About

When a market leader made a strategic acquisition, the company positioned itself well to address the escalating demand in the sector. Operating in more than 60 countries, the company was then confronted with integrating the acquisition into its operational environment. Optimizing the travel program was a substantial opportunity.

Ambition

The company established a framework to align travel service providers, selecting a travel management supplier, global online booking tools (OBTs), payment systems, and expense tools. However, the first wave of implementation exposed significant challenges:

Approach

Areka assigned a project manager and a senior consultant to:

• Assess the strategy and current plans for alignment with key performance indicators (KPIs).
• Establish clear, comprehensive governance protocols
• Refine the core model to simplify workflows and align it closely with KPIs and the travel policy
• Ensure smooth implementation across remaining countries (Waves 2 and 3)
• Develop a change management strategy that would boost adoption and program performance with surveying, training, communications and hyper-care
• Monitor performance and implement corrective actions, as necessary
• Provide market intelligence through best practices benchmarking
• Maintain an effective Project Management Office (PMO) and support the governance structures
• Thoroughly document all program requirements operational processes

Achievements

Areka successfully finalized all processes and navigated the project through its implementation and hyper-care phases across all countries. In closing the engagement, we also identified remaining travel-related matters beyond the project scope to enable a smooth turnover and ongoing program success.

• Implemented 30 countries totaling nearly €80 million in T&E spend
• Completed Waves 2 & 3 on time and on budget
• Achieved 80% - 90% match on 2-way data reconciliation
• Established new payment strategy for improved data integrity