BCD Travel data and technology expert Leslie West explains the travel management company’s commitment to high-quality, ‘clean’ data—and what it means to customers.
What’s the 10-second version of BCD’s data story?
Through the process of developing our proprietary business intelligence platform DecisionSource, we also have created one of the best data-consolidation processes in the industry.
What sets your data apart?
First, it’s clean. Second, it’s up to date. Third, it’s comprehensive compared to what’s in the market.
What is ‘clean’ vs. ‘dirty’ data?
Our data-collection process automatically rejects ‘dirty’ data that doesn’t give the right information or isn’t in the proper format. When we detect bad data—which we check for many times throughout our process—we ask the agencies that supplied it to clean it up.
We use BCD’s own web-enabled global data quality tool for this process. By cleaning up this ‘dirty’ data before it goes into the larger data stream, we provide clients with the best possible information. That makes their reporting more accurate and allows them to make better strategic decisions.
What does it mean when data is ‘up to date’?
It means booking data gets uploaded into DecisionSource in near real time as a booking or change to a booking gets made. Having immediate access to data in DecisionSource enables our customers to quickly spot a potential problem—whether it’s a large-scale issue with a hotel or airline or a smaller-scale issue with an individual traveler booking outside policy.
How is BCD’s data ‘comprehensive’?
We not only collect and store our own data, we also absorb huge amounts of data from other suppliers that serve our clients. And, as I said before, we make sure all the data we collect is clean, even if the source is not from our BCD network. Today, about 30% of the data we collect is non-BCD data, which we integrate into DecisionSource. That integrated data is really important to our customers, especially global companies that want a single view of a travel program served by different suppliers all over the world.
Do you expect your non-BCD data feeds to grow?
We’re always looking for new opportunities to bring added value to our customers. By being a trusted consolidator of travel data, we can help our clients gain visibility into their entire programs. That was the reason for our recently announced partnership with Airbnb for Business. Now we can integrate travelers’ Airbnb bookings into DecisionSource for reporting. That provides insights into how the sharing economy is affecting traveler behavior and better ensures companies can find travelers in a crisis—even if they are in nontraditional accommodations.
