The British arm of international professional services firm KPMG has contracted with GetThere, a Sabre company, to use the GetThere DirectCorporate online self-booking tool for business travel. Nearly 10,000 KPMG staff based in the UK will be encouraged to use the system to book all point-to-point business travel. 
KPMG has an annual air travel spend of approximately £10 million, and anticipates annual savings in the region of £1 million as a result of the implementation. The company’s e-enabling programme manager, Alan Dean, said greater compliance with corporate travel policy would enhance KPMG’s bargaining power with travel providers, while other savings would stem from the use of less expensive travel options.

“One of the interesting benefits of the online booking approach is that employees tend to make fiscally responsible choices when presented with a range of options, including less expensive alternatives.  This results in lower travel costs for the firm and our clients”, Dean said.

He said KPMG had decided to use an online self-booking tool in order to streamline the booking of frequently repeated trips, and to help remove stages of the booking process that added little value.  While staff will be encouraged to book all point-to-point travel through GetThere DirectCorporate, more complicated itineraries will continue to be dealt with by KPMG’s travel management company, BTI UK.

“Our use of GetThere DirectCorporate for basic bookings will free up BTI UK’s consultants to deal with more high-value business from us and from their other clients”, Dean said.
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KPMG deploys GetThere to save £1m on travel annually
19 November 2002
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KPMG’s implementation of GetThere DirectCorporate brings to 45 the number of European companies using the product.  Dean said KPMG had evaluated several corporate online self-booking systems, but had selected the GetThere product for its ease of deployment, its widespread use elsewhere around the world, and its ability to operate with all of the four main global distribution systems.

GetThere vice president and general manager for Europe, Richard Adams, said acceptance of online self-booking tools was increasing rapidly throughout Europe.

“While a small percentage of European travel is online today, it is increasing rapidly as companies look at new ways to cut travel costs”, Adams said. 

 

“Europe’s top 1,000 companies book many millions of business trips each year.  On this scale, online self-booking tools for corporate travel represent huge opportunity for substantial savings”.

A survey released by GetThere in August showed that most of its customers were seeing 15 percent lower airfares on average, and 43 percent lower travel agency fees for trips booked online.

GetThere DirectCorporate is the company’s top-level offering, aimed at companies that spend more than £8 million a year on business travel.  Its mid-range product, GetThere DirectMidMarket, is distributed in the UK as ‘Your Travel Manager’ in association with British Airways, and by Sabre, as Corporate.Res.

Related stories on ITN:

(30/10/2002) Survey Illustrates How Online Technology Can Cut Costs
(15/10/2002) GetThere Signs Online Booking Agreement with United
(14/10/2002) GetThere Appointment Signals European Growth Ambitions
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