‘Keep it simple,’ ‘lean and mean,’ ‘less is more:’ the plea for simplicity has seeped into our language and culture over the years, and it is here to stay. Even more so, it has made the leap into the corporate travel world, where it’s already a hit among forward-thinking travel managers. Against the backdrop of a rapidly changing landscape, simple business models (although by no means new) are hotter than ever. The reason couldn’t be simpler (pun intended): travel managers need to simplify processes, boost productivity, increase compliance, and utilize data. Recognize this? Well, it so happens that Roadmap believes these are the four cornerstones of successful travel management.
Put on those trailblazer glasses
Can we agree on Einstein being one of the great thinkers of all time? As we assume you said “Yes” (or nodded approvingly), we’ll share one of his quotes:
“Three Rules of Work:
Out of clutter find simplicity.
From discord find harmony.
In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.”
-Albert Einstein
Now fast forward to 2019, and these rules are ever-more applicable. Amidst turbulent markets, digitalization accelerates the pace of change. Technological innovation, economic uncertainty, fickle and demanding customer behavior, talent shortages, mergers and acquisitions, changing cost structures: businesses threaten to shrink at the bottom of a growing mountain of issues that must be dealt with. So they send their road warriors to conferences and business meetings in all corners of the world to keep up with the competition.
The result, in Einstein’s words, is lots of clutter, discord, and difficulty. And it’s up to the travel manager to do some disentangling and distil simplicity, harmony, and opportunity. Good news: you’re up to the task. Warning: you’ll need to put on those trailblazer glasses.
Mess with the hands of the clock? Nah. Just save time!
Time is money. Saving time is usually a number-one priority, and whenever you want to invest time or money in a product or service, the resulting productivity (or, return on investment) is paramount in getting it greenlit. With that in mind, every click counts. So it’s more than useful to reduce the number of clicks it takes your road warriors to make a reservation and check in – if you can bring it down from ten to one, you’ll save minutes every trip and hours every year.
Our client KPMG has put this principle to the test: using Roadmap, it tracks every single activity of its business travelers so as to understand how much time they spend in a day, week, month, or year. Why? “Every single minute wasted is time that could be invested in a client,” says Raquel Hefferan, director travel and strategic sourcing at KPMG. “Every minute matters, and every click counts.”
Incidentally, Microsoft also set out to achieve time-related goals. The software giant wanted to give back two hours per trip to its most valued employees. How? By developing a smart digital pocket assistant that would streamline and simplify business travel. Enter Roadmap: a fruitful collaboration was born!
Next in this brand-new, five-part blog series: decrease complexity. Stay tuned!
Are you intrigued by the idea of putting simplicity at the heart of business travel? Download our whitepaper and discover the 5 benefits.
Markus Emmer
Co-founder Roadmap
