Travel managers seek advice on cost saving

American express research

Travel managers seek advice on cost saving

Report by LYDIA WILSON

THENEED to reconcile convenient and efficient business travel arrangements with a drive to keep down rising travel costs is creating an unworkable dilemma for companies, according to American Express.

The company said internal cost-control challenges and external issues, including new pricing strategies and technological changes, are forcing travel managers to redesign their corporate travel management strategies with help from consultants.

European consulting services director Matthew Davis said: “As economic pressures mount, travel managers are seeking third-party market knowledge, specialist advice and financial muscle to deliver cost-saving strategies.”

The focus on business travel management companies as centres of cost rather than profit – brought about by British Airways’ Fresh Approach – has also turned travel cost planning from an art into an exact science, said Davis.

“Travel managers are confronted with aparadigm shift in the way that travel expenditure is actually planned and managed, and the shift ushers in a new era of financial rigour and accountability,” he said.

“Travel management is now a science requiring significant quantitative analysis to achieve best practice.”

American Express has issued a 10-point action plan that it said could help companies choose the right consultant to deal with any travel management complexities.

It advises companies to look carefully at their own expertise before employing an outside party.

It also encourages them to learn from previous consultancy experience and urges them to check that the consultant has the appropriate skills, training and resources to complete their given project on time.