“Adversity reveals character…” Is your travel program harnessing attributes of the well-run program?
Finding the value of a well-run travel program is evident right now if two or more of the conditions apply to your organization. Is your team:
- Deeply concerned about the productivity of the staff (i.e., experiencing “growing pains” or temporarily “laying off staff”)
- Wondering how not to lose the value of any airline tickets that staff has had to cancel in the past 30 days, especially if that staff is no longer on your team.
- Wants to limit risk stemming from “duty of care” applied to a travel program.
Let’s be honest; for most companies, managing a travel program during the good times can be a straightforward process. However, now is when true travel management excellence pays off.
“Cash is King” is a business adage that every travel manager will want to keep in mind. In simple terms, for most profit or non-profit organizations, “survival = cash flow” and it looks like this: “amount of cash that a company has in its bank account” plus any “revenue from operations” minus “expenses drain on cash.” You can dress it up, make it more complicated, but in the end, cash matters…a lot. This is important because the globe is likely to enter some rough economic times ahead, during which the “Cash is King” rule will reign. When the amount of cash that a company has in its bank account and revenue from operations are way less than the expenses that drain cash, your company is in trouble.
Suddenly, knowing how to tap into those unused airline tickets that COVID-19 caused might become an excellent idea. Especially if being able to use those remaining tickets can help your team generate cash (i.e close the deal). It’s part of the way your travel program fits into all this. A well-run program can help you keep the company running. It can help you gain a competitive advantage to make the most of your cash and drive down costs.
On the productivity of staff:
The Coronavirus, or COVID-19, is global news. As the outbreak and subsequent travel restrictions spread to new countries and continents, many travel managers and their travelers are struggling to sift through the news and reports to determine what the current guidelines are for travel, what is advice versus what is restricted, how to cancel existing reservations, what reservations are already canceled, and whether they should book, rebook, or plan to travel at all in the foreseeable future. A good travel program has daily updates via email and a web site to help keep travelers focused on generating revenue for their companies and not on complex travel issues.
On airline tickets that staff has had to cancel:
Anyone that has booked directly with airlines and needs to speak with a representative about a flight can tell you that to get a question answered is often a “wait on hold for six-or-more hours” ordeal. A good travel program has a way to rapidly cancel travel, get answers via a travel expert trained in problem-solving with communications equipment on steroids to the travel ecosystem. A well-run program has a support center with a call-back feature helping limit active waiting to keep hold times down in the most severe of conditions and can tell you exactly what service levels every traveler experience at any minute of the day. A well-run program easily shows unused tickets from canceled travel and allows an automated path to easily reapply them to future travel with correct airline waivers applied with 100% accuracy guaranteed. The same program allows the manager that paid for the airline ticket to use it for any team member of their selection via self-service tools that make it easy to gain the advantage of the cash your organization has already spent on travel.
On duty of care:
This is not legal advice; however, the measure of “standard of care” in the application of “duty of care,” means an organization must know what other companies of its similar attributes are doing to keep travelers safe and not in harm’s way. A well-run travel program can select suppliers based on safety profiles via policy. It can identify what travelers are either in or planning on moving in and out of areas that are more heavily impacted by COVID-19 on a 24×7 basis then give the leaders of the organization control to change the travel plans with minimal productivity impact.
Is your program harnessing these attributes of the well-run program? We provide all our clients these capabilities plus a return on investment statement that shows how a travel manager is helping their team win in the current conditions.
We continue to monitor the travel landscape throughout the COVID-19 outbreak and improve processes where we can. It is a highly dynamic situation, and we are adjusting to new changes daily. Any relevant COVID-19 travel updates will remain available here.
“Adversity reveals character.” It can help build strong travel programs for stronger companies. We can help you adapt.
-Patrick Linnihan
Contact us at [email protected] will set up a demo of our capabilities.
