Smart Mobility Management 09

International Integrated Corporate Mobility Solutions

#9

www.smart-mobilitymanagement.com

I FOCUS Business Travel

I CaSeS StUdIeS IBO, Siemens & the Co-operative Group

I VISION The rise of the Mobility Integrators The future Car Sharing

I BUSINeSS SOLUtIONS Door to door travel, connectivity & industry news

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Smart Mobility Forum & awards, 30th May, Brussels.Register at www.smart-mobilitymanagement.com/sme

ALD Automotive brings the efficient alternatives to corporate mobility,

while delivering employee satisfaction, social responsibility and cost efficiency.

Part of ALD newmobility, a panel of innovative offers, ALD switch

is a ground-breaking solution allowing drivers to combine the long-term rental

of a compact, low-emission car with the use of other types of vehicles

to meet specific needs: an MPV, a van or even a convertible.

ALD switch is currently available in Belgium and the Netherlands.

Discover how ALD Automotive can help you improve your mobility at

www.aldautomotive.com.

Shape your future mobilitywith ALD Automotive

on the

WWWJoin the Smart Mobility Community

edItO

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smart mobility management - n°9 I 3

Jonathan GreenChief [email protected]

Iam very pleased to have joined the team at Smart Mobility Management. It’s an exciting time for mobility, the evolution of your magazine and for me personally. There’s a lot going on and the time for corporations to go mobile has definitely come.

Mobility integrators, aggregators and players are popping up across Europe and making door to door travel a reality. In this issue we focus on business travel and car sharing, hearing from David Chapple, Director at the Business Travel Show, about why corpo-rate buyers are prioritising mobility in 2013. We also examine what a business traveller wants and explore how travel programmes can be optimised.

In the automotive and fleet sector car sharing is no longer a B2C solution, but a B2B proposition. The creation of Daimler Mobility Services and Avis Budget’s acquisition of Zipcar are just two exam-ples of how car sharing is exploding across Europe.

The ‘Time to go Mobile’ has come - this is the theme of our annual conference in May (You can find out more on the back cover, page 43). Finally, this magazine belongs to you. I would very much like to hear from you about how we can become better at what we do.

Do get in touch and let’s go mobile,

Jonathan GreenChief Editor

www.smart-mobilitymanagement.com.

CO²OL* *The new A-Class¹ with CO₂ emissions as low as 92 g/km.

In addition to the A 180 CDI BlueEFFICIENCY, Mercedes-Benz also off ers the ultimate in matters of effi ciency withthe new A-Class BlueEFFICIENCY Edition. Thanks to the consumption of just 3.2 l/100 km, the new A 180 CDIBlueEFFICIENCY Edition is one of the most effi cient diesel vehicles in the compact car segment. And the reducedCO₂ value of just 92 g/km helps to decrease consumption by up to 5%. Incidentally, its cw value, which has beenreduced to 0.26, is the very best in the hatchback segment. Find out more at www.mercedes-benz.com/fl eet

¹Fuel consumption urban/extra-urban/combined: 8.4–4.2/5.1–3.2/6.4–3.6 l/100 km; combined CO₂ emissions: 148–92 g/km.Figures do not relate to the specific emissions or fuel consumption of any individual vehicle, do not form part of any offer and are intended solely to aid comparison between different types of vehicle. The vehicle shown features optional equipment.Provider: Daimler AG, Mercedesstraße 137, 70327 Stuttgart

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CO²OL* *The new A-Class¹ with CO₂ emissions as low as 92 g/km.

In addition to the A 180 CDI BlueEFFICIENCY, Mercedes-Benz also off ers the ultimate in matters of effi ciency withthe new A-Class BlueEFFICIENCY Edition. Thanks to the consumption of just 3.2 l/100 km, the new A 180 CDIBlueEFFICIENCY Edition is one of the most effi cient diesel vehicles in the compact car segment. And the reducedCO₂ value of just 92 g/km helps to decrease consumption by up to 5%. Incidentally, its cw value, which has beenreduced to 0.26, is the very best in the hatchback segment. Find out more at www.mercedes-benz.com/fl eet

¹Fuel consumption urban/extra-urban/combined: 8.4–4.2/5.1–3.2/6.4–3.6 l/100 km; combined CO₂ emissions: 148–92 g/km.Figures do not relate to the specific emissions or fuel consumption of any individual vehicle, do not form part of any offer and are intended solely to aid comparison between different types of vehicle. The vehicle shown features optional equipment.Provider: Daimler AG, Mercedesstraße 137, 70327 Stuttgart

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www.skoda-auto.com

SIMPLY CLEVER

ŠKODA Rapid. A great news for your eet.

