Travel data: Gaining insight into the total trip

Data - and especially travel data - is everywhere. But how can travel managers take control of multiple data streams and gain valuable insights to make strategic decisions? Well, that's exactly what Chad and Miriam explore on this episode. Shelley Fletcher-Bryant, Vice President, Advito, connects with the hosting duo to talk all things travel data and how the team at Advito is bringing travel data in the future. 

Learn more by visiting https://www.bcdtravel.com or https://www.linkedin.com/company/bcd-travel/

Transcript

Intro:

Welcome to Connections with BCD Travel, an ongoing conversation about the modern day travel program, the impact of technology, and how travel buyers can take control and drive change. What are we waiting for? Let's start connecting.

Chad Lemon:

Well, hello there. Welcome back to Connections with BCD Travel. I am Chad Lemon.

Miriam Moscovici:

And I'm Miriam Moscovici. Can anyone hear us? Please go to bcdtravel.com/podcast to connect with us. Episode suggestions, thoughts about a past episode, we want to hear it from you.

Chad Lemon:

All right, Miriam, ready for today's 60 Seconds in Business Travel?

Miriam Moscovici:

I'm ready, let's do it.

Chad Lemon:

All right. Continuing with our theme from the last episode, your team published a really phenomenal sustainability and business travel report. Another section that I found really interesting was that nearly 50% of travelers say that they don't receive enough information on sustainable travel from their employer. What are your thoughts?

Miriam Moscovici:

Well, we thought that was really interesting as well. What I can tell you is that travel buyers talk to travelers about sustainability with varying frequency, and they use different means for communication. Half send emails, or share blog posts or articles on company intranets. Three in 10 share reports and research findings, and a quarter for travel tips from travel suppliers. Training on sustainable travel isn't too popular though, only about 10% of buyers are offering this to their travelers.

Now, when we talk to business travelers, very few of them admit to receiving much information or communications on sustainability. Almost a quarter of our traveling respondents said they weren't even sure if they received any information on sustainability at all.

When we broke it down by regional basis, we saw that travelers from APAC and EMEA received a lot more emails, blog posts and articles on sustainable travel. But those in NORAM got the least, about 26% of them did. Training is also more popular in APAC. In NORAM, four in 10 travelers received no educational materials on green travel policies and behaviors. Travel buyers have limited resources, are providing limited communications on sustainable travel and travelers are lacking awareness on sustainability, and they're expressing a need for more information. Only two in 10 travelers confirm receiving enough information on sustainability from their employers, and almost half of them would love to receive more.

It's a real big call-to-action to travel managers and travel management groups. Their travelers want to hear more. It varies by region, but there is a lot of opportunity to talk to travelers more about being sustainable while they're traveling.

Chad Lemon:

Really interesting data to pull out of that report. Today, we're talking travel data. I've got to be honest, Miriam, this might be my least favorite topic in business travel.

Miriam Moscovici:

That's because you've never felt the sheer pleasure of watching a line graph creep up as you're tracking a goal. I have a job-

Chad Lemon:

Absolutely.

Miriam Moscovici:

Other than just hosting a podcast. I manage a lot of what I do with data. I can tell you that I obsessively refresh my dashboards, all day, to watch these line graphs, in my case. I'm watching, tracking that data, watching, making sure it's directionally correct. You just don't know the sheer pleasure of using data to manage. Not yet.

Chad Lemon:

You are exactly right. While this might not be my favorite topic to discuss, our guest is one of my favorite colleagues. We're talking to Shelley Fletcher-Bryant, vice president at BCD's consulting arm, Advito.

Miriam Moscovici:

Yeah, Shelley's wonderful. I'm excited for our listeners to hear about some exciting advancements that she and Advito have made in the travel data space.

Shelley, welcome to Connections. You had to have known this was coming, but for all of our listeners, can you please tell us, what is Advito?

Shelley Fletcher-Bryant:

Of course. In very simple terms, we are a travel consulting firm, but we are the travel consulting arm of BCD Travel. We support many BCD Travel clients, but we can also work independently of BCD and support any clients with a need for travel consultancy services.

Chad Lemon:

Okay, so let's start this episode with a general question about data. We all know that travel data is important, but how has travel data and ingesting that data changed in 2024?

Shelley Fletcher-Bryant:

Well, the first thing to say is that it's so much more than just flights and hotels. And actually, it's much more than just the typical travel data, in terms of when you're booking a trip and all the component parts that play a role there. It's also HR data. It's expenses. It's sustainability.

