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Back‐Office Best Practices
How Travel Management Companies can achieve greater
efficiencies and a competitive edge with an integrated
back‐office solution
Norm Rose
Senior Technology and
Corporate Market Analyst,
PhoCusWright
Spence Knudson
Chief Financial Officer
Key Travel
Key Travel
Charles Johnston
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Director of Agresso Travel
Solutions
Agresso
TMC Back‐Office Best Practices
How Travel Management Companies Can Achieve Greater Efficiencies and a
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Competitive Edge with an Integrated Back‐Office Solution
November 10, 2009
Norm Rose
Senior Technology and Corporate Market Analyst
nrose@phocuswright com
nrose@[Link]
Overview
• What is an ERP?
• Travel Booking Process with Stand‐Alone Systems
• Travel Booking Process with Integrated ERP
Travel Booking Process with Integrated ERP
• BI Provides Unique Insight
• Developing a Business Case for an Integrated ERP Solution
• Summary
What is an ERP?
What is an ERP?
• Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems are comprised of multiple, tightly
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integrated “modules” or applications that allow companies improved insight into
and control over their internal business processes
• ERP solutions began with manufacturing companies in the 1960s
• In 1990s these ERPs became the backbone of most medium to large businesses
Source: PhoCusWright Inc.
Travel Booking Process with Stand‐Alone Systems
Travel Booking Process with Integrated ERP
The Specialized Requirements of Travel
Accounting
• ARC or BSP Settlement
ARC or BSP Settlement
• Debit Memos
• Commission Tracking , Collection and Reconciliation
• Account Services and Reporting
Account Services and Reporting
• Data Validation and Clean‐Up
What is Driving the Demand for an
Integrated Back‐Office?
• Th N d M
The Need to Manage Risk in a Competitive Global Environment
Ri k i C i i Gl b l E i
– Inefficiency and inadequate visibility associated with disparate back‐office
systems
• D
Demands of Global Commerce
d f Gl b l C
– The need to seamlessly consolidate information on a global basis
• Inability to Manage Change
– Reorganizations
– Mergers and Acquisitions
– Regulatory Reporting Requirements
BI Provides Unique Insight
BI Provides Unique Insight
• Real BI Provides Analysis that is Not Apparent by Simply Running Reports
– True cost of sale for a given corporate client
True cost of sale for a given corporate client
– Comparative profitability between client segments
Source: PhoCusWright Inc.
Benefits of an Integrated ERP
Solution
• A complete view of corporate financials without manual compilation
• Informed marketing strategies
• Faster billing and collections
• Maximizing purchasing power
• Realistic budget creation and management
• Improved internal project management
• Tracking productivity and assessing service fees
• Managing and controlling expenses
• Improved Human Resources management
• Tying employee compensation to performance
• The ability to respond to industry paradigm shifts and other changes
• Leveraging current technology for better information
Source: PhoCusWright Inc.
Value of Integrated Solution
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Function Stand‐Alone Solution Integrated Solution Value
Integrated accounting Basic “one‐way handoff” GDS information can be used by all modules
Specialized IT support
IT support IT staff must support travel
IT staff must support travel accounting and
accounting and Knowledge needed
Knowledge needed for a single system reducing
for a single system reducing
other agency apps the requirement for specialized support
Business intelligence access to all reservation Limited reporting capabilities. Often must feed An integrated data warehouse is part of the
information system into stand‐alone data warehouse or BI solution with all information is available across
system modules
Improved processing for debit memos
Improved processing for debit Research debit memos is a core function, but
Research debit memos is a core function but Easy tracking of debit memos and charging
Easy tracking of debit memos and charging
limited options to charge back mistakes caused back if error originated with the customer
by the customer
Integrated HR module N/A Fully integrated solution can look at the
employee based on total contribution
Integrated financials Hand‐off from travel accounting to external No hand‐off is necessary as entire system is
financials can be incomplete and prone to integrated
errors
Efficiency savings Unique skill set needed to query data in stand‐ Single standard interface across all modules
alone travel accounting system
Total customer view Limited customer view based on transaction Can evaluate total value of customer across
only functions and industry types
Integrated BI Hand‐off of data to BI system may result in Data stored in a single system and BI tools can
incomplete or inaccurate information be used to evaluate all data for the customer
and for internal operations
Summary
• Beyond Travel Accounting: Managing a Large Enterprise
• Understanding the Cost of Poor Technology
• Turning Accurate Business Intelligence into a Competitive Advantage
Turning Accurate Business Intelligence into a Competitive Advantage
• The Substantial ROI of a Fully Integrated Enterprise‐Level Solution
• Establishing a Business Case for Integrated ERP
Source: PhoCusWright Inc.
Thank You!
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Key Travel &
CentralCommand
Company Background
Established 1980
Focused on the third sector
charities, universities, faith‐based and
other not for profit organisations
Over 2000 customers
Gross Sales of over £55m
Offices in London, Manchester and
Brussels
131 staff
131 staff
Privately owned
Why CentralCommand?
Multi‐GDS interface
Multi GDS interface
Globally scalable
Open architecture
Open architecture
Improved control over process and data
Robust MI capability
Robust MI capability
Enhanced customer documentation
Cost Effective
Cost Effective
System Developments
Trainline integration
Trainline integration
Visa POS
Invoicing and MI
Invoicing and MI
Mid‐Office Query
Open Architecture
Trainline Rail Integration
Previously rail bookings were manually keyed to mid‐office
Now files received every 15 minutes from rail provider
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Custom‐built transformation programme
Files automatically ingested by CentralCommand
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Over 6000 transactions processed since system go‐live
Integrated Air/Rail reporting
Reduction of 1.5 FTE’s
Code extended to handle additional rail company in Belgium
Open Architecture
Vi P i fS l
Visa Point of Sale
GDS used as primary source of
GDS used as primary source of
bookings, but requires GDS training
POS built in one month using in‐
house development
house development
Auto interface to CentralCommand
Improved reporting and workload
Improved reporting and workload
management
Improved information accuracy
(edits/validations)
GDS Independence results in 20%
productivity improvement
Enhanced customer documentation and MI
IInvoicing and MI
i i d MI
Agresso report creator used to
Agresso report creator used to
generate bespoke invoice
Rich invoice data
Improvement in customer invoice
approvals
Customer MI now consistent with
Customer MI now consistent with
internal MI due to single source
database
Improved control over process and data
Mid Offi Q
Mid‐Office Query
Benefits
25 second saving
Real‐Time Data
Better quality
Built In House
Real‐Time information delivered to the Agent
Address Information Account Manager
Booker details
Booker details PO/Budget Code/etc requirements
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Credit Limits
Summary
Improved data integrity and consistency
Enhanced customer documentation and reporting
Increased MI and decision making capability
Increased staff productivity and cost reduction
Cost Savings of £500k in manpower when combined with
front office automation
Questions?
Thank‐You
for attending.
