2017 U.S.-Booked Air Volume: $430 million
Principal Air Suppliers: American
& Delta
Principal Hotel Suppliers: Hilton
& Marriott
Principal Car Rental Suppliers: Avis
& Hertz
Principal Online Booking Tool:
Concur
Principal Payment Supplier: American
Express
Principal Expense Supplier: Concur
Consolidated Global TMC: Amex GBT
BTN estimates that IBM's U.S.-booked air volume decreased by
$35 million in 2017, reflecting reduced travel volumes. In doing so, the
technology and consulting heavyweight, with nearly $2 billion in global T&E
last year, continued to slip from its position as the largest corporate buyer
of U.S.-booked air travel. It gave up that spot last year for the first time in
the 30-year history of the CT 100. IBM signed a global deal in 2016 to combine
T&E under Concur. IBM's use of the Orbitz for Business tool came to a
complete stop on Dec. 1, 2016, and by year-end, IBM had rolled out Concur in 33
countries. The company launched Concur T&E in the U.S. in May 2017. By
January 2018, it had rolled out Concur Travel to all 99 countries where IBM
manages travel and Concur Expense to 103 countries. IBM also introduced an
internal social network, Travel@IBM.
Last year, IBM created IBM Travel Manager, a cognitive data
and analytics platform that integrates data from various sources for end-to-end
visibility and that conducts real-time, what-if analytics and trending alerts
to identify patterns. IBM Travel Manager rolled out to business managers
internally in 2017 and is available to IBM customers, as well.
In 2016, the company conducted internal surveys and
interviews, talked with corporate peers and worked with Concur and the IBM
global client group to create a survey to benchmark and establish policy
parameters. The company is focusing on the traveler experience through a mobile
app that provides basic itinerary information and innovative features like
curated feeds and a personal concierge, customized to IBM's environment. The
travel team will pilot a minimum viable product version of a mobile app in the
third quarter of 2018 and will make it available to IBM customers shortly
thereafter.