Oracle Corporation, the largest provider of software for e-business, will save $16 million this year - and more than $100 million over the next five years - by mandating the use of e-Travel`s corporate travel technology. e-Travel, Inc., the leading provider of hosted technology services for Enterprise Travel Management (ETM), and an Oracle subsidiary, enabled the cost-savings by providing tools that helped Oracle to increase compliance with travel policy and the use of preferred suppliers, and to dramatically reduce transaction fees paid to its travel agency.
The mandate represents the largest and most successful implementation to date of any self-service travel management technology.
Oracle Corporation, which currently spends nearly $600 million per year on corporate travel, took the unprecedented step by a company of its size to mandate that all Oracle domestic business travelers use e-Travel`s online self-service travel planning and purchasing service. Within 45 days of the mandate, which started on March 1, utilization rates have reached greater than 80 percent.
Oracle CFO Jeff Henley said, ``Based on results so far, Oracle will save $16 million this year. As we roll-out e-Travel globally, and we implement expanded e-Travel services, we project more than $100 million in cumulative savings over the next five years.``
To ensure success with the mandate, Oracle initiated a comprehensive marketing strategy designed to increase awareness of e-Travel, and to provide tips and tools for travelers to help them migrate their travel bookings online. To kick off the campaign, all Oracle employees received an email defining the mandate and the critical role employees would play in its success. This was followed by a company-wide Webcast, hosted by Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Mark Jarvis and CFO Jeff Henley, who described how the e-Travel mandate was a vital part of Oracle`s e-business initiatives that have already saved the company $1 billion annually. Additional training and marketing tactics included use of a Web-based self-paced tutorial, e-Travel flyers inserted into employees` corporate T&E charge card statements and Internet-based posters placed in the lobbies of Oracle offices nationwide.
Henley noted that the e-Travel mandate is consistent with Oracle`s internal self-service effort. ``We have done a number of things over the past four years to make our employees more electronic in expense reporting, purchase requisitions and online benefits execution. e-Travel is a very important component of Oracle`s internal self-service initiative,`` he said.
Going forward, Val Cordell, Oracle`s Senior Director, Global Corporate Travel, and her staff continue to rely upon e-Travel technology to monitor, enforce and improve upon the Oracle mandate. e-Travel`s services enable Oracle to optimally control travel management, a goal that e-Travel has helped customers reach since its earliest days. Recognized as a pioneering force, industry firsts are a way of business for e-Travel, including:
First to book travel according to corporate policy
First to offer seat selection
First to develop and activate direct links
First to provide booking through wireless devices
First to migrate to an XML-based architecture
First to offer low-cost fulfillment option for online booking
First to adopt Enterprise Travel Management (ETM) as platform for comprehensive, Internet-based travel management
``The results that e-Travel delivered at Oracle Corporation are unprecedented,`` said e-Travel CEO Scott Gutz. ``For those corporations that are serious about travel cost savings, the choice is clear - it`s e-Travel.``
——-