NBTA Attendees Heat Up Atlanta

Atlanta - Kevin Iwamoto was named president of the National Business Travel Association at the 33rd annual convention held here earlier this month. Addressing the assembled travel buyers and suppliers for the first time in his new role, Iwamoto, who is global air and car supplier manager for Hewlett-Packard, acknowledged that there are challenges facing travel management (BTN, July 30) and said he looked forward to working with all segments to resolve them. He also praised his predecessor, Cyndi Perper, and the NBTA team for the headway they made during the past two years.

With the ownership of traveler data continuing to be a flash point in the industry, the conference's final keynote address by IBM chief privacy officer Harriet Pearson succeeded in putting the data controversy into a broader context. Both buyers and suppliers have a critical stake in the privacy issue, she said. Travelers entrust the security of their personal information to travel managers, while suppliers—whether they represent airlines, hotels, car rental companies or credit card vendors—bear the responsibility of ethically using the customer data they collect. "When it comes to privacy, one size doesn't fit all," said Pearson, noting that a traveler's privacy preferences are based on culture, age and personal experience. "The person coming out of an abusive family situation will have his or her own sensitivities on the subject."

Pearson, who noted that 300 to 400 U.S. corporations already have a chief privacy officer on staff and that this number is likely to expand rapidly, proposed a set of fair information practices for both sides of the industry.

"Notice what you're doing with the information in question, particularly concerns sharing it with third parties," she said. "The sophisticated technology that's available has made this more of a concern. Consider, too, whether people are able to opt out or opt in on information sharing in a way that's meaningful. Certainly, security safeguards must be in place when you collect the data." Likewise, accuracy and accessibility are concerns. "For example, do you allow people to see what you've gathered on them?" she asked. "And how do you demonstrate you're being accountable? Legal accountability is one thing—the fear you'll be sued—but moral accountability exists as well."

Pearson said buyers and suppliers need to view themselves as merely custodians of the data. "Relationships—whether with your employees or your customers—are more important than the data. For their part, customers who don't feel respected will elect to opt out."

Ninety percent of 116 NBTA direct members polled by BTN said their average ticket price changed in 2001 over 2000, but there was no consensus on which way it went (see chart, page 1). For 47 percent of respondents, ATP rose between 1 percent and 10 percent, but another 33 percent reported it dropped up to 10 percent. Very few experienced a fluctuation of 11 percent or more. Asked to name the driving factors, those who reported higher ATP cited changes in published fares, changes in their negotiated programs and changes in travel volume. Among those who said negotiations were a key cause for higher ATP, 80 percent said they had restructured their existing vendor contracts. Thirty-four percent said they had new vendors.

Carlson Wagnolit Travel announced that Chicago-based consulting firm Andersen and more than 20 other clients are using Symphonie, its new integrated approach to travel management. Andersen in December began to implement the new model, which ties together all travel order processing, centralized databases, multiple access points and human interaction with robotic workflow engines, and phased it in completely by March.

Andersen, which does not mandate, already has 20 percent adoption of Carlson's internally developed booking tool, which is merely one component of the new architecture. Among other attributes of Symphonie is the fact that it never uses the global distribution system profile, but rather maintains a separate centralized database for profile information that it claimed eliminates the need for profile synchronization.

Robin Schleien, president of CWT North America, expects to roll out Symphonie to other Carlson clients quickly, projecting 1 million transactions by year-end and 2 million by the end of next year. Schleien said Symphonie's activity-based pricing model is less costly than other approaches.

American Express detailed its new TravelBahn network that connects all locations with a common, high-speed interface, while reducing dependency on global distribution systems. Andy McGraw, vice president of sales for American Express Corporate Travel, said TravelBahn increases bandwidth, reduces change management when clients switch from one GDS to another and ensures data privacy.

"We'll only feed off pieces of the data that the clients require to complete reservations," McGraw said. TravelBahn also incorporates GDS-bypass links to travel suppliers, such alternative distribution channels as Internet sites and customer relationship management elements. TravelBahn already is in about two-thirds of the American Express U.S. network, with full domestic implementation expected by year-end and international rollouts next year.