Miriam Moscovici:

Yeah.

Shelley Fletcher-Bryant:

Meetings and events data. There's tons of different data points out there that actually need to now be brought together, to give travel managers a complete picture of what's happening in their programs today. I think, in terms of how it's changed in 2024, one of the big changes is around sustainability. Coming up soon is the CSRD, Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, and requirement for emission reporting. So, there's even more requirement on data and reporting today than there has been in previous years.

Chad Lemon:

Well, like I hinted to earlier, travel data isn't necessarily the most sexy topic that we could discuss on this podcast, but you and the team at Advito are trying to change that, right?

Shelley Fletcher-Bryant:

We are, Chad. We are bringing sexy back, no doubt about it. We have created Total Trip Insights, or TTI, as a really powerful and valuable way for travel managers to get that complete picture of their program on an individual level looking at complete trips. We're also integrating the sexy part, integrating AI and generative data, and insights into that data.

I just want to use an example, and this is something anybody whose ever heard me talk has probably heard me say this before. But we talk a lot about data, and we talk a lot about insights. Sometimes, the words are used interchangeably, but actually they're very different things.

Miriam Moscovici:

Right.

Shelley Fletcher-Bryant:

The best example I have to explain this is that data will tell you a tomato, or a tomato, is a fruit. Either way you pronounce it, it's still a fruit. But insight will tell you not to put that in a fruit salad.

Miriam Moscovici:

That's right.

Shelley Fletcher-Bryant:

It's great on a Greek salad.

Chad Lemon:

Oh, yeah.

Shelley Fletcher-Bryant:

It's great in a sandwich.

Chad Lemon:

Delicious.

Shelley Fletcher-Bryant:

But don't put it with your pineapple and your mango, it will not go.

Chad Lemon:

Absolutely. Yeah, you're right.

Shelley Fletcher-Bryant:

The insight component is really critical when we're looking at data, and that's what Total Trip Insights brings in. It's actually helping you to interpret what the data's telling you, not just looking at the numbers. So, it's really easy for travel managers to use. It's designed to be self-service. They can get in there, look at the data points, but also see some of this machine learning and generative AI that is providing insights to help them interpret the data really easily.

Miriam Moscovici:

All this is proprietary? You guys have built this from the ground up?

Shelley Fletcher-Bryant:

Yeah, that's right. We have. It was really important for us to develop and build this tool ourselves. Actually, we've even involved some of our early adopter travel managers in the process.

Miriam Moscovici:

Wow.

Shelley Fletcher-Bryant:

They've helped us define what's important to them, the data sources that they want to bring in, and starting really with the end in mind, in terms of what do they want to get out of their data, what insights do they want to have to help them grow, and develop, and manage their program. From that, we've been able to really look at what we bring in, how we bring it in, and how it's displayed within the tool. And that will be an ongoing process. So, the more businesses that we have that are utilizing this tool, the more travel managers that are using it and sharing their knowledge and expertise, and their wants and needs, the more we will continue to reiterate and redevelop this product on an ongoing basis.

Yeah. Anybody who wants to have a deeper understanding of their program data would benefit from Total Trip Insights. We know today that travel managers have so much data that they have to work with. They're almost overwhelmed by data because it's all coming from different places. It's often all in really different formats and it's really tricky, in a manual process, to try and bring that all together and get a complete picture of what's happening. You've got your agency data in one place, your credit card data in another, your expense data somewhere else.

This tool brings all of that together, plus many other sources as needed. But it just means that travel managers can really quickly and easily understand their program, understand what's happening in their program, opportunities to make improvements, and also some future forecasting is in there as well. For instance, forecasting what the next two months of travel spend might be, based on the data that's been collected. Over time, that machine learning gets smarter and smarter to also provide some predictive analysis.

Miriam Moscovici:

Listening to you talk, Shelley, it just occurs to me that data isn't hard to come by. It's everywhere, it's all over. It's the insights that's the challenge, and it is the real value of something like this.

Shelley Fletcher-Bryant:

You're completely right. Having those insights sitting directly in the tool, meaning that it will immediately understand what the data is saying and pull out the highlights, if you like. But then, that can also be backed up by a consulting team of experts who can also dig into that data and enhance it even further. So that the insights are, exactly as I said earlier, that's what brings the power. The data is critically important and having good data in a good central repository, if you like, is really critical. But then, interpreting that data and using those insights to then actually making changes in the program.

