Travel and meeting managers that use preferred suppliers become frustrated when their travelers or meeting attendees bypass the policies and use non-preferreds. Case in point, when we went through our Six Sigma measure stage at PwC (2007) to identify the rogue or maverick meeting spend that was not funneling through our meetings team, we learned that our strategic meetings management program only managed 49% of the total spend in the firm. Shocking to us, because we thought we had corralled most of the costs. Travel compliance returned better percentages, yet travelers still booked outside of the policy. As a result, we developed proactive controls to stopgap rogue spenders and added numerous program enhancements. While arguments exist to reduce compliance requirements, managed travel with strong compliance is still the pot ‘o gold at the end of the rainbow in many industries. (For more information on compliance... Develop a Compliance Strategy)
A new tool has reached the industry that warrants your review. ProcureApp is a proactive approach and application that alerts travelers on how and where to book travel. Indirect purchases through non-contracted channels (e.g. going directly to hotel’s website) can result in non-compliance. ProcureApp addresses maverick spend easily so that even if travelers book your preferred properties, it will always be through the method you choose and not directly with the websites.
Because I’m a visual learner, I drew this very elementary picture of where ProcureApp fits in for some of my clients. Without any financial interest in ProcureApp, I share this information with you because after seeing the product, I thought it was an excellent proactive control to help you manage your travel and meeting programs. For more information about ProcureApp, please contact [email protected] or visit their website at: http://www.procureapp.com/
A BIG THANK YOU to all of the meetings and travel leaders who continue to support me through the T&E blog, LinkedIn groups, client engagements and most important, your friendship.
Thank you for visiting the T&E Plus Blog on expense management, travel management, business meetings, events, incentives, strategic meetings management, entertainment, virtual meetings, tickets, hotels, airlines, ground transportation plus more...
Debi Scholar, GLP, CMM, CMP, SSGB, CTE, CTT
• Author, Strategic Meetings Management: The Strategy Quick Reference Guide (2011)
• Co-Author, Strategic Meetings Management Handbook (2011)
• Meetings Management Mover and Shaker as selected by Corporate and Incentive Travel Magazine (2010)
• Top 20 Changemaker who influenced the meetings management industry by Corporate Meetings and Incentives (2008)
• Best Meeting Practitioner as selected by Business Travel News (2007)
*Debi is proud to be a regular contributor to Business Travel Executive Magazine.
*Debi is proud to be one of only seven 2011 Editorial Board members for Hotel Business Review at http://www.hotelexecutive.com/ for Conferences & Meetings.
*Debi created two LinkedIn groups (GBTA SMM and T&E Plus) that now claim over 2,000 worldwide members combined.
Visit me at one of my upcoming speaking engagements; Topics vary per conference
Some sessions include components of SMM Bootcamp© and/or SMM Challenge©
February 23 - EMC Webinar
February 23-24 - GA MPI
March 1 - VA MPI
April 24 – PCMA NYC
April 26 - EMC Webinar
May 16-17 – FIMP Chairperson - Boston
May 21 - Meetings Tech Expo - Washington DC
June 21 - EMC Webinar
August 23- EMC Webinar
October 25 - EMC Webinar
December 2 - EMC Webinar
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