American Express also announced DealPower, a new suite of tools to help companies plan negotiating strategies and manage their contracts. DealPower includes an airline program modeling tool, dubbed AutoPilot; Rapid Preferencing Manager, which dynamically adjusts point-of-sale preferencing based on the number of segments a corporate client books on its preferred carriers; and negotiating support from either American Express Consulting Services or the Supplier Relations group.

Brian Moegler, vice president of American Express Consulting Services, said that support function will be augmented with additional resources to offer a more "holistic" approach. Moegler added that KPMG has been participating in a beta test of Rapid Preferencing Manager as a stand-alone feature, but American Express at the tradeshow began searching for customers to beta test the entire end-to-end DealPower suite. A full product launch is expected next January. Ideal customers are those with an air spend of $6 million or more and complex product portfolios.

A panel of global travel buyers and top airline sales representatives outlined the pros and cons of developing global airline programs. Gabriel Eshaghian, PricewaterhouseCoopers manager of global airline and car rental programs said umbrella agreements with alliances ensure a higher level of discounts across the board, a potential global bonus and improved customer service. "You can increase your discount in your home market by leveraging non-home market points of sale," he said. "It also provides a superior and consistent level of account management on a global basis."

Cindy Heston, Thomson Multimedia manager of worldwide corporate travel, noted that discount levels around the world will vary, however, as a result of differences in pricing.

"Published fares are 20 percent lower flying out of France than the United States," she pointed out. "And share goals will be different from one geographical region to another based on the discount and ability to move travelers." Thomson's current single global contract encompasses 21 carriers, including codeshare partners, and covers 12 countries.

From the supplier side, Alexander Rahe, director of sales of the Americas for the Star Alliance, said, "The bottom line is a benefit/cost savings opportunity from every gateway to optimize your travel spend."

Patricia Epting, Northwest Airlines managing director of corporate and agency sales, added that the ability to steer travel is more important than total spend. "Wherever we can gain incremental revenue, we will look at deals with companies of all sizes." The panelists identified helpful elements in crafting global deals, including data warehousing, agency consolidation, comprehensive communication, matching frequent flyer status to help sell the deal internally and an understanding of various cultures within your global organization.

Panel moderator John Heilner, vice president of Management Alternatives, added that in addition to a travel committee, a steering committee of senior executives from various countries could help a travel manager garner buy-in from the top.

Small business airline programs continued to draw interest on the tradeshow floor. America West Airlines' Corporate AWArds had about 1,500 clients at the start of the tradeshow and picked up a handful more throughout the week, according to national sales manager Steve Finke. "It is our primary source of promotion for this crowd right now," he said. "Any source of revenue is a good source of revenue in times like these."

US Airways' Corporate Dividends program also gained a few new corporate clients during the show. The program now has about 22,000 enrolled companies, 15,000 of which came onboard in the past 12 months.

British Airways said enrollment in its Venture Club product for more modest corporate travel programs in North America has reached 20,000. It was launched in Canada in April and has become "an extraordinary market force," said director of business development Bob Brunner.

Indicative of the importance that NBTA places on its new modular electronic hotel RFP, it devoted all three of the conference's hotel educational sessions to the format, which was introduced in January. The timing was fortuitous since buyers begin this month submitting RFPs that lead to negotiations with hotels for 2002 rates.

An explanatory session on the first day of the conference was followed by hands-on demonstrations on the two succeeding days. In these sessions, buyers practiced importing the text files received from the hotels into Excel spreadsheets.

"Because the data in the old format was so difficult and time-consuming to manipulate, we wanted to demonstrate what a significant improvement this is," said Tracey Wilt, purchasing consultant for business travel for Xerox Corp. and a member of the NBTA hotel committee. Buyers, using the new streamlined approach, would request the core pricing module from the hotels they were interested in receiving bids from—and use as many of the six optional modules they want. "No single module is so detailed that it can't be imported on to a single spreadsheet," said CEO and CIO of Uversa International Sean Shelton, who provided technical expertise to the NBTA hotel committee. The hotel committee's objective has been to provide corporate travel managers with more flexibility. "By only requesting the modules that work for them, buyers are virtually able to customize their own RFPs," said Sean Curley, corporate travel associate for Ford Motor Co. and a committee member.

