Travel buyers take on new role in down economy
GetThere introduces new demand management tools
By Susan Avery -- Purchasing, 4/15/2009 2:06:00 PM
Demand management is a fairly new idea to travel buyers whose jobs previously were to enable travel, says Suzanne Neufang, vice president of corporate market strategy and solutions for GetThere in Southlake, Texas. Now, the role of the travel buyer is as much about deflecting the wrong travel.
“In travel circles, we’ve been talking about demand management for a few years now as purchasing and procurement become more integral to the travel buying process,” Neufang said in an interview with Purchasing.com.
“Travel teams that sit in the procurement or finance departments are being asked to make better use of T&E dollars,” she says. “Maybe the travel budget doesn’t need to be cut, although there is plenty of that going on in 2009, it may be that companies want to travel smarter and have travelers take the best choices available.”
Neufang explains that demand management is really another tool in the company’s tool chest to look at a cost that in previous years used to go up year over year.
“Now, companies are looking at ways to keep costs steady even while supplier costs are going up,” she says, pointing out that some companies are calculating the success of travel based on whether it helps generate revenue through either increased sales or account management or retention.
Last week at theAssociation for Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE) Global Conference in Washington, D.C., GetThere introduced its demand management suite, a collection of technologies and proven best travel management practices, that addresses such key elements of business travel as planning, shopping and booking, ticketing and expense reporting.
“What is most innovative about the demand management suite is that GetThere guarantees a corporate customer will save double the program cost in the first year after implementation or we will refund the cost,” Neufang says.
See also: Purchasing uses cards to analyze spend, seize cost savings opportunity in travel
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