In Chinese astrology, 2008 is the Year of the Rat. According to tradition, rats are clever, hardworking leaders who are highly adaptable. How appropriate, as most price forecasts point to another year of insufficient supply growth for increasing business travel demand. As you'll read in Indicators, analysts are calling for "ever-more crowded airplanes, congested airports, sold-out hotels and, consequently, higher business travel costs."
Several years into this latest supplier-favored travel cycle, clever travel procurement executives have added to their standard toolboxes internal strategies to control rising travel and meeting costs. Deloittetargeted process efficiencies within travel and meetings, as you'll read in our Cover Story. Bristol-Myers Squibb, Hewlett-Packard and Vodafone are among those that have embraced "demand management" strategies, such as videoconferencing, advanced booking policies and restricted use of higher-cost travel options, as detailed in Leading Practices. To more carefully monitor the nuances of their travel spending, companies like Shell and JPMorgan Chase turned to a new breed of dashboardsthat function as real-time indicators of performance against objectives, as highlighted in Technology.
Meetings are definitely one area that buyers and suppliers have targeted for efficiencies in every aspect of sourcing, negotiating, contracting and reconciling invoices, as explained in our Coverand Featurestories.
Government procurement in the United Statesand United Kingdomlikewise has provided innovative examples of contracting strategies to improve employee use of tax dollars spent on necessary travel, as found in Case Study and Outsourcing. New Year horoscopes note that "the clever rat will do well to spend this year planning for the beginning of the next 12-year cycle. This cycle has been a bit difficult, but starting with the rat year in 2008, plans should start to succeed."
We can't wait to cover that success in next year's issues. Happy New Year.