SME Buyer Round Table: Travel Risk Management in a Volatile World

From trade tariffs affecting global markets and increased geopolitical instability to regions of armed conflict with no-fly zones, ever-changing immigration rules or President Trump’s recent proclamation regarding travel bans and restrictions into the U.S., business travel is becoming increasingly risky business.

Recent discussion in BTN’s SME Community has alluded to heightened anxiety levels among business travelers as well as, in some instances, travelers being stopped from boarding flights into the U.S. or even evacuated from conflict zones. Here’s how three travel managers of small and mid-sized programs are responding to the shifting travel risk landscape:

Opening New Communications Lines with Travelers

Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., dental equipment manufacturer Dentsply Sirona has factories in more than 20 countries and sells its products globally—and that’s all powered by a workforce of some 15,000 people, 30 percent of whom are business travelers.

“A lot of our travelers are price shoppers, so if they see something cheaper, they're going book it direct, because that's what they think is best,” said the company’s global travel manager, Katie Williams. “There’s a misconception that all travel management cares about is that spend data and people don't understand the duty of care concept.”

Amid increased geopolitical instability, program leakage remains a persistent issue for Williams, and one she aims to address through ongoing traveler education. This includes posting updates onto the company’s global travel intranet site—which she admits isn’t a “hot spot,” so she’s also planning to create an instant messaging channel dedicated to travel enquires.

“We’re a Microsoft shop, so we plan to set up a Viva Engage channel to create an informal place for people to go and see if there's anything they need to be aware of,” she said.

She’s also advising international travelers to be extra vigilant about visa requirements and for employees coming into the U.S., to “be aware” of their social media presence and the possibility that this may be scrutinized at the border. 

“I'm also planning to create what I would call a guide to international travel here at Dentsply Sirona that has information for travelers as well as travel approvers.”

For travelers, this includes reminders to book via approved channels and to download the Crisis24 app, the company’s risk management partner, in the case of an emergency.

Meanwhile, information for travel approvers explains what to look out for—and what to “flag”—when approving travel via the company’s online booking tool.

“We have a formal travel approval process, but our online booking tool is not quite flexible enough to meet some of our policy requirements [regarding exceptions],” she said. 

However, the tool was utilized last year to help enforce a travel ban to and from Lebanon due to regional unrest. 

“That decision was made by leadership, a global corporate communication was sent out, and then the travel team was executing on that decision. We just created a travel restriction in the booking tool,” she explained.

Despite all of this, Williams said there is no specific emergency response procedure within the travel department for situations when geopolitical tensions increase and conflict arises unexpectedly.

So, when tensions between India and Pakistan came to head last month, Williams consulted her enterprise health and security department “to see if there was anything we should consider.” They checked in with the company’s risk management provider and Williams also consulted a few industry peers.

“It was very casual. There's no organized way of doing it,” she said. 

Tightening Policies and Travel Approval Processes

“We've upped our communication with our travelers [within the last 12 months] because we had to,” said Jennifer Legittino, global travel & expense manager at industrial tools and services provider Enerpac. 

This involved working more closely with the company’s immigration services provider and duty of care partner to provide travelers with information on extended visa processing times and destination-specific advice on safety and security. 

“I don't want to inundate [travelers] with information, but I want them to have the right information,” Legittino said.

Internal collaboration between the company’s travel, IT and security departments has also ramped up in the last 12 months, which Lettigino said has helped to “button up” the travel program. 

Headquartered in Milwaukee, Wis., Enerpac has operations in more than 20 countries, including a heavy presence in the Middle East as well as across Europe and the U.K.

Even before the recently announced U.S. travel bans, increased scrutiny of travel documentation at the U.S. border saw the company implement a travel approval process for U.S.-bound travelers “to better understand the timing of things and really for our security department to check to see what the state [of U.S. immigration policy] is at that moment. Are there any delays? Could they come across anything with their visas, for example, as well as just security in general…  We’re asking ourselves, do they need to make that trip? Does it make sense? Should U.S. travelers go there for a meeting instead? Does the meeting need to take place? And I think [travelers] are being much better about asking those types of questions because of the risk they may face.”

Enerpac also provides travelers with scrubbed laptops to mitigate against cyber attacks or any sensitive information being leaked while travelers are on the road. “We've been doing that with mobile phones as well. If people are traveling overseas or to higher risk areas, we don't want them having their corporate computer.”

Lettigino relies heavily on her duty of care provider, which pulls travel data directly from the company’s approval online booking tool, to power a travel tracking app and emergency response services. “That’s why it's so essential to have that online adoption… and ours is quite high, almost 95 percent, because [travelers] want to be protected.”

“Risk and safety are our first priority, and cost is definitely secondary,” she added, while also stressing the importance of keeping herself informed. “I think just paying attention to the news because as much as you can rely on your vendors, things are changing so rapidly that sometimes communication can't come out fast enough.”

But she acknowledged that “it’s hard to be proactive if you’re doing things manually.”

Investing in New Tools, New Partners

Anonymous, Pharmaceutical company

Another travel manager from a Canada-based pharmaceutical company who spoke to BTN on the condition of anonymity said they rely on their TMC for risk management support and currently feel “overlooked.”

With strategic sites in India and Mexico, a footprint in Europe and the UAE, and regular travel to Israel where “lots of strategic decisions are taken,” traveler safety and security is top if mind for this travel manager. 

“My priority is to ensure that my travelers are taken care of and that they feel they have a back-up, that someone will reach out to them [if necessary]. However, there is no support from [my current] TMC,” they said. 

“I would have liked the TMC to be proactive, but every single time [there is a potential risk scenario] I have had to reach out—be it Israel-Palestine, Russia-Ukraine, or border entry updates into the U.S.—the TMC has really failed me by not offering a single proactive solution,” they explained.

“Instead, I have to pull the [travel booking] reports manually and sometimes I reach out to travelers with advice or flag insurance issues to finance… [but] I cannot be monitoring 24/7, nor do I expect my TMC to do so... these processes need to be automated.”

This lack of support amid a climate of increased travel risk has promoted the travel manager to launch a TMC RFP with the goal of consolidating the travel program onto a single online booking platform. The focus here is technology, rather than service, they said “because the expectation from the CEO is that travelers book online. If you are calling the agent, either you are incapable or the TMC is not offering the right stuff.”

Alongside this, the company is also currently engaged in a sourcing exercise for a global risk management partner, which will be a first for the company, they said, and occurred as a direct result of heightened geopolitical tensions.

With strategic sites in high-risk areas, this travel manager hopes that “the right tools” with existing systems will drive booking compliance and therefore help to improve duty-of-care processes. 

“For me to alleviate any risk, I don’t [currently] have a platform. So, it comes down to having the right tools and the tech to make sure that every traveler is using the system… [and] to ensure we can continue working safely. Our travelers have the right to feel safe,” they said.

“Because of the geopolitical risk, this RFP is going to optimize the travel experience that the company has,” they added.