Atlas Travel Develops Multi-TMC Benchmarking, Program Analysis Tech

Atlas Travel International planned to announce today the launch of a proprietary online reporting and benchmarking service platform that provides travel management companies and buyers a host of individual corporate travel program and TMC data aggregated from Cornerstone Information System's IBank database.

Akin to a scholastic report card in that it uses a 4.0 numerical scale to measure and report with charts, graphs and dashboards, the Travel GPA platform uses the IBank Effect real-time data feed to populate its database. The system analyzes a company's travel program performance on more than 30 of the 200-plus IBank reporting elements, including air, car and hotel spend and online booking adoption, and benchmarks it against other similar programs. A company's overall score is determined from goal metric scores, such as how it's meeting preferred vendor usage objectives, and benchmarking scores, which are determined by comparing companies by spend, industry sector and travel volume. Reports also can be broken down to individual travelers within a program.

Atlas chief technology officer Rock Blanco, who developed and heads Travel GPA, said his goal is to create the industry's largest benchmarking database, through which buyers can measure not only their company's performance, but also that of their TMCs.

"We know these things are important and we want to set a goal. We want you to say, 'If we can get more of our travelers to use the online booking system, then we can lower our costs,' " he said. "It's not relevant to set a goal of 40 percent and only get 20 and say, 'Oh well, I only have half of my goal.' Now we can calculate that particular GPA across all these companies in a real-time environment. The system uses goal metrics and benchmarking metrics to come up with an overall report on how a program stacks up within the industry."

Travel GPA, which also will serve as a consulting service separate from Atlas, was developed with input from buyers and a group of six other travel management companies, representing $1 billion in total travel spend: Memphis, Tenn.-based A & I Travel Service, Santa Clara, Calif.-based Casto Travel, Colchester, Vt.-based Child Travel Services, Salt Lake City-based Morris Murdock Travel, Baltimore-based Safe Harbors Travel Group and Jeffersonville, Ind.-based The Travel Authority. While these travel management companies serve as the initial data group, full deployment is scheduled later this summer.

Buyers can pay an annual licensing fee for unlimited Travel GPA report cards. Report cards also can be generated for individual accounts on an ad hoc basis.

While other online benchmarking tools exist, executives from participating agencies said Travel GPA is significant because it aggregates data from multiple TMC sources rather than just comparing corporate travel programs within a single mega agency's database. "It allows us to get access to benchmarking data similar to a mega agency," said Lee Thomas, executive vice president of The Travel Authority. "It allows us to set those goals, quantify the results and trigger how they can improve their practices to achieve those goals."

"All we've had was a big sledgehammer," said Marc Casto, president and COO of Casto Travel. "No single agency has all that data on its own. Every agency has aspects of that information. Now that all the data is out there and put together and can be shared, it allows any travel manager the opportunity to take a scalpel to their travel program."

Though data-integrity and privacy questions could arise, as several TMCs subscribe to Travel GPA, Cornerstone CEO Mat Orrego said TMCs need to give permission to IBank to release data. Cornerstone then masks and deletes details of individual corporate travel programs.

"I can't see where it would bother anyone to know something about that," Nan Lindstrom, travel manager of Chelmsford, Mass.-based Zoll Medical Corp. and a member of Atlas' advisory board. "It's statistics that will help all agencies that can benchmark and see where they are in the lineup, then brainstorm to see where they can improve. It's not a hindrance; it's really a help."

Along with the TMCs, the Atlas Travel advisory board provided input into the development process. "For me, it's knowing where people go, knowing what the cost of their trip is in the reporting feature," said Lindstrom, whose company has 450 travelers worldwide and a total annual travel spend of $1.3 million, handled by Atlas domestically. "Through knowing the cost, you are able to better leverage your spend and set guidelines within the company policy," she added. "Through this process, you can take a look at all these reports and get the facts straight to manage the policy better within the program and in turn better manage your budget."

Proponents of dashboard online reporting tools said adding benchmarking into the mix is an important step to help buyers examine their programs. "The dashboards allow you to look at the purchasing metrics, then purchasing behavior and then work around that," said TRW Travel Consulting president Tom Wilkinson. "It allows travel managers to see how they are buying travel at a glance, all the purchasing metrics around that and how well you are successfully managing travel. They highlight the important purchasing behaviors and allow companies to manage their purchasing behaviors and then drill down to individuals."