Combined fuel consumption and CO2 emissions for the Rapid model: 3.9–5.8 l/100 km, 104–134 g/km

Regardless of which angle you look at the new ŠKODA Rapid, you will always discover many good reasons why to make it a member of your company eet. Rapid is a representative as well as a practical car. Behind its elegant clean lines awaits a spacious interior and many clever details that will make traveling pleasant for the entire crew. For example, the side pockets where you can place your cell phone, an ice scraper mounted on the fuel tank lid or the multimedia holder located on the center console. While drivers will enjoy the high performance of TSI engines, eet managers will appreciate their ef ciency. The offer also includes extremely ef cient 1.6 TDI diesel engines. All TDI and TSI engines are also available in Green tec versions that are particularly environmentally friendly. With the new ŠKODA Rapid your eet will reach a completely new level. Contact us as soon as possible. We will gladly introduce you to other ŠKODA models from our eet offer.

Rapid_fleet_A4-sample.indd 1 11.12.12 11:25


CONteNt

VISION CaSeS StUdIeS

22 International Baccalaureate Consolidation - Going global

28 Siemens Tailor Made Mobility

40 Co-operative Group Co-operating on the commute

BUSINeSS SOLUtIONS

9 Industry News Project Neo goes mobile

10 Business Travel News Airplus Car Rental, Managing Connectivity and Easyjet breaks 10m mark

36 Sharing Society Avis acquires Zipcar

37 Car Sharing News Carbox innovates,

DriveNow and CiteeCar

38 Industry News Smarter Parking and E

Bikes

42 Flat Turtle Office mobility solution

12 Evolution of Travel Management in 2013

16 Please make it convenient The Traveller’s Wish

17 The lights are on but nobody is home Managing traveller

health and wellbeing

20 Rail Revolution Rail travel for business

24 Expert Opinion Opportunities and risks

26 Hotels Negotiating the best

deal

FOCUS

ISSUE N°10 THE TOTal COST OF MOBIlITy - SUPPlIERS’ DIRECTORy PUBlICaTION May 2013

Reproduction rights (texts, advertisements, pictures) reserved for all countries. Received documents will not be returned. By submitting them, the author implicitly authorizes their publication.

Caroline Thonnon HEAD OF BuSINESS DEvELOPMENT & GLOBAL FLEET LEADER ([email protected])Steven Schoefs CHIEF EDITOR - FLEET EuROPE ([email protected])

CONTRIBuTORS: Tim Harrup, Thomas Drexler (Amadeus), Jens Diehlmann (Ernst & Young)

MANAGING PARTNER: Thierry Degives

Kathleen Hubert HEAD OF MARKETING & SMART MOBILITY MANAGEMENT LEADER ([email protected])Jonathan Green CHIEF EDITOR SMART MOBILITY MANAGEMENT ([email protected])David Baudeweyns INTERNATIONAL SALES & BuSINESS DEvELOPMENT ([email protected])Romina De Gregorio INTERNAL SALES & OPERATIONS ([email protected])Thao Van de Poel INTERNAL SuPPORT ([email protected])

EDITOR: Thierry DegivesNexus Communication SA, Parc Artisanal 11-13, 4671 Barchon (Belgium) Phone: +32 4 387 87 94 Fax: +32 4 387 90 63 uRL: www.nexuscommunication.be

SMART MOBILITY MANAGEMENTwww.smart-mobilitymanagement.com [email protected]

14 Changing Perspectives

Mobility Integration

15 Mobility Integration in Business Travel

RouteRANK

31 advertorial alphabet

32 From leasing to Sharing

Traditional Car Leasing

34 Car Sharing The future

www.skoda-auto.com

SIMPLY CLEVER

ŠKODA Rapid. A great news for your eet.

Combined fuel consumption and CO2 emissions for the Rapid model: 3.9–5.8 l/100 km, 104–134 g/km

Regardless of which angle you look at the new ŠKODA Rapid, you will always discover many good reasons why to make it a member of your company eet. Rapid is a representative as well as a practical car. Behind its elegant clean lines awaits a spacious interior and many clever details that will make traveling pleasant for the entire crew. For example, the side pockets where you can place your cell phone, an ice scraper mounted on the fuel tank lid or the multimedia holder located on the center console. While drivers will enjoy the high performance of TSI engines, eet managers will appreciate their ef ciency. The offer also includes extremely ef cient 1.6 TDI diesel engines. All TDI and TSI engines are also available in Green tec versions that are particularly environmentally friendly. With the new ŠKODA Rapid your eet will reach a completely new level. Contact us as soon as possible. We will gladly introduce you to other ŠKODA models from our eet offer.

Rapid_fleet_A4-sample.indd 1 11.12.12 11:25


AlphaCityGet ahead with intelligence – due to innovative company CarSharing.

