Travel programme savings and compliance, driven by data insights.
Maximising data insights to highlight savings and compliance opportunities from a reduction in travel and buying smarter.
Savings made
£1.2M
Percentage of online bookings
+85%
Objectives.
The travel team of a business process outsourcing company (BPO) had the challenge of reducing its annual £40m travel spend by £5.7m.
Historically, cost saving initiatives and supplier negotiations had previously been used to reduce the overall travel spend year-on-year. Therefore, the already mature travel programme required expert consultancy and advice to provide insights into genuine opportunities for change.
Our customer was delighted with how we delivered the project. The engagement between us both has been extremely collaborative and because we have been able to demonstrate the savings potential with bespoke insights into each division and business unit we have the full organisational buy-in of our recommendations from the top down.
Head of Customer Programme Optimisation,
Agiito
Solution.
Our programme optimisation team focused on seven of the BPO’s divisions, while data analytics were used to consider all modes of travel and venue-find for meetings.
We already had the technology and policy processes in place to identify the BPO’s reasons for travel, but data insights highlighted that a high proportion of travel was being completed for ‘internal meetings’ – those between company colleagues.
After our deep dive review, we were able to highlight a set of recommendations which we took to the BPO’s board for approval. We established bespoke business plans for each division, which included a combination of reducing spend on travel, particularly for internal meetings. But where targets related to buying smarter rather than just travel reduction, we built a focus around our top hotel/meeting locations, rail, and air routes.
Understanding the opportunities
We conducted separate divisional analysis of data sets to demonstrate how booking behaviour is supporting, or detracting from, maximising any potential savings, with a guide being produced to illustrate how the BPO can navigate their data sets.
Divisional representatives completed individual educational sessions with the BPO’s Travel Category Manager, to discuss the savings initiatives in more detail and understand how to optimise the use of their data.
A simple traffic light system was also implemented to provide a quick comparison of each division’s behaviour for all travel buying categories. For example, division one had the highest rate of internal meetings being booked in external venues at 95% - this would be a strong ‘red’, whereas division three had the lowest rate, a strong ‘green’.
A further set of recommendations were established, these were implemented with guidance from our specialist teams with the aim to achieve results through behavioural change, such as:
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Challenge travellers to book the cheapest preferred hotel available
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Eliminate the use of more expensive ‘anytime return’ rail tickets
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Book all flights at least 15 days in advance of their travel date
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A 50% reduction of meetings for fewer than five people.
We used data analytics to identify actionable insights to positively influence behaviours in a way that creates better quality and value in service without impacting user experiences and wellbeing.
Our team was engaged to evaluate how the new target could be achieved and we started by examining the company data trends at business division level to give us a better understanding where the main opportunities existed.
Head of Customer Programme Optimisation,
Agiito
Results.
Driven by data insights, we created a company-wide message that was distributed to launch the programme, with direct and focused communication to all 18,000 active travellers.
Monthly divisional and business unit reporting measured the buying behaviours and reported on performance. This allowed for divisional leads to challenge each business unit’s performance, and if targets weren’t being met, they had support through additional educational sessions.