Paris - The BTN Group on Tuesday
named Ikea Group global meeting and travel manager Torbjörn Erling its 2011
Multinational Travel Manager of the Year.
Presenting
the award here during an Association of Corporate Travel Executives conference,
David Meyer, The BTN Group's director of research and media strategy, cited
Erling's success in "redefining business travel and the role of the
business travel manager, getting his company to see every business trip as part
of a meeting and the travel manager's role as the head of corporate demand
management who collaborates with business leaders throughout the company to
achieve common objectives."
Erling
during the past year secured senior management support for travel and meetings
programs, coordinated internal staff across various departments, leveraged
transient and meeting spending and addressed the work/life balance of Ikea's
travelers as well as the company's travel sustainability efforts by
significantly expanding use of virtual meeting and remote conferencing tools.
He also helped Ikea implement standard online travel tools and a global lodge
card.
Erling
recently obtained approval for a new three-year plan that, according to Meyer, will
include "a fully integrated workflow for
travel bookings, payment, expense reporting and accounting," and higher
productivity from virtual meetings as part of an overall goal to maintain
travel costs at 0.27 percent of sales.
Erling
also serves as chairman of the Global Business Travel Association European
Advisory Board.