Redefine the mobility of your employees. AlphaCity: the new CarSharing solution from Alphabet for business and private use. The idea? As simple as it is clever: your employees use AlphaCity car pool vehicles – and you save money on taxis, trains and rental cars. It’s that easy. AlphaCity means reduced total cost of ownership – and what’s more, lower total mobility costs. AlphaCity: the first leasing-based CarSharing solution with state-of-the-art keyless technology. Satisfaction guaranteed.

www.alphabet.com

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door to door t&e: Project Neo goes Mobile

Project Neo, an innovative platform from KDS, asks travellers where they are starting from, where they are going, for how long and then presents options to the traveller - in line with the company travel policy. “With three screens, two clicks and one minute travellers can be on the move and focus on the busi-ness of doing business rather than booking travel” claims KDS. The solution calculates all likely additional costs meaning that the total cost of the trip is available prior to booking and an expenses claim is automatically generated. “KDS redefines the booking experience with Project Neo. It is a bold and long awai-ted move” said Scott Gillespie, a travel industry commentator.

BUSINeSS SOLUtIONS Industry News

are you insured to work from home?The AXA Group, a worldwide leader in insurance and asset management, has published the findings of a uK survey of the insurance risks that corporations and employees are exposed too when working from home. According to research 16% of uK home-workers employ one or more people yet only 3% have employer’s liability insurance. Meanwhile just 14% of homeworkers surveyed say they have business car insurance yet 66% (over three and a half million) use their cars for business purposes. In both instances this would mean they are operating illegally.

Mass market FCeV on the road by 2017Daimler AG, Ford Motor Company and Nissan Motor Co, Ltd., have signed a unique three-way agreement for the joint development of common fuel cell system to speed up avai-lability of zero-emission technology and significantly reduce investment costs. Each company will invest equally towards the project with the aim of launching the first affordable, mass-market FCEvs as early as 2017. The project to develop the FCEv, which produces no emissions, as a mass market fuel source sends a clear signal to suppliers, policymakers and the industry to encourage further development of hydrogen refuelling stations and other infrastructure neces-sary to allow the vehicles to be mass-marketed.

Mobility Mixx: SmartcardDutch mobility provider Mobility Mixx is now offering a business smartcard that can be used for all types of business mobility. Train, taxi, bike and even fuel for the company car can be paid with the business mobility smart card. “This is the first all in one solution card and with it we are anticipating a growing need in the business market,” says Director of Mobility Mixx Paul Wessels. According to Mobility Mixx the big challenge will be to find the right balance between user preferences, business interests and the possibilities which can be developed. Mobility Mixx takes the entire administrative process out of the hands of users and business.

Managing mobile data chargesThe costs of data could outweigh the savings that travel managers have fought hard to negotiate with travel suppliers. “Whatever mobile device you use overseas, it can cost considerably more than it does at home particularly if you’re using it to access the web. You can even run up a big bill without consciously using your phone as many smartphones and tablets use apps which automatically search for updates whenever the device is on.” said Mark Pattnam of RoamingExpert.com. See our article at http://www.smart-mobilitymanagement.com/time_to_go_mobile_53422-en-448-183879.html for more information.


BUSINeSS SOLUtIONS Business Travel News

airplus Car Rental Solution

Airplus, the payment solution provider, has launched a corporate car rental solution which is accepted by leading car rental companies around the world. The card enables car rental expenses to be handled via a centrally billed lodge account providing corporates with greater visibility of their car hire spend. Another advantage of the solution is the extensive insurance coverage for business trips and personal accident insurance, which includes common car-rier accident insurance, travel and medical assistance and excess car rental insurance.

dB BonusCard Business Deutsche Bahn’s BonusCard allows business travellers to benefit from corporate discounts when they book tickets at DB vending machines, agencies or Travel Centres. Corporate customers are also able to use online booking tools. Mem-bers of the scheme, which is free of charge, save their cor-porations money as corporate discounts are deducted from the price of a ticket the moment it is booked. Expenditure is automatically allocated to the company, which is important when determining discounts in the future. To order to access a bahn.bonus Card, you have to be resident in Germany. Register at http://www.bahn.de/p/view/bahncard/bahnbo-nus/bahnbonuscard.shtml

Managing Connectivity: the next big thingAccording to CWT many travel buyers do not understand how much money their travellers spend to stay connected when travelling for business. As a result of this lack of visibility buyers are not in a position to leverage spend with suppliers and encourage best practice amongst travellers. Being connected while away from the office is a key aspect of travelling for business. CWT believes that a significant opportunity exists to create a managed connectivity programme within business travel policy, and advises companies to lay the foundation for a policy by gathering data on the types of costs that are being incurred, with which suppliers, and how much is being spent.

Business traveller SurveyA survey conducted by Frequent Business Traveller Magazine has found that one-third of business travellers will travel more in 2013, with half travelling more than they did 2 years ago. The survey highlighted that travellers want to be healthier, are more loyal to airlines than hotels and that WiFi connectively influences pur-chasing decisions. 1,349 frequent business travellers were polled during the last quarter of 2012 by the magazine in association with FlyerTalk, the world’s largest online travel community.

