User support requires a well-defined support chain (see our article Post-project, the questions you need to ask yourself to develop an efficient support strategy).
As the guarantor of compliance with the Company Travel Policy (CTP), the Travel Manager (TM) is often at the heart of the process.
However, the Travel Manager’s role and various daily tasks rarely allow for the management of tools (maintenance, anomalies, etc.), which is why an organization needs to be established to distribute roles and actions between the Travel Manager and his contacts.
Obviously, the organization of Travel & Expense Support around the Travel Manager will differ for a company with 50 travelers compared to one with 5,000 employees spread across 5 continents.
In this article, we present an example of a Travel Manager organization that has proven its worth!”
Local Relays
In large companies, the Travel Manager (TM) often covers several entities or geographical sites.
In the interests of accessibility and fluidity of exchanges, it is important for TM to have a local “representative” to act as a relay.
Their role could include:
- Reporting to the TM any tool anomalies that might affect compliance with the Company Travel Policy (CTP).
- Gathering the needs/questions of employees in their unit/site and passing them on to the TM.
- Passing on information/responses from the TM to employees.
- Answering users’ questions about the CTP and the booking process when they have the answer. If not, they can call on the TM.
- Answering questions about using the booking tool if they have the answer. If not, referring the matter to functional support.
Ideally, this relay will have knowledge of the business travel sector (assistant, professional training contract following appropriate training).
In our experience, this role is sometimes filled by the executive assistant, the local buyer, or a member of staff from IT and application support.
Depending on the size of the company, the TM may be surrounded by several local representatives, forming a relay team. To this team, a layer between the local representatives and the end users may be added: the key-users.
Key Users
Key-users are assistants with a good command of the booking tool. They are generally assistants to frequent travelers and VIPs.
They are often integrated into the implementation project as early as the test phase. It is important to involve them as early as possible in the project, so they can be involved in the processes put in place and buy into the project. Once deployed, they will be regarded by employees as the reference point. It is therefore essential that they have a good knowledge of the tool and the processes, and that they can talk about it in a positive way.
They are the first point of contact for end-users with tool or process questions.
Their role will be to:
- Answer end-users’ questions about how to use the tool.
- Answer questions about the Company’s Travel Policy and process when they have the answer.
- Escalate end-user questions/needs to the local relay.
The aim of this organization is to have several levels of filters, which will take the burden off the Travel Manager and provide a rapid response to the user.
In this way, the TM only receives requests that only he can respond to, enabling him to concentrate on these more complex subjects, without being overwhelmed by other requests. This results in improved responsiveness.
As for the user, they will receive answers more quickly, as several contacts will be available depending on the level of complexity of their request.
Don’t hesitate to contact our experts if you have any questions about improving your support chain.
Laure de la Lande, Axys Odyssey