Summary:
A key risk management issue was addressed by a large company relating to data continuity when they changed travel agents after their RFP process by having the Airline Metrics solution in place pre-migration.
The Problem:
Nick realised that there was a potential breach of his company’s data management and data continuity protocols looming with the upcoming RFP for travel management services for his company. Nick was the Head of Travel Management with a travel budget in excess of $40 million per annum. When the pandemic hit and travel plummeted the travel agent who provided travel management services to Nick’s company went into liquidation. Nick went into trouble shooting mode and quickly appointed another TMC to take over and transition all bookings and management of their account to minimise disruption. Luckily the low volumes of travel made this transition relatively faster however all data which was with the previous travel agent was lost. In addition, since the new agency was appointed under an interim agreement, a RFP was looming which meant there was again a risk of losing travel data again if they changed agencies.
The Solution:
Nick wanted to put in long term solution that addressed the risk of data continuity on an ongoing basis. He settled on Airline Metrics which provided a service that allowed data retention and access regardless of which travel management company or travel agent won the travel tender and also addressed changes in future in case they changed service providers over the years. The system was able to use either GDS or IATA ARC/BSP data or both in case of overseas offices. This meant Nick was able to put in place not only data management and continuity protocols but also access a solution that provided comprehensive analytics on their air spend. Nick also ensured that the solution was put in place before they went to market so they could retain all air data from their current provider.
The Result:
The RFP resulted invariably in change of their Travel Management Company. Nick had however added data access clauses in the tender documents which meant GDS, ARC and BSP data files were available from day one. This meant a smooth transition in terms of not just data continuity but also reporting. All historic data was available and there was no change required when the TMC was changed. Airline Metrics’ extensive analytics meant that reporting standards were already setup and regardless of which providers were used in the future there would be no impact on access to airline data and information.