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Malaysia airlines joins oneworld

Malaysia Airlines has become a full member of the oneworld® alliance. Its addition expanded oneworld’s global coverage to 840 destinations in 156 countries, served by some 9,000 depar-tures a day operated by a combined fleet of some 2,500 air-craft. The 2 million members of Malaysia Airlines’ Enrich loyalty programme will have their frequent flyer privileges extended to whenever they fly with any oneworld member airline and be able to use any of the 550 airport lounges worldwide offered by oneworld member airlines. Similarly, the 125 million members of the established oneworld airlines’ frequent flyer programmes will be able to earn oneworld benefits on Malaysia Airlines.

New Lounge for etihad airways in Paris Etihad Airways, the national airline of the united Arab Emirates, has unveiled an uS$8 million premium lounge at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris.The new lounge, located in Terminal 2, will meet increasing demand on Etihad Airways’ flights into and out of Paris, which have grown 55 per cent over the past 18 months.

easyjet breaks 10 million mark

In December 2012 easyJet reached the milestone of carrying 10 million business passengers in a year for the first time. This helped the low cost carrier increase total revenue for the first quarter by 9.2% to £833 million, driven by strong growth in unit revenues and improved load factors. Easyjet has ramped up its efforts to attract business travellers in recent months. Allocated seating was rolled out across the network in the last quarter of 2012 and new deals for cor-porate buyers have been negotiated. In November easyjet announced an agreement with the Scottish public sector that will enable all public sector staff in Scotland to travel with the airline.

Common rules for carry-on luggageThe excessive restrictions and arbitrary charges that some airlines impose on carry-on luggage must end. MEPs urged the Commission to include a reasonable hand language allowance rule in the coming revision of air passenger rights legislation, which is to be tabled before the summer. “We must protect consumers from the abusive commercial practices that airlines use to generate extra income“, said Georges Bach (EPP, Lu). Commissioner De Gucht admitted that hand luggage restrictions vary greatly but said “the Commission sees this as the reflection of diversity in a very competitive market”, adding that he was not in favour of more regulatory action.

FCM goes mobileFCm Travel Solutions has partnered with uK-based firm Mantic Point to introduce ‘FCm Mobile’. FCm Mobile gives travellers access to their itineraries, enables them to receive flight status notifications and to check-in for flights. It also provides travel information such as airport guides, currency conversion and weather forecasts. Katie Thomas, global product manager traveller services, FCm Travel Solutions said: “We are excited about launching FCm Mobile. It provides FCm with a globally consistent application to ensure business travel for our customers is quick, easy and instantly accessible.” It’s anticipated the mobile app will be launched across most major regions within FCm’s network in the next few months.


FOCUS David Chapple Interview

David Chapple, Event Director of Europe’s largest gathering of travel buyers and suppliers, the Business Travel Show (BTS), talks to us about the future of business travel and what matters to Europe’s travel community following this year’s show.

The Evolution of travel Management in 2013

after a couple of years in the doldrums what does the business travel market in Europe look like today?David: “It’s a mixed picture. In recessions there are always winners and losers. Overall, I would say that there is a more optimistic outlook for 2013. Research by suppliers, and indeed our own survey of European travel buyers at the BTS, indicates that there will be an increase in travel and budgets this year. In 2008 and 2009 some companies introduced so called ‘travel bans’ to reign in expenditure. Now, they have re-addressed the balance and the aim is to understand why travel offers a return on investment (ROI). The importance of getting executives in front of clients and potential customers to showcase a com-pany’s products and services is not lost on corporations and business travel is a way of doing this.”

How is the role of the traveller manager changing? David: “The findings from the Show’s buyer survey showed that there is an increasing strategic focus, that the category is becoming procurement led and that there is an increased focus on mobility. In terms of the strategic focus, corporations are seeking a clearer picture of the total costs of travel – and how these costs correlate with business growth and improved customer service. It comes down to the ROI again. It is no surprise therefore, that procurement is increasingly leading the agenda. Strategic procurement drives the development of metrics to evaluate performance. Additionally, buyers are seeking to get their hands around all areas of travel expendi-ture. Accounting for the cost of all aspects of the business trip – from door to door so to speak – is increasingly important. This is why there is an increased focus on mobility.”

Is the focus on mobility something new for travel managers?David: “There is now greater awareness of what travel is undertaken and by whom, how it is happening and why it is occurring. The move towards an increasingly strategic, pro-curement led approach, blends well with managing all aspects of corporate mobility. Corporations are seeking savings across

David Chapple, Event Director of Business Travel Show.


their supply chains and from all parts of the business trip. As mobility considers all elements of a trip it makes sense that mobility is in focus. In mainland Europe there has always been a focus on mobility and trend is growing. Corporations want to understand how all modes of travel – and alternatives to travel - can be utilised to improve operations and add to the all-important bottom line savings.”