Delta Air Lines chairman and CEO Leo Mullin, in his keynote speech, told attendees that there is "tension between your need to trim costs and our need to increase revenue." But, noting that infrastructure and not the economy is the "deepest concern," he reiterated his call for more runways and advocated transitioning air traffic control into a government-sponsored corporation, "removed from the rubric of the Federal Aviation Administration." Mullin also weighed in on the recent termination of merger talks between United Airlines and US Airways, predicting that domestic airline consolidation is dead for "at least two or three years."

Although it is conceptually clear that travelers using wireless devices have greater personal control over their travel and shave corporate expenses, limits on corporatewide use remain a challenge, noted participants at Wireless Revolution: A Look at Wireless Technology. Moreover, some travel managers suggested, corporate management of devices should be as utilitarian as travelers' approach to their use. "Solving your own problems saves everyone money," said Bill Niejadlik, head of WorldTravel Interactive, part of WorldTravel BTI.

Bethany Ziegler, manager of travel services for Wichita, Kansas-based Koch Industries Inc., said a wireless project within her company already is supporting 350 devices.

There are some missing links in terms of service, she noted, with a notable absence of troubleshooting support. Christopher Staal, director of corporate travel for Thompson Corp., said an increase in employees "working virtually" inspired a wireless program within his company. Now, wireless contact information is part of a traveler's profile, and their itinerary and confirmation is formatted to the user's Blackberry device.

Jim Thiede, senior manager for corporate markets at Galileo International, said issues still remain with coverage areas and varying compatibility between the United States and other countries. However, the future remains bright, he noted, with potential for travelers to be much better informed and empowered. For now, Thiede noted, "I think we're still on generation one of wireless devices."

While the use of wireless devices has proliferated throughout the globe, most corporate users still operate them primarily for voice communication, even though many devices are equipped for data communication as well. However, Worldspan is developing technology that seamlessly would integrate into corporate travel programs, providing on-the-road business travelers with access to necessary information in a convenient manner.

Bratati Ghosh, director of e-commerce strategic alliances at Worldspan, presented The Wide, Wide World of WAP: Getting a Global Connection, where she discussed the latest on devices using the Wireless Application Protocol platform and predicted the impact wireless will have on business travelers in the years to come. As an example of what's coming down the pike, Ghosh said mobile devices soon will be able to display gasoline prices at various stations along the road, so travelers can compare before determining at which station to fuel up.

During the interactive session, attendees participated using wireless transmitters to answer questions regarding their policies toward wireless, as well as their predictions into the future of wireless Internet adoption and travel. A majority of travel managers said they did foresee adoption and integration of wireless applications into their travel policies, acknowledging the convenience and efficiency factors for their travelers.

When it comes to customer service of an online booking product, "the user needs to drive the priorities," said Worldspan senior vice president and general manager of worldwide e-commerce Sue Powers during See IT Clearly: Customer Service in an Online World. "There is no savings if the users don't use the product," said Powers, who went on to note that a typical company could see up to 70 percent adoption without groveling to the subsection of travelers she termed "the resisters."

The key, Powers added, is to develop an internal "best practices" summation after early adopters within the company have settled into the booking tool. Identifying these people and understanding their adoption process will help package it to the remaining travelers.

Most speakers agreed that mandating usage has advantages and disadvantages, and suggested that an extremely open customer service approach was more beneficial.

Those using this approach should consider incentives, a clearly delineated contact person, a help desk, opportunities for feedback or travel manager compensation based on savings, Powers said. Worldspan's "carrot" approach has been to respond more quickly to online users' support questions.

Stacy Pierce, program travel manager at Gateway, said travel managers should learn the art of talking travelers into the belief that it was their idea to book online. "I think this is a great time, because of the economy, to shine in this area," Pierce said.

The National Business Travel Association honored Mike Kabo, director of global travel programs at Computer Sciences Corp., with its President's Award. Pete Turso, director of strategic sourcing at Johnson & Johnson was awarded with the inaugural Change Leadership Award for his efforts in bringing the issue of data privacy to the forefront. Kevin Kelly, vice president of business travel sales at Wyndham and chairman of NBTA's Allied Leadership Council, was honored with the Allied Leadership Award.

Newly elected members to NBTA's board of directors include: Kathleen Kaden-Reven, director of travel services at McCann Erickson/IPG; Betty Lucero, global travel manager at Agilent Technologies; and Calvin Smoot, director of purchasing and travel services for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Salt Lake City.