Using data to effectively manage travel spend

While senior managers may intuitively understand that travel is critical to their company's success, it's still one of the first budget items they cut when times get tough.  But that doesn't have to be the case.

Travel buyers have access to spend data and other tools that can help senior managers take a more strategic view of travel that will help keep employees on the road even during an economic downturn.

And, when business picks up, they can be a step ahead of the competition.

As strategic sourcing manager at MillerCoors in Golden, Colo., Pam McTeer is responsible for managing the travel spend. In quarterly meetings with senior managers, she provides reporting on traveler compliance to travel policy and opportunities for cost savings. She talks about customer service metrics, supplier diversity and innovation, among key performance indicators (KPI). The managers, in turn, keep her abreast of plans that involve employee travel.

"Let's face it. Our industry needs to travel," she says.

"We have not canceled any meetings in this recession. Rather, we are focused on compliance to travel policy and preferred suppliers. As a company, we are continually out there with our customers. If we are not in front of the customer, we are not growing."

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