There’s been lot of talk about so called rogue traveller, those that book travel outside of contracts. Is this a big issue for corporates?David: “Mobile has led to a revolution in options to book travel. Because of this it is easier for travellers to take control of their own travel itineraries – and go rogue! Without compliance the visibility of travel diminishes, negotiating power in tenders declines and savings cannot be demonstrated. With procure-ment in the chair the mantra of what gets measured gets managed will become louder, and corporate risks will be red flagged. Without compliance there is no way to manage busi-ness travel and business travel needs to be managed if bottom line savings are to be identified and realised.”

How do you see the market evolving over the next 5 years?David: “I suspect we will see more consolidation. The larger brands are making acquisitions and expect this to continue across all categories - air, hotel, TMC and technology. Techno-logy is a liberator. Mobile will cement its position as king. With connectivity we will see the smartphone become a ticket, a payment mechanism and a source of corporate messaging. Travellers will be presented, in real time, with information on their smartphones ranging from what to expect from sup-pliers, for example that the hotel provides complimentary WiFi and that breakfast should be included in the price, through to local travel information, when they touch down at the airport or arrive at the rail station to minimise traveller risks, comply with policy and reduce costs. We will see greater use of phone conferencing, desktop video through to the use of video suites. The cost of entry will continue to fall, driving greater exploration of the value that can be created by utilising, what we term today, as alternatives to travel. As this happens, we will become even more familiar with these solutions, accep-tance of them will increase and engaging in an audio or a video call will become as common in the future as making a phone call is today.”

What skills will the travel buyer of the future need? David: “As the sector becomes more procurement led we will see more buyers with procurement qualifications. The impor-tance of effective two way communication – to the Board and to the traveller – will become even more important. The board will want to know the value business travel brings to the table. Travellers will expect business travel to be as simple to arrange as leisure travel. Buyers will need to demonstrate to travel-lers why booking through corporate channels is best. Mobile, viewed as a threat to compliance, can be seen in another light as the best opportunity yet for engaging with travellers, demonstrating value and creating change the business wants to see.”

Jonathan Green

«There is now greater awareness of what travel is undertaken and by whom, how it

is happening and why it is occurring.»

BuSINESS TRAvEL CLuB

The Business Travel Club, brought to you by the Business Travel Show, is a regular social and networking event open to anyone involved in the business travel industry. The club, which meets 6 times in the uK, the Netherlands and across the Nordic Region, is there for you to keep up to date, share the latest industry developments, meet with like-minded professionals and create and maintain your own national and international networks.

For more information go to www.thebusinesstravelclub.com.


VISION Future Mobility Integrators

Rather than seeing different modes of transport as competing entities mobility integrators present a holistic view of the transport network and enable travellers to design door to door journeys.

Mega trends shaping mobilityThere are three mega trends shaping the mobility market according to research by Frost & Sullivan: Rising population density in urban areas; public policy that is geared towards sustainable modes of travel; and technology enabling the switch from ‘point to point’ to ‘door to door’ travel.

Making mobility happenThe ecosystem required for mobility solutions is complex. OEMS, public transport operators, infrastructure and technology providers amongst others will need to collaborate with one another and create a holistic solution.

Frost & Sullivan have identified 3 different business models that will help to make mobility happen.

> Mobility Integrator (MI) – This is an entity that enables mobility to exist. It can be a stand-alone entity or function as a programme manager that provides transport and payment options. The MI does not necessary have to own the products;

> Mobility Aggregator (MA) – This is an entity that offers a selection of mobi-lity services under a single package as its core business, either as stand-alone provider or in partnership with others. Fleet leasing companies like ALD, Leaseplan and Alphabet are examples. According to Yeswant Abhimanyu, Research Associate at Frost and Sullivan, these companies have moved “swiftly positioning themselves as MA’s”;

> Mobility Players (MP) - This is an entity in the value chain that owns approx. 50% of the different types and modes of transport offered in the package. OEM’s, like Peugeot, BMW, Daimler and vW are examples.

Travel Management Company or Mobility Management Company?Briggs believes that Travel Management Companys (TMC) will also have “a role to play” in the B2B market. Presenting the research on a webcast he described a discussion with a TMC about how

mobility would affect their business model, what opportunities could be created and how a platform to support client needs could be created.

There is still some way to go, but as we move towards 2020 Briggs believes there will be, “key opportunities to integrate city based travel with suburban and inter-city travel, and even beyond that to international travel.”

Jonathan Green

The Mobility Integrator: Changing perspectives

Integrators will move mobile to the next level.

«There are certainly some disruptive forces taking place in mobility that could turn

automotive and transport on its head in many ways.»

Martyn Briggs


VISION Future Mobility Integrators

RouteRANK with its ability to appraise multiple modes of travel and provide door to door travel solutions is catching the eye of some of the business travel industry’s biggest names.

