Carlson Wagonlit Travel this month announced new safety and
security services, including an expanded relationship with risk management firm
iJet International, which now offers "a baseline travel risk management
solution for all [CWT] clients," iJet president Bruce McIndoe told BTN. In
that way, the CWT partnership is "unlike anything iJet is doing with other
travel partners."
The other major global travel management companies offer ranges of
risk management services, including basic functions and various additional
components that can be customized. Many TMCs lean on third-party risk
management specialists to augment their own technology and consultation
services.
A "customized" version of iJet's traveler tracking
system "has been integrated into CWT's core travel risk management
offering, which will be available to our entire customer base," according
to prepared comments attributed to Charles Brossman, the TMC's global safety
and security products director. "CWT previously provided proprietary
traveler rotation reports to clients, which were narrower in scope to what iJet
will now provide.
"The major difference with this approach is that we're making
travel risk management solutions available to small and mid-sized companies,
where it may have been cost-prohibitive before," Brossman continued. A CWT
statement indicated that "iJet's 24/7 intelligence coupled with instant
access to CWT's pre-ticket data will give companies the possibility to take a proactive
approach to traveler safety."
The "core offering," according to Brossman,
"includes basic travel risk management solutions," while more
sophisticated solutions can include messaging and response capabilities, asset
and expatriate management, pre-trip training and situational monitoring. The
TMC also intends to offer later this year personal security services, travel
insurance, evacuation assistance and "expanded mobile services."
Both CWT and Lane Dubin of American Express Global Business Travel
described risk management as "foundational" to travel management.
"It's always been about leveraging a series of tools and services to deal
with crisis in general," said Dubin, Amex's vice president and general
manager of sales. "It's not about flipping a switch when something
happens." To that end, Amex has invested in infrastructure including its
Digital Travel Record to provide more timely data.
Announced in May 2010, the Digital Travel Record transmits from
passenger name records the data "relevant to the downstream services being
offered," according to a spokeswoman. Those downstream services may
include mobile assistance provided by conTgo, travel security via iJet and
tracking and service recovery through Charter Solutions International.
"All of our customers have access to notifications around
issues, and all of our customers have some form or fashion of client management
reports that allows us to help them manage in times of trouble," Dubin
said. "Everybody gets that foundational level of attention," including
traveler tracking. Beyond that, risk management products and services in use by
Amex clients vary.
BCD Travel's primary risk management partner is U.K.-based The
Anvil Group, which provides the TMC with customized, "high-end"
security services, including "high-risk traveler tracking and a response
service," said Torsten Kriedt, BCD Travel vice president of product
planning and corporate intelligence. "If clients want full service, we
would advise them to go to the Anvil version versus our proprietary
system." The latter is built into DecisionSource, BCD Travel's information
management platform.
BCD's standard risk management services include PNR-based traveler
tracking, destination information and traveler messaging and alerts. Last
summer, it announced a set of services including "mobile device
tracking" and trip authorization for travel to high-risk locations. Kriedt
also noted the availability of a "crisis management team for those clients
that do not have the ability to run reports themselves because they do not have
a security manager or might not even have a travel manager." BCD Travel's
Advito consultancy provides risk management consulting.
The TMC also has an agreement with conTgo and offers other options
for two-way text messaging. "We do work with a third-party company that is
integrated with our proprietary systems," Kriedt said without naming the
company. "They are coming from the contingency planning/business
continuity side of things. Clients can benefit from their scalability."
In HRG's case, the risk management partner of choice is Red24.
"They provide us with the data and information regarding risk and
security," said Nigel Meyer, a leader in HRG's global IT organization.
"We offer everything from provision of that data to clients so they can
use it internally or with third parties right up to a packages of security
services that we provide through the partnership with Red24."
Of all HRG's travel risk management and security services,
"the most widely and consistently used" is the traveler alert
service, Meyer explained. "It is used by a majority of clients."
Additional services are tailored for clients and can depend on whether the
client has a pre-existing, direct relationship with a risk management
specialist firm.
Described in HRG materials as "core," traveler tracking
is furnished through the internally built HRG Travel Watch. HRG's newer
reporting system, HRG Insight, "will ultimately add a lot of value above
and beyond Travel Watch," Meyer said. "The key change in the
development of Insight is that it goes back retrospectively. If a booking is
changed after the ticket is issued, it will take that as the latest
iteration." A function within the system enables travelers to inform of
any such changes, though Meyer acknowledged that on the question of how to
track every traveler, "there is no perfect answer."