Finastra travel leader Mauro Ruggiero knew he needed to take action when an employee began reading aloud from a travel policy document saved from his first day on the job 10 years before.
The policy had been updated many times over that decade, but the employee wasn’t aware of the changes. Nor did he know where to find the latest version. To complicate matters, many of Finastra’s employees were just becoming familiar with the company’s travel policy for the first time. Finastra was created in 2017 through a merger of financial technology firms Misys and D+H. The merged company used Misys’ travel policy, so it was new to about half of Finastra’s employees.
A case study details how Traveler EngagementTM expertise from business travel consultancy Advito helped.
Challenge
“The basics of the program were not getting to the end user,” said Ruggiero, director of global travel management for the London-based company. “That meant we weren’t getting traveler compliance, which kept us from fully meeting duty of care requirements and capitalizing on supplier volumes to drive savings.”
Approach
Advito customized an education and awareness campaign that helped Finastra travelers find the information they needed and streamlined policy essentials.
- A travel intranet redesign created a cleaner layout and navigation, making it easier for employees to find program information and self-serve through the online booking tool.
- Infographics, city guides, videos and newsletters guided travelers toward policy compliance and helped them understand how booking in program kept them safer, reduced hassles and saved time and money.
- A redesign of Finastra’s Concur online booking tool portal simplified travelers’ choices. In-tool messages nudged them toward better spending decisions.
Finastra continues to expand OBT merchandising techniques—for example, using data-driven insights about traveler behavior to prioritize which air, hotel and car rental options get top placement in the tool.
Results
In just three months, Finastra achieved a 5:1 return on its investment in Traveler Engagement, saving more than US$650,000. Better policy compliance ushered in improvements, among them:
- 2% increase in online booking saved $468,000
- 13% increase air bookings at least 14 days in advance saved $91,000
- 3% increase in hotel-to-trip-night bookings saved $29,000
- 13% drop in air ticket exchanges saved $27,500
The savings demonstrated how small shifts in traveler behavior have a significant impact on reducing costs.
Learn more about the combined power of traveler engagement, merchandising and technology optimization. Ask how Advito and BCD Travel can help you guide travelers toward smarter spending decisions.