Late last year the Association of Corporate Travel Executives awarded Jochen Mundinger, founder and Chairman of routeRANK, its EMEA and global ‘3 under 33 award’. The award is designed to recognize the newest and brightest thinkers in the business travel industry.

Why is the business travel industry interested in Mundinger’s innovation? The total cost of travel has long been seen as the panacea for travel managers, but with a plethora of booking channels getting all the data in one place has been a challenge.

In a simple single search routeRANK’s patent pending technology ranks the best possible travel routes allowing users to sort them according to their priorities, such as price and travel time. The giants in the business travel industry can see the potential.

April Bridgeman, Senior vice President of Strategic Marketing at BCD Travel, said, “until now, no single solution has been able to provide travellers with commercial, public and personal transportation options so they can piece together trips as they see fit. [...] Our partnership with routeRANK lets us complement the information currently available while adding route and mode options in a very useful way.” The technology behind routeRANK powers BCD Travels End-to-End Trip Planner which visitors to this years Business Travel Show were able to road test.

routeRANK is used in companies managed or unmanaged travel processes. Jochen Mundinger told us, “Where applicable, routeRANK integrates a company’s own data sources and tools including any existing negotiated fares. For example, in the case of an existing contract with a TMC for flight bookings routeRANK will integrate this information with the existing online booking tool.”

By reflecting corporate travel policy routeRANK supports compliance and can help companies manage business travel from a wide array of angles; from integrating hotel providers though to supporting traveller duty of care. The solution ensures that the corporate realises bottom line saving, the traveller is presented with the best route and the travel booker save times from not having to review and book travel on multiple websites.

It also considers door to door travel, with further customization for options such as the inclusion of companies’ office locations and company cars. Mundinger added, “Customized versions are provided in different ways, in particular standalone web-based versions, as an iFrame or via the Application Development Interface. This way its door-to-door travel planning capabilities can be flexibly integrated into customers’ and partner’s own solutions of whatever type, such as web-based and desktop systems as well as mobile platforms such as iPhone or Android”.

Jonathan Green

Mobility Integrators in Business travel

Jochen Mundinger is catching the eye of some of the industry’s biggest names.


Convenience is a clear priority for travellers, with 62% of respondents stating that this was the most important factor for

them when travelling. Just over a fifth (22%) stipulate cost as their top priority, and only 15% put comfort first.

With convenience clearly a key factor, the rise of mobile booking technology will likely be significant over the coming year. The survey shows that 66% of travellers can currently book their busi-ness travel through a corporate online booking tool, but only 33% are able to book via a mobile or tablet device. Providing travellers with the opportunity and technology to book a hotel or plane whilst on the move (and staying within the corporate travel policy) will be a significant area of opportunity for travel managers.

Building relationships The survey also highlights an interes-ting relationship between the corporate travel department and the traveller. Whilst half of the respondents say they fully understand their company’s cor-porate travel policy, this leaves almost 50% of travellers who do not, sugges-ting a lack of effective communication between the two. Alarmingly, 15% say that the corporate travel department actively hindered their ability to do business.

Increasing awareness, transparency, and effective communication of the corpo-rate travel policy will always be an aim for travel managers, not least because it has direct impact upon travellers staying within the policy’s boundaries; 33% of travellers surveyed state they’d gone ‘off plan’ during their 2012 business travel.

Combining business and leisure travelFinally, the trend towards the merging of business and leisure travel looks set to continue this year. 32% of corporate travellers who took part in the survey would like to have the opportunity to extend their business trip to include self-funded leisure travel.

Diane Bouzebiba, Managing Director of Amadeus, uK and Ireland, said, “These findings clearly identify opportunities for travel departments to introduce

new services and technologies that will deliver additional value to travellers. Over the course of 2013, a particular priority for Amadeus is to help corpo-rate travel departments put their exper-tise in their travellers hands by enabling mobile devices to plan, book and amend travel arrangements, keeping travellers on plan, safe and better connected”.

Jonathan Green

The rise of mobile booking technology will likely be significant over the coming year.

FOCUS Make it convenient

Amadeus has produced an industry report titled Amadeus Business Travel Insights: The 21st Century Business Traveller, which identifies the priorities of corporate travellers in 2013, and how they will impact on the role of the business travel manager.

Please make it convenient: the travellers wish in 2013

The report is based on a survey of over 400 uK and Ireland adults, who work for large companies and regu-larly travel for business and was con-ducted in December 2012, by ICM Research on behalf of Amadeus uK.


Business travel can be arduous. Long days, unfamiliar environments and the effects of jet lag are just a few of the challenges that business travellers face. The impacts on corpora-tions can be significant too. Jonathan Green investigates.

Managing stressWork-related stress is one of the biggest health and safety challenges facing European business. According to Eu research nearly 25% of workers are affected by stress, and studies suggest that between 50% and 60% of all lost working days are related to it. This represents a significant cost in terms of human distress and business productivity.

