NBTA's Shyman Focuses On RFPs, Internet

<H1> NBTA's Shyman Focuses On RFPs, Internet</H1>By Stefani C. O'Connor

Hazeltine Corp. travel manager Judie Shyman is at the midway point in her two-year term as president of the National Business Travel Association. BTN recently caught up with Shyman to talk about her priorities and the role that the association is taking in helping business travel managers meet the rapid advance of technology.

BTN: NBTA's most significant achievement during your presidency has been the advancement of standard request for proposal-RFP-forms for the many travel services contracts that corporate buyers use in their negotiations. Why is this effort important to you?

Judie Shyman: I look at NBTA as a member: What can it do for me to help me in my job? Every time you go out to bid, be it for airline, hotel, travel management company, meetings or surface transportation, you need to do an RFP. We all call our peers and say: 'Do you have one? Do you have a sample I can borrow?' I thought it would be very nice if I could have some models that every member could adapt for their needs. In addition, I felt it was very important for the committees that address the different segments of travel management to do things that are of direct value to the members.

BTN: What's the status of that effort?

JS: We decided to put RFPs on line and that proved to be very, very successful. The RFPs that we now have can be accessed by our members either on paper from the office or on our Internet page. There may be sections that are not pertinent to the way you do business, but you can pick and choose, take one from this section, one from that section, whatever would be applicable to help you as a travel manager.

BTN: Has this increased standardization of RFPs?

JS: The hotel RFP has been somewhat standardized in the past by the hotel committee, but all the others we have-air, surface transportation, including car rental, travel management companies, meeting planning-are new ones, so we're still examining them.

BTN: What kind of timetable are you looking at?

JS: At this point, we want to get feedback on them and we'll look at getting them standardized. Enough people have to go out to bid using them to get a comfort level and know what has to be modified. With hotels it was a different issue because it's a more complex type of RFP. The hotel initiative for standardization came from the hotel people; we haven't seen that same initiative from the other segments. So I feel that it will be slower and something we will reconsider after we review them next year. Then we'll see where we go with standardization. We're not going to rush to do something until we know the RFP is right and that the industry piece wants it.

BTN: How often would they be reviewed?

JS: Unless there are mega changes in the industry, I think on an annual basis would be more than sufficient.

BTN: Who would do that?

JS: The committees and the people who put them out.

BTN: What percentage of membership uses this system?

JS: The RFPs went up in June and we know that they've been highly accessed based on the requests from the membership, as well as what the hits are on the Internet. Although I don't have specific numbers, I would say several hundred so far.

BTN: One recent change concerning standardization is the endorsement by the Association of Corporate Travel Executives of the hotel RFP developed by NBTA and the Hotel Electronic Distribution Network Association. What's your reaction?

JS: It's a comment on how successful the hotel RFP is that it's being used throughout the industry now. It certainly makes life easier. I'm glad ACTE has decided to use our standardized hotel RFP. I think it speaks well for joint efforts within the industry, and if we can work together to further answer a need in the industry I'm glad to do that as part of NBTA.

BTN: In Dallas this summer, you mapped a course you dubbed FutureVision to help transition NBTA into the next century. Part of your FutureVision is linkage with the Internet, which you briefly touched on as far as RFPs go, and also establishing an information database. How much farther along is that?

JS: The database would be an industry database that would come out of our education foundation, now known as the Institute of Business Travel Management, which we announced at the convention. It would contain information that travel managers and allied members can utilize to get answers to questions, to benchmark statistics, policies and procedures in different areas from the corporations.

BTN: So you could provide data on individual corporate buyers?

JS: No, it would be aggregate data, because people don't like to give out their specific information. A sample question might be: Do you limit the number of executives or company employees on a single plane? And depending on what information we get, they might be able to see that 60 percent of the companies responding do.

In addition, to be able to help travel managers answer questions like that, we have discussion forums on the Internet, so they can post their question and say, 'I'm developing a travel policy. What do you think I should put in it in relation to safety?'

We're also beginning to look at setting up sub-levels of communication on the Internet so just direct or just allied people can discuss things that are more pertinent to them.

BTN: How soon do you anticipate the database happening?

JS: It will take several years to get the depth of information we want. Right now, we're in the stage of designing the questions. We need to be very careful. How you word something and ask it is important and we want to make sure we get the right information.

We're going to be going out in different parts of the country to ask our members what they really want in that database. They'll basically be focus groups, and they will be ongoing.

BTN: When do you expect to implement that?

JS: Before the end of the year. We'll probably do it in regional chapter areas, which to me would be the best way to utilize the membership we have.

We're also expanding our global focus and planning to do a globalization conference some time in the fall of 1997. We have different members and we want to segment our services to them.

BTN: Many travel managers suddenly find themselves having to be very much involved with technology.

JS: That's what our focus is, to bring them forward. In any job that you're doing today it's not the same as it was, nor will it ever be again. Travel managers need to stay with and ahead of the changes as much as possible. They'll need to know how to evaluate existing systems-for example, how to integrate self-booking with policy enforcement programs.

BTN: How are you going to help them do that in the future?

JS: Definitely by focusing on education. Travel managers have been advised to widen their sphere of influence to include meeting planning, fleet management, corporate aircraft, employee training, employee or administrative services, even food service. Learning the Internet and communications online will become basic business skills. We've been advocating career diversification for several years.

We set out to enhance NBTA's information function. We did it with our Direct Lines newsletter and the homepage on the Internet, where our members can get timely information.

BTN: What do you think is the impact on the travel manager of the end-to-end solutions travel management companies are pushing, such as automated expense reporting systems, self-booking and processes being keyboarded in by a traveler?

JS: I think it will free up the travel manager to concentrate on the bigger picture. The role of the travel manager is changing. You have to be much more technology-adept, you have to be a financial expert. You won't be worrying about moving those people, you'll be worrying about strategic developments within travel management.

Right now, we have to be able to position our companies so that if they choose to they can take advantage of these technology developments. Is this the right time? Each company has to make its own decision on where it wants to go. Travel managers are the advisers for this and we have to be in a position to put the company in the right position.

BTN: In addition to technology, what issues are the members concerned about?

JS: Besides technology, there's safety and security, the airline passenger taxes, legislative changes such as raising the international departure tax.

BTN: What's the most important thing you've learned so far as NBTA president?

JS: Time management. Only do what's really important. It's a matter of staying focused and having the right team around you. I've been really privileged to have a wonderful team of people working with me who really care about the success of NBTA and it's made all the difference in the world. All the input from the members tells us where we should go.

BTN: What do you hope to accomplish by the end of your term?

JS: I'd like to see the education foundation move forward, the beginnings of the database, stronger ties and more unification with the chapters, and for us to remain open and listening to ideas and thoughts from the members on how we can meet their needs.