Data alone isn’t enough – to make it Phat, you need to create a framework for action
A new year is quickly approaching and we find that more and more buyers and suppliers are focusing on delivering Phat (cool, hip and relevant) Data to their organizations. In our December issue we will end the year with some powerful case studies on how Phat Data transforms the managed travel program.
So we thought it would be a great time to review how to develop a great Phat Data strategy in your program. If you are thinking about your 2018 goals and haven’t spent time on really developing your strategy for data, now is the time. And remember strategy without execution is nothing. Let’s take a deep dive into building your Phat Data strategy.
Business Objectives
Let’s face it, the key to any successful managed travel program is stakeholder engagement. This piece of the strategy takes the most time. It is mission critical that buyers spend time talking with key executives and budget holders about company and department objectives and most importantly how the travel program can support those objectives.
Aligning your own program objectives with the company’s objectives is the foundation for developing your strategy. Buyers should be asking key individuals about what they like or dislike about the travel program. They should also inquire about what type of information they could provide to help individual travelers align better with the travel program objectives.
For example, if you are trying to understand why your have program leakage, share with the stakeholders where you see leakage and then ask them why, and then develop a plan to mitigate this. It may be a very valid reason; possibly you don’t have the right suppliers in place or maybe travelers don’t understanding the importance of program compliance. But you will never know if you don’t ask.
Once you come to consensus with key stakeholders on aligning company objectives and travel program objectives, you then collaborate on the types of data that you will need to supply to tell the story of how travel is meeting their needs, whether that represents cost savings, duty of care, service, whatever, but make sure the data is actionable!
If you have agreed to X, make sure that if the stakeholders aren’t meeting those goals, tell them what they need to do to move the dial in the right direction. Always keep in mind, the story you tell through Phat Data may be very different for the CFO versus a front line manager.
Stakeholder engagement takes time and should be a constant feedback loop. Buyers who are successful in developing these types of conversations move from being tactical in how they manage their programs to becoming a strategic advisor within their organizations.
Taking Inventory Once you have aligned your program objectives to the company’s objectives you need to move to the next phase: Taking inventory of your current data.
Most buyers will admit they get a lot of information and data that they never use or even look at. So let’s just stop it! Based on the alignment of company and travel objectives, buyers need to take inventory of the data they receive and, for that matter, what they don’t receive. It comes down to four simple things:
• Is the data you have actionable and helping you achieve your objectives? If yes – KEEP IT! USE IT!
• Is it just nice to look at? Sometimes Phat Data delivers general program data. An example is monitoring trends; it’s important to track and review, but isn’t always actionable. Unless it helps you identify things going awry, seek out the actionable data to help develop the story.
• Is it a waste of space and trees? If it’s not actionable and doesn’t really influence your program, just get rid of it and do it fast. It is OK to tell suppliers don’t send me that anymore, it does nothing to help me achieve my objectives.
• Finally, is it an incomplete data set? If you had another piece of information, you could make this data Phat. So go seek out what you need and move this to the actionable pile.
Start the conversations with your suppliers and ask them to deliver only the data that you need and share with them the why and how delivering this actionable data will enable you to strengthen your supplier relations.
Supplier Time Out So this brings us to the next step in the Phat Data strategy development, taking a supplier time out. By now you’ve aligned your program objectives and taken inventory of your data. Now you need to make sure you have the right supplier mix to execute on your strategy.
You may find that in your conversations with key stakeholders, part of the problem is your supplier mix doesn’t align with their needs, so this makes compliance difficult. Now this doesn’t mean that we get everyone’s opinion on which suppliers we use. If we are in alignment with the stakeholders, they understand and agree with supplier compliance. However, as a buyer you need to ensure that you have the right suppliers in the first place. A discount that doesn’t align is worthless.
Data Delivery Now that all the groundwork is laid, it’s time to start telling your story and delivering the hip, cool and relevant data within your organization. You will need to consider aggregating multiple sources of data, so you may need to investigate what your data delivery options are. Do you have an internal business intelligence tool, can your TMC provide a reporting tool, or should your source be a third party analytics and reporting system?
Once you have your delivery mechanism, you need to build out who receives what data and how frequently is it delivered. A CFO may need a quarterly report, whereas a front line manager may want to see the same data on a more frequent basis. The travel buyer needs to be able to influence traveler’s behaviors in near real time. So buyers may need to assess data daily and keep their finger on the pulse to identify unexpected changes within the program that can’t wait for a monthly or quarterly review.
When delivering Phat Data, make sure that you are telling the story and calling out any actions that might be needed. For example perhaps a department’s air costs are going up because their advanced purchase window has closed. The message may be, Has something changed that is driving this behavior? If not, then here is the amount this change has cost the company and how do we get it back on track?
Delivering the right data to the right people in the right time is the focus.
This process is a never ending cycle, so it’s important you don’t forget the last, first step – review and renew.
Review and RenewThe Phat Data strategy is not a one-and-done line item. It’s a living breathing process that constantly requires attention. So, as your company grows or objectives evolves or your traveling population changes, whatever the case may be, it can require changes and tweaks to your overall strategy.
Travel buyers who are keenly focused on their program deliverables will consistently be engaged with stories they are telling through the use of Phat Data. This focus allows companies to balance cost savings and the travelers experience because together the buyer and the travelers are engaged in the process.
It’s a great time of year to start thinking about how you will better manage your data in the future. If you don’t have a data strategy, don’t hesitate – start now and use this methodology to help you stay on top of your strategy. It’s a great place to begin and it’s Phat!
Jennifer Steinke is manager, corporate travel for Dycom Industries, and an industry thought leader with over 27 years experience managing corporate travel. She holds an MBA plus Certified Corporate Travel Executive (CCTE) and Global Travel Professional (GTP) certifications from GBTA. Jennifer strives to deliver innovative and thought provoking ideas to the corporate travel industry.