A top global healthcare and pharmaceutical brand works with BCD for Healthcare Professionals (HCPs) and group travel. They use a different travel management company (TMC) for transient travelers, or those people who often travel for business meetings or work over short periods. The client faced two challenges:
- They needed a solution to use Concur for both their group bookings with BCD and transient bookings with the other TMC, without having to manage multiple profiles.
- They needed online access for third-party meeting planners to book on behalf of HCPs.
BCD consulted the other TMC to determine BCD user rights and settings in Concur, and then got to work devising a connection between event management software Cvent and Concur. Here’s how it works:
- Once attendees register for a meeting in Cvent, they are redirected to Concur. Traveler profiles – including new entries, updates and deletions – are pulled from the other TMC’s Concur site into BCD’s profile system via Concur’s API.
- When a traveler receives an invite to a meeting and registers in Cvent, they’re redirected to Concur as a non-profiled guest to book air, car or hotel.
- Upon submitting their booking, the reservation is sent to BCD to add traveler profile data (such as frequent flyer numbers, cellphone, email, preferred seating and TSA PreCheck®). The reservation is completed and ticketed by BCD.
- Finally, the traveler receives an itinerary from BCD with all their preferences included.
This is the first customer using an API with another TMC
to extract traveler data into BCD’s profile system.
“Thanks to our vast, global experience in healthcare and meetings and events, we understand the importance of a positive experience for employees and HCPs traveling for events. Our innovative solution and planning expertise go beyond fulfillment to further enhance our customer’s travel program,” said Tanya Green, Senior Vice President, NORAM Operations at BCD Travel.
For the second challenge, BCD needed to find a way to allow third-party agencies to book HCP travel directly online. To accomplish this, BCD created an access portal that allows meeting planners to log in and directly book HCP travel using a guest booking in Concur.
Within eight weeks, BCD implemented the two configurations for group bookings through the Cvent integration into Concur and HCP bookings through online access for third-party meeting planners.
The client reported the below results:
- Improved traveler experiences
- 24/7 booking access for users
- Money saved on transaction costs
- Reduced burden on BCD’s agent desk for HCP and group bookings
“BCD Travel displayed innovation at its finest. Our shared customer had a very challenging ask, but the experts were able to tackle the problem and find a solution. I’m thrilled to work with such smart people every day to meet and exceed our customers’ expectations,” said Jenna Baker, Vice President, Account management at BCD Meetings & Events.
