"To introduce change before we rev back up to normal travel, we wanted to make sure the experience was easier for the user and also a little bit safer." That's the current objective of Houston-based Trussway Manufacturing finance VP Dan Durski, who also leads travel management for the 1,000-employee company with 150 profiled travelers hitting the road for sales, projects, training or industry conferences.
Durski described travel management at Trussway as "looking at new ways to save money but also partnering with HR to make sure we have the right travel policies in place and [the ability to] grab the data to make sure we are adhering to policy."
Durski took up travel management in 2018. "It was kind of a niche [function] I filled," he said. At that time, the company was contracted with a mega agency for travel and a major booking tool and expense platform, and was looking for an agency change.
The new TMC, however, wasn't up to snuff. Durski said the account management and customer service teams were slow to respond. "I had several questions with some of the features [the TMC] sold us on in 2018. It took weeks to get a response and that rang alarm bells," he said. "If I had a real issue, how can I get a hold of these folks?" Durski also suspected travelers weren't satisfied. "I wasn't getting the feedback I wanted," he said, plus travelers were not booking on the TMC's instance of the online booking tool. "They were booking directly with Southwest and things like that," Durski said.
In addition, Durski had ease-of-use issues with monitoring data in the expense tool, booking data in particular. "I've looked for this information on the company's website and I haven't been able to find it," he said.
Pandemic Presents Opportunity
When the pandemic struck, Trussway suspended business travel and required employees to work from home. Only essential trips were allowed and were approved by an internal committee. "We didn't really start traveling until maybe late last year," Durski said.
But with the halt, Durski saw a chance to reevaluate Trussway's travel program again. "I raised the flag saying, ‘Hey, now might be the opportune time to make a change,'" he said. "Ultimately the rest of management agreed. Together, we reevaluated the program: our CFO, CEO, VP of operations and HR director."
The outcome of that scrutiny place priority on traveler safety. That was "first and foremost," said Durski, who added that as a manufacturing company, Trussway is all-in on safety in other parts of its business, so that needed to extend to travel. "We have strict adherence to safety and it's on our minds every day when we walk through the doors here," he said. Trussway wanted to know where its people were traveling and also wanted to support them with a quality user experience to attract employees into the program.
At first, Durski and the executive team were looking only for an agency change, but as the search progressed, they realized they had more options, including the chance to go with an all-in-one provider that offered travel booking and agency support, in-house technology and built-in payment and expense. "The simplicity was what really excited us," said Durski.
Several industry players have initiated the all-in-one experience, which Egencia mainstreamed more than a decade ago. The model has more recently expanded with mobile-first newcomer TripActions, which introduced payment and expense capabilities with the Visa-backed Liquid payment tool that rolled out late last year. The next-generation TMC also was among the first to offer a robust Covid-19 era case rate and traveler tracker tool to monitor whereabouts and support real-time decision-making. The combination tipped the scales for Trussway's executive team.
"It's an entire package," said Durski about the TripActions solution selected by the Trussway executive team. "Right now, I've got to chase a bank or our expense provider or the TMC when issues arise, but TripActions has one number to call." Plus, he said, "I'll be giving HR access so they can monitor [the Covid-19 data] as well."
Ready to Roll Out
Trussway is implementing the TripActions platform now and preparing travelers for program changes. The company has offered live demos from the supplier and has established virtual ‘office hours' with no set agenda—just the ability to answer questions. "We'll be rolling out trainings and are currently setting policies within the system and uploading employee data."
Asked how he will measure success, Durski replied: "I'm able to access real-time booking and expense data to ensure everyone is using the platform for travel," since all company expenses are audited and reported through Liquid, not just travel bookings made on the TripActions platform. "If not, I'll be able to target those who aren't, and take it from there."
Also, he said, Trussway will launch a travel survey to get user reaction to the tools. "It'll be a success to get positive feedback from the organization."