The rise of presenteeism Reporting on absenteeism is commonplace yet awareness of the business risks of presenteeism – the practice of an employee who attends work despite illness, anxiety or stress – is now moving up the agenda.

Studies by the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work estimate that the costs of presenteeism are double that of absenteeism. vincent Lebunetel, Senior Director Europe, Middle East and Africa for CWT Solutions group, believes that the effects of stress on productivity are important. He said, “Business travel should be about doing business; business travellers should be focused on work and not travel. We want to help companies help their travellers soften the impact of the stressful parts of travel and help them to remain productive”

Traveller WellbeingFrequent travellers know all too well the effects of criss-crossing time zones - disturbed sleep, poor concentration and fatigue. Robertson Cooper and IG Management, in a report for Project ICARuS, reviewed the key academic work in this area.

They found:

> Frequent business travellers record psychological well-being scores substantially (25-30%) below the norm;

> Low psychological well-being is linked to poorer perfor-mance and productivity – and to long-term physical health problems;

> Frequent travellers make three times as many claims for psychological treatment as non-travellers.

> Frequent travellers make more claims for psychological health problems;

These findings indicate that managing the people side of the business travel equation is essential if a programme is to be optimised. In recent years travel policy has tightened in the quest to save costs with business class being reigned in and hotels downgraded.

Traveller Wellbeing: the lights are on but nobody is at home

FOCUS Traveller Wellbeing

Are the effects of stress costing your company business opportunities?


dOSSIeR Traveller Wellbeing

Portman Travel suggest that creativity in travel management can bring returns – for example that travellers can fly in more comfortable, higher class cabins, without paying more if they fly indirect routes.

Engaging Senior ManagementWhen an employee becomes stressed he will be less engaged. The Towers Watson Global Workforce Study, 2012, found that when engagement starts to decline, “companies become vul-nerable not only to a measurable drop in productivity, but also to poorer customer service and greater rates of absenteeism and turnover.”

Employees are frequently referred to as a corporation’s greatest asset. If the effects of poor health and wellbeing are hitting the bottom line will CFO’s and CEO’s look for travel managers to take action to build wellbeing into a travel programme?

The first step is to identify the issues and CWT is developing metrics to help managers do this. Lebunetel says, “CWT is developing the Travel Stress Index to help buyers make smarter travel policy decisions to improve productivity. Travelling smarter rather than less will be the way to find the optimal balance between the superficial costs of travel and the hidden ones.”

Stress can take many forms and there can be simple solutions. Lebunetel suggests, “While we would not advise a customer to lose his luggage (the highest stress trigger for business travel-lers), we may advise the travel manager to look at using sup-pliers that have a solid performance rate of not losing luggage if that is a chief concern for his or her travellers” adding that CWT is already “looking at adaptive travel policies for frequent travellers with some of our clients.”

Risk profiling business travellersThe first step is identifying the risks that business travel presents, and then the travellers that are at risk, the nature of that risk and the potential impacts on the employee and the bottom line.

Other practical steps that can be taken include:

> Making line managers aware of the existence of wellbeing issues and the potential business risks;

> Identifying the health concerns that affect employees, either via a survey or by analysing the types of employees within the organization. Certain populations like business travellers may have different concerns than other groups and this should be factored into the equation;

> Paying special attention to travellers who are involved in higher risk jobs. Not all travellers travel in the same way, to the same places or to the same degree; and

> Educate travellers about the effects and raise awareness of resources that are available in the company to support them.

«The first step is identifying the risks that business travel presents, and then the travellers that are at risk, the nature of that risk and

potential impacts on the employee and the bottom line.»


Lebunetel believes “that it is possible to balance cost and wellbeing.” If awareness of the effects of poor health and well-being - less engaged employees, poorer customer relations and declining sales – can be evidenced then incorporating health and wellbeing criteria in travel policy will become the norm rather than the exception.

Jonathan Green

DuTY OF CARE EXPLAINED

Employers have a duty of care towards employees when they are travelling. There is an awful lot to consider. Employee security, evacuation in the event of an emer-gency, inoculations and managing medical issues are some of the issues that travel managers need to appraise.

We spoke to the Declan Meighan, Managing Director of Maxwell Lucas, a global provider of integrated travel risk management services, about an employer’s responsibilities and how these can be discharged.

“In law an employer is bound to take reasonable care for the safety of its employees. This duty extends to providing a safe system of working that extends to when an employee is travelling or is away from home in the course of his or her employment. An employer who fails to discharge this duty of care may be exposed to a claim of negligence from an employee who is injured or harmed in the course of their employment.

As part of this duty of care, employers need to make sui-table and sufficient risk assessments for their employees. Organisations need to demonstrate they have taken all practicable steps to ensure their employees’ health, safety and wellbeing needs are met, whether the business travel is in their home country or overseas.

