security. Security folks are very influential and connected." Both ACTE's and IBTM's studies showed an increase in travel managers' involvement with the management of crises, risk, evacuation and/or security.
"The challenge continues to be doing more with less," said Tom Barrett, global strategic sourcing director with American Standard Companies. "And the challenge is delivering the message of the value of the program to all employees. You need to understand contingencies and take on additional responsibilities. You need to be a key resource for senior management. Security will come into play. You need to develop global practices and policies and to understand technology and the supply chain in the travel industry."
According to Haddow, "Travel managers will have to put new technology in place, integrate it, and interface with HR and IT. Travel management will have to evolve into more of a cross-functional discipline."
While certain types of technology—such as online booking and travel Intranet pages—are growing rapidly in terms of their place in the typical travel manager's responsibility set, the general role of applying appropriate new technologies to travel management is nothing new.
"Travel management is not a technology, although it is definitely accomplished more successfully by using technology," Shellenberger said. "While technology knowledge is important, good analytical skills are even more productive in achieving travel management goals. Management is basically modifying human behavior, or 'getting things done through others.' Negotiation is only one part of that management skill set. Convincing both subordinates and superior management to take constructive action is a constant challenge."
People skills are vital in the game of corporate survival, especially as one looks to potentially "own" other management areas.
"As travel managers become more business-oriented people, and more savvy from the financial side, they need to continue to focus on what's in the best interests of the company," said Kathy Bedell, senior vice president in WorldTravel BTI's Southeast division. "So it's not that you're doing someone else's job, but really you're presenting an opportunity to save a lot of money. It shouldn't be seen as a personal agenda."
"You have to be careful about how you partner, and you need to be aware of whether you are stepping into someone else's job," Boccuzzi said. "It starts with the person you work for, with whom you can consider where else to provide value in support of the company's overall goals and initiatives. In many cases, you can read about that on the cover of your annual report. You have to kind of make your way, and that's facilitated by making it known that you're interested in learning."
The need for education is obvious. NBTA this year created a groups and meetings committee and is adding a new track on meetings in its summer convention program. Discussed in the industry for years, the consolidation of travel and meeting planning responsibilities is happening more rapidly than ever, "and you don't necessarily see procurement folks as connected there," Boccuzzi noted.
Expanding in less-related areas requires different sorts of education. "You can't suddenly take on telecom because you know how to work a Sabre set," said former Navigant International president Thom Nulty, now a consultant with Corporate Solutions Group. "There are opportunities outside of travel management, but all these things require training. Travel is such a major expense, it has always baffled me that the people responsible for it don't have more visibility within the corporations."
In some cases, the functions of a would-be travel manager are handled on an outsourced basis by the travel management company.
"Travel agencies are not going away, at least not in the next few years," said IBM executive consultant Terry Bynum. "Travel management companies in the future will provide industry knowledge about what is coming in the next six months that will impact you, more of a consultative role. What are the emerging technologies? Travel agencies benefit sourcing groups by implementing deals, but they need to be more proactive in bringing solutions forward." According to A.T. Kearney's Haddow, completely outsourcing to the agency "may be an opportunity in the next five years."
"I wouldn't say agencies would take over the role," TQ3's Boccuzzi countered. "I think the agency more actively supports the travel manager so they can get away from some of the more day-to-day stuff. It frees them up to do more within a wider area of responsibility."
"The more rounded you are, the more you can offer the corporation," according to SBC travel manager Rob Callahan. "There's a sense of fear in the travel management community about the jobs they do and a transitioning of the function to procurement. I see it as a transfer of responsibility."
The realignment of corporate departments is a major factor. BTN data showed the years 2001 and 2002 recorded a sharp spike in the percentage of travel buyers who report to divisions described as finance, purchasing, procurement or sourcing—at a rate of about 52 percent versus 29.2 percent in 1994 and 41 percent in 1998. According to ACTE, one-quarter of respondents said their current reporting structure was new, with 62.5 percent of travel managers reporting to finance, purchasing, procurement or strategic sourcing.