September 2008 - It's a given nowadays that travel buyers are expected to render critical decisions in support of their corporation's strategy and the overall success of the company. However, within the current travel industry environment--where the turbulence is giving rise to surprising opportunities--travel buyers must learn to operate in ways they had never before perceived. Thus, the need for data has never been greater--but it's not mere "data" that is imperative to running a successful business unit, it's "actionable information" that is the true necessity.
So what constitutes actionable information? Although each travel buyer may have his or her own definition, I define it as: data that enables a decision that will result in change. In essence, this means travel buyers must make their unstructured travel data viable by turning it into crisp, coherent information in order to positively transform or reinvent, wholly or partially, the way their departments conduct business with both internal and external clients.
Travel buyers can no longer depend on static reports to enlighten senior leadership about the ever-changing nuances of travel. To be able to advise leadership of future plans and courses of action, as opposed to simply reacting to the market, travel buyers must create timely, accurate and defensible reports. By developing such actionable information, managers are in fact developing business intelligence, which can be used to influence behavior.
However, you can only transform unstructured data into actionable information and business intelligence if you have continuous access to it. Therefore, travel buyers must have travel (back office) data integrated with accounting, expense, credit card and audit systems. Then, they can turn the data into actionable
information (based on pre-set metrics) and deliver it in a timely and effective manner in order to use it as a competitive advantage to meet corporate objectives.
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"You can measure, analyze and enhance your program through continuous improvement and Six Sigma projects, but you really need actionable information
to reinvent your business."
— Duane Futch, former director of Wal-Mart global travel services
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For example, it's imperative when you interact with senior leadership within your corporation that you frame your comments or presentation with an approach that is spoken in their language, using key financial metrics and business intelligence, such as the cost to produce a ticket; travel spend as a percent of sales; the contribution to per-share earnings; and the amount of sales required to pay for all travel (based on net, after tax income percent).
Essentially, with actionable information and business intelligence you are demonstrating to senior leadership that you are managing your department in a professional and businesslike manner, which provides the opportunity to influence behavior based on trustworthy business intelligence. Sometimes the message may not be pleasant, but trustworthy business intelligence allows for meaningful discussion, the development of an action plan, the endorsement of corrective measures and, ultimately, changes in how your business is conducted.
What this all boils down to is that a travel buyer should have information that provides true, pure and trustworthy business intelligence that substantiates appropriate and meaningful business metrics (not just the usual average ticket price, number of tickets or cost per mile) in order to:
• Develop a strategic plan for the department that is aligned with the corporate strategy and vision
• Provide a path for the development of radical changes to the way your travel business will evolve into the future
• Enable effective management of the business
• Allow for the travel department to be an asset to the corporation.
You can measure, analyze and enhance your program through continuous improvement and Six Sigma projects, but you really need actionable information to reinvent your business in a manner that produces tangible results so you can effect radical change. Today's travel business environment is not about incrementally improving your business, as incrementalization is innovation's worst enemy. Therefore, today's travel buyer should not be looking for continuous improvement within their business, but rather radical change, and this is gained from actionable information that has been transformed into business intelligence. If you're not reinventing your business every 18 to 24 months, you will be left behind in today's transformative travel industry environment.
Duane Futch formerly was Wal-Mart director, global travel services.