Miriam Moscovici:

Right.

Shelley Fletcher-Bryant:

That's what's going to evolve and elevate programs.

Miriam Moscovici:

So, where does Total Trip Insights pull this data from? Can it come from anywhere, or just somewhere in particular?

Shelley Fletcher-Bryant:

It can pretty much come from anywhere.

Miriam Moscovici:

Okay.

Shelley Fletcher-Bryant:

That sounds like a great easy answer, right?

Miriam Moscovici:

Yeah.

Chad Lemon:

Right.

Shelley Fletcher-Bryant:

Ultimately, yeah. Agency data is normally the first port of call, that's what we get in and that can be from multiple agencies.

Miriam Moscovici:

Right.

Shelley Fletcher-Bryant:

Then, we'll look at credit card data. Again, that could be multiple credit cards. We'll look at expense data. With some tools, we have an API in place already, to get the direct feed on the data. With Concur, we have an API that brings that expense data in really seamless, really easy to manage. Then, we'd be looking at those additional data sources, like the HR data, supplier data. Things like car rental data might come in.

Miriam Moscovici:

Right.

Shelley Fletcher-Bryant:

Aircraft data, as part of what we do around sustainability, to look at providing emission reporting. Having the details on what aircraft flew on what route, and at what time, makes a really big difference. We're currently testing Cvent data ingestion, so making sure that we are in a position where we can integrate that meetings data as well. Because we know, for so many travel managers, they're either also heading up or very closely connected with what's happening in the meetings world.

Miriam Moscovici:

Yeah, that's right.

Shelley Fletcher-Bryant:

Having a picture of what's going on within their M&E business as well as their travel business, and bringing that into one place, is the next big step. We're currently in testing with that data and hope to be able to launch that soon.

Miriam Moscovici:

So, for a travel manager listening, at what point in their daily management or their travel program are they going to find a tool like this really helpful?

Shelley Fletcher-Bryant:

Well, there's multiple times. I live in the world of data most of the time, so I'm always looking at data, and dashboards, and spreadsheets, and couldn't live without them.

Miriam Moscovici:

Never not a good a time.

Shelley Fletcher-Bryant:

Never not a good time-

Chad Lemon:

Right, right.

Shelley Fletcher-Bryant:

To look at this. However, when it's going to be particularly impactful is when they're looking at making strategic decisions about their program. This could be related to their sourcing strategy. What are they sourcing, how are they sourcing?

Miriam Moscovici:

Right.

Shelley Fletcher-Bryant:

If we're looking at policy, what potential adjustments could you look to make in your policy to address leakage or compliance? And specifically, if they're looking to tackle sustainability and addressing those needs, and travel behavior. The insights that come from this data can really help to spot gaps potentially, and definitely opportunities to enhance and improve the program.

I'd say that anybody using this, they'd want to be looking at it at least on a monthly basis, but certainly before any big strategic decisions are made about future direction of the program.

Chad Lemon:

Well, I have to admit, Shelley, Total Trip Insights does sound pretty interesting.

Shelley Fletcher-Bryant:

Well, I'm very pleased that we've managed to convert you.

Chad Lemon:

Yes, absolutely.

Miriam Moscovici:

Shelley, in one sentence, what do you want our listeners to know about travel data and Advito's Total Trip Insights?

Shelley Fletcher-Bryant:

Well, really it's that anyone can use Total Trip Insights. It's not just for BCD Travel clients, it's not just for travel managers who have really big complex travel programs. It's for anyone who wants to get a complete understanding and complete picture of where their program's at today and identify opportunities to elevate that program.

Chad Lemon:

I love Shelley. I got to interview her at GBTA last year, which you can go to YouTube and search for BCD TV and watch that interview. But I swear, we had to do 10 takes because we just kept making each other laugh so much. She is such a superstar.

Miriam Moscovici:

I saw that video, I did not know it took 10 takes to make. Kudos to you both.

Chad Lemon:

Well, Miriam, I think that does it for our data episode.

Miriam Moscovici:

Like I said at the start of the show, we want to hear from you. Visit bcdtravel.com/podcast and leave us some feedback. Don't forget to download and review the Connections with BCD Travel Podcast today.

Outro:

Thank you for connecting with us. BCD Travel helps companies travel smart and achieve more. We drive program adoption, cost savings and talent retention through digital experiences that simplify business travel. Learn more about the topics you heard on this episode by visiting bcdtravel.com/podcast.