The art of penny pinching – not spending money unnecessarily, rather than being cheap – is a sound policy for any corporation in tough economic times. From a travel perspective that means casting an eye over your corporate procurement policies because it is largely with forward planning that there are substantial savings to be made, […]
Planning will pinch your travel penny Read More »
Traditional ways for a corporate business traveller to book a trip are changing dramatically and rapidly. There are so many more choices and tools available than ever before, via more innovative sources and channels, Ross Kata noted at a recent ITMSA travel forum. “The trend is now towards business self-service, which has accelerated owing to
Business travel procurement – the future is arriving fast Read More »
South African organisations have enjoyed declining domestic air ticket prices over the last 24 months on routes between Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban. However, there are further savings to be made, Karen van Staden of benchmarking organisation Purchasing Index (PI) tells SmartProcurement. Over the last couple of years costs for domestic airlines have risen dramatically
Further domestic air ticket savings possible Read More »
Most travel procurement managers are well versed in the various systems available to them in their quest to bring efficient management and reporting to their travel programmes. However, efficiently using various different systems to complete a booking is still inefficient, Jim Weighell, Corporate Manager at Sure Travel, tells SmartProcurement.
Travel management system integration is true efficiency Read More »
The second quarter of 2011 shows that business travel volumes are in a recovery and growth phase. After the tight discipline evident during the last two years’ downturn, this recovery can present procurement managers with a challenge equal to or greater than that presented during the bottom of the economic downturn, Jim Weighell, Corporate Manager
Travel Management in a recovery year – more challenging than during a downturn? Read More »
A commodity is “equivalent no matter who produces it”. The challenge though is that travel exhibits non-commodity behavior that makes it trickier to deal with than conventional procurement commodities, Dr. Roderick Ross, CEO of online travel management platform TravelLinck tells SmartProcurement. Market research by an international publication, Business Travel Online, revealed that as early as
Is travel a commodity? Read More »
As with all procurement operations, the requisition stage in the travel category is vital to the process, Dr. Roderick Ross, CEO of online travel management platform TravelLinck, tells SmartProcurement. This is the second article in a series of seven discussing the fundamentals of the corporate travel commodity. Corporate travel is about face-to-face interactions that further
Effective requistioning in a managed travel commodity Read More »
A corporate travel manager has to understand a travel market place that involves travel suppliers, agencies and technology providers. This all the while managing a controllable expenditure that ranks the 2nd largest for organisations globally. In a bid to assist travel managers, whether new to the commodity or with experience under their belts, Dr. Roderick
The fundamentals of the corporate travel commodity Read More »
Most organisations agree that there are savings to be had in domestic travel. The big questions are: how significant are these savings? and how do we realise these prospects? Does a saving of up to 40% on air ticket prices or a 100% additional discount on your ticket price versus your corporate fare discount sound
Procuring domestic air travel: strategies offer savings Read More »
The distance your bed linen treks to be laundered is part and parcel of bushveld logistics. Glynn O’Leary, CEO of Transfrontier Parks Destinations (TFPD), tells SmartProcurement about the peculiarities of a bushveld supply chain. My heart sinks every time I have to fill in a form. Physical address? Area? Surely these are simple questions for
The economies of distance Read More »