HR and travel policies should not only seek to protect the employer and the organisation, but create a sense of ‘well-being’ for employees that are asked to travel.”

Healthy Business Travel at AstraZeneca«Our Essential Health Activities framework consists of six global programmes and services that are being promoted and tailored to suit local cultures and risk profiles. These are Physical Fitness, Healthy Business Travel, Workplace Pressure Management, Tobacco Use Cessation, Healthy Eating and General Health Promotion.»

Source: AstraZeneca Website

Incorporating wellbeing into a travel policy can benefit the bottom line.


FOCUS Rail Evolution

A spider’s web of high speed (HS) tracks are weaving their way across Europe, linking major cities and slashing travel times. As the visibility and viability of rail rises it could soon become the pre-eminent mode of travel for business on short haul routes. Jonathan Green sought the views of rail expert Thomas Drexler from Amadeus.

2012 was another big year for HS. The world’s longest HS line opened in China reducing travel time between Beijing-Guangzhou from 22 hours to 8 hours. In Europe Barcelona was connected to Figueras and the first privately operated HS line

opened in Italy running between Napoli and Milan.

When the channel tunnel opened one of the busiest air routes in the world, London – Paris, began to decline. Today 80% of jour-neys are taken by train on this city pair. Next to fall was Madrid – Barcelona, then the busiest air route in the world. HS arrived in 2008 and today the majority of travellers choose the train.

At around 3.5 hours the magic seems to happen with the majority of travellers switching from the plane to the train. With train journey times showing a downward trend and the Eu executive pressing to end Europe’s last rail monopolies and open the market to competition from 2019, the future looks bright for rail.

Here’s what Thomas had to say about what rail operators and agents need to do if they are to catch the eye of the business traveller.As high-speed lines cut journey times, rail travel is emerging as a serious contender for short-haul business travel. High-speed rail travel is not only fast and easy for business travellers, since there is no need to wait in a lengthy queue at security, but it also provides a more conducive environment to work on the journey, with internet, electricity points and (perhaps most importantly) space.

Train stations are often located in the heart of a city, so there is no need for a connecting train or taxi at the destination, allowing travellers to arrive close to their office or meeting venue without the need for another connection. The experience of taking a new, fast high-speed service is also more akin to travelling in business class with a network airline than flying

with a low-cost airline, who tend to service short-haul routes. For these reasons, high-speed rail is a very attractive option for business travellers.

In order to reach this new customer segment, rail companies will need to think about offering business-traveller friendly additional services, such as the option to pre-book Wi-Fi access, on-board newspapers or table space, which could pro-vide a new source of revenue. In an online survey conducted by Amadeus, 60% of respondents identified on-board services as important for business travel by rail. 30% of respondents identified vIP and business lounges as a facility they’d expect to see at high-speed rail stations in the next few years.

Distributing European rail contentRail companies will also need to ensure that travellers can book rail travel via the distribution channel of their choice – whether this is online, via a travel agency or travel management company (TMC), or at the station itself.

Many business travellers use TMCs to buy and administer their tickets, so it’s vital that any rail company hoping to attract a greater proportion of business travellers makes their fares and availability visible and bookable in the indirect channel. Displaying rail content in this way also makes it easier for those booking business travel to compare high-speed rail options with short-haul flights, which they may not have previously considered.

There are challenges, of course: historically, a lack of standardisation in the rail industry has meant that agencies have needed specific rail expertise in order to understand the various methods of booking rail, which in turn makes it more costly. What the industry needs is a simplified, automated, end-to-end booking tool that links front and back office and standardises the process for booking all rail providers; in effect, a GDS for rail.

On the Right tracks


At Amadeus, the creation of such a GDS for rail is our long-term ambition, and we have been making exciting progress: our Agent Track solution, for which SNCF was the launch customer, allows travel sellers to access fares, schedules and inventory in a single screen. Last year we also announced a partnership with Trenitalia, to launch the rail company on FlyByRail Track, an air-rail display that means travel sellers can compare air and rail travel options for a given city pair on a single screen – for the first time, FlyByRail Track makes this possible without the need for a train to ‘become’ an airline in the system. We also announced that SJ, the Swedish rail company, signed up for Amadeus Agent Track and Amadeus Web Services Track. .

We believe that the rail industry can and should emulate the airline industry, to implement a simple and standardised way of shopping and booking rail travel – and we’re working in partnership with the industry to achieve this.

«Back in 1994, when Eurostar took its maiden voyage it required a shift of mindset amongst sections of the UK business travel

community to consider high speed rail as an option. Today, Eurostar is by the far the most widely used option for business travel

between London, Paris and Brussels.»

Darren Williams, Director of Sales, Eurostar

Thomas Drexler joined Amadeus in October 2011 as Director of Rail. An Austrian, fluent in English and German, he joined Amadeus from Deutsche Bahