It's clear that effective travel management requires a
multidisciplinary approach. Practitioners usually must address the needs of
various constituents, ranging from senior executives and budget holders to
suppliers and third parties, while simultaneously corralling and placating
travelers. There's also a growing list of related areas that may require
attention—finance, procurement and social networking, among others. And that's
just within the four walls of a given organization. Some also collaborate with
peers to advance the industry. Deltek director of global travel procurement
Karoline Mayr in the past year found a way to accomplish all that.
Within enterprise software and information solutions
provider Deltek, Mayr managed a solicitation for purchasing cards and
e-payables. Initially stemming from her internal discussions about a travel
card request for proposals, the project was part of a complete transformation
of the company's global purchasing approach. In an environment with no central
procurement function, Mayr had to interface with various business unit leaders,
managers and purchasers.
The new program features fully electronic purchasing
processes and other advancements. Though Deltek at press time had not disclosed
the winner of the solicitation, it expects to yield millions from leveraging
spending into a larger rebate and savings realized through various new
efficiencies.
Mayr also helped improve Deltek's business intelligence by
working with IT to develop automated travel agency data feeds into its
enterprise systems (a version of IBM Cognos and Costpoint, an accounting
software package that Deltek also sells externally).
That gives Deltek data independence and the ability to
refine report structures when and as it sees fit, rather than being beholden to
the pricing, development schedules and whims of third parties. The integrated
system also provides richer, more integrated data derived from links with human
resources information.
A next step is creating "predictive analytics" to
analyze traveler purchasing habits and identify optimal purchasing conditions.
Meanwhile, Deltek's travel data, including key performance
indicators, now is available through data dashboards provided to top executives
and other key stakeholders. They "seem to like it," Mayr said. "
'Here's sales, here's financials and here's ... travel? That's kinda neat, let's
look at that.' "
Working with suppliers, she also established two "fun,
free and easy" games meant to engage travelers and reduce travel costs. In
2012 Mayr developed a contest to entice travelers to be early adopters of Kona,
Deltek's own enterprise social network system that had been in beta tests and
now is sold externally. Travelers simply took photos on their mobile devices
capturing both the United Airlines and Deltek logos and posted them to Kona.
The most creative photo earned the traveler free United tickets. Mayr claimed
the contest helped Deltek tweak Kona during development—travel was the first
business unit to establish its Kona "space"—and helped employees
become familiar with the tool. It also helped Deltek exceed some marketshare
goals set with United.
"It has been a unique experience to be an internal
voice during product development at a software company," Mayr said.
A separate contest in the first quarter of 2012 entered
travelers into a drawing every time they booked with Hertz, Deltek's preferred
car rental company. The winner received a free weekend rental of a particularly
cool Hertz vehicle, and Deltek within one quarter generated a 10-percentage-point
share gain for Hertz in its car rental program.
At the end of last year, Mayr received the Deltek Overall
Human Resources/Deltek University Values Award, in part for her negotiating
savvy and ability to implement best practices and her role in improving service
for the company's 700 travelers.
Beyond Deltek, Mayr has had a busy volunteer schedule,
including industry speaking gigs and writing projects. In January 2013 she
became president of the Northern Virginia Business Travel Association, the
local Global Business Travel Association chapter.
"At our first board meeting, she had a specific vision
and goals for the chapter," according to Northern Virginia Business Travel
Association vice president Jason Sportsman, who also is global travel and
expense services manager for Hilton Supply Management. "We immediately saw
the changes and that professional touch."
Mayr said she focused on planning, being more proactive,
holding people accountable and emphasizing substance. "It's a volunteer
position, but we are running a business," she said. "The boondoggle
is over."
She also cut costs by holding some chapter events at
corporate offices of members rather than at local hotels.
In the first quarter of this year, the Northern Virginia
Business Travel Association claimed an 85 percent jump in membership versus a
year earlier, and for the second quarter a doubling of revenue.
In August, Mayr won an election to serve as president of
GBTA's Chapter Presidents' Council, which earned her a seat on the association's
board.
This report
originally appeared in the Sept. 2, 2013, edition of Business Travel News.