<B>Gone Paperless</B>
<B>Name</B>: Christine Adams
<B>Company</B>: Georgia-Pacific
<B>Headquarters</B>: Atlanta, Ga.
<B>Total air volume: </B>$30 million
<B># travelers:</B> 10,000
<B>Innovation</B>: Eliminating the use of all paper documents
Georgia-Pacific Corp. two years ago in April began a program to reduce all printed documentation, including tickets, receipts, itineraries, invoices and reimbursement forms, realizing savings through increased automation and the elimination of printing devices.
While the company has realized savings in excess of $35,000 in equipment costs for STPs alone, manager of travel and meeting services Christine Adams said, "We've done these things out of convenience, not savings. I can't put a hard dollar on it, but it certainly has reduced costs." Adams, who has been with the company 24 years and has been the travel manager for five years, began the program by mandating the use of electronic tickets. Georgia-Pacific now issues more than 90 percent of its tickets electronically.
"We wanted to reach the traveler wherever they were. With the advent of e-ticketing we jumped on that," said Adams. "The opportunity was there, so we moved it to the top of the list." The company for the past year also has been e-mailing itineraries to travelers. Adams said the electronic itinerary allows the traveler to more quickly review the trip for accuracy, and "we didn't have to process them."
With the latest version of the company's electronic expense reporting system, implemented last September, employees no longer are required to submit paper receipts for airline tickets because the information is prepopulated from the company charge card. "That was a necessary step in our ability to discontinue sending e-ticket receipts to travelers," said Adams. "So, even though we are e-mailing itineraries to travelers, they don't need it to expense their trips."
Adams worked closely with her agency, Maritz Travel Co., to select the electronic itinerary and encourage its use among travelers. "They have been very supportive of our policy and have done a good job of carrying out our policy on their side," said Adams.
Georgia-Pacific has a separate offsite with a dedicated group of agents who are aware of the paperless policy. "We had to educate all of the consultants," said Adams. "They have to know in cases of interlining when it isn't possible to issue an e-ticket."
Adams has not had to go to the extreme of refusing to reimburse a traveler for noncompliance. "We have good travelers," she said. "They do the right thing; they look for the cheapest fares." Violators are given a gentle e-mail reminder of the travel policy, and all travelers are made aware of ongoing issues.
Adams promotes the travel policy through a monthly newsletter published on the company's travel Web site. Each time the site goes live, she sends out an e-mail with bullets and links to the site.
The Web site also includes the hotel directory with preferred and required hotels, contact information and travel forms. The site beginning this fall will host the GetThere.com online booking tool. Georgia-Pacific in August will begin a 60-day pilot of the online booking tool and by October will roll out the product companywide. While the tool may drive further cost savings, for Adams the primary benefit is another convenience for travelers.
"We want to continue to save money as long as it is not at the expense of travelers," said Adams. "We always want to balance savings with what we're trying to accomplish.