Influencer in the hotseat: Simon Muir, Procurement Professional

Simon Muir is a procurement professional who spent a large part of his career working for a range of publishing companies, most recently Pearson plc.  In 2015 he joined the London headquartered international law firm, Ince & Co to establish a procurement function and support a wider business transformation programme.  In all of his roles, business travel management has been a part of his portfolio of responsibilities. He now works as an interim procurement specialist and lives in South London.  As a Crystal Palace season ticket holder, he cites Roy Hodgson as his current management role model!

I was responsible for the global travel programme at a FTSE 100 multinational publishing business, and most recently established a global travel programme as part of a green field site procurement implementation at an international law firm. For the latter role, I was responsible for creating a consistent policy globally and replacing local TMC firms with a single TMC to manage this policy.

It’s often the small things that I remember most.  It might be the senior PA or travel booker who praises the time saved by a well-implemented online booking tool. Or it could be the senior partner who is given the service they need by the TMC, when client demands require rapid changes to itineraries.  To get this type of positive feedback requires real teamwork and collaboration between suppliers and the client organisation.

The levels of perceived risk and the need to take account of traveller security have changed significantly in the past 20 years given the global security environment. Companies need to be able to ensure that they know where their travellers are in a much more stringent way than before.

Many of the challenges remain the same, mainly because human nature varies little from one industry to another. In both cases the need to constantly educate and communicate with your traveller community on the reasons for the existence of a well-structured travel programme is key.  The key difference in the law world is that the traveller’s time is, quite literally, money. There tends to be a stronger emphasis on the need for friction free service delivery with minimal input from the traveller. Whereas in a plc., there is an acceptance that travellers should take ownership of many aspects of their own booking procedures rather than paying fees for a “white glove” service from the TMC.

In a plc., where you have tens of 1000s of employees globally, it had to be mass electronic communication – usually email followed up with an online survey. It was not a highly personalised process. However, in a more medium-sized business, you were able to launch a more personalised approach and could even speak to key influencers face-to-face. This made it easier to effect change.

Technology has, of course, impacted the industry massively.  I would highlight two areas:

These factors will continue to challenge the industries major players as they attempt to maintain margins and market share.

It is the nature of the travel programme beast that compliance will always remain a challenge.  My own view is that in modern flexible corporate culture, a simple “follow the rules, or else” based approach won’t work.  The onus is on the travel manager, working with the TMC and other related suppliers to “nudge” travellers to compliance by getting the policy, technology and implementation right:

Implementing Uber represents a perfect illustration of the “compliance sweet spot”.  Policy was limited to two words: “reasonable use”. The fact that users could access through an app, which in many cases was already on their phones, meant the technology was embraced rather than imposed on the user.  Whilst the implementation was publicised through conventional communication, most of the uptake resulted from a viral word-of-mouth.

Security and duty of care won’t go away, but the tension between the conventional GDS/TMC model and the challenges from new market entrants and alternative service delivery models, enabled by technology will only grow.  Data security, post-GDPR, will also be one to watch.

Yes, but the most interesting developments are ones you don’t see coming, so I’ll get back to you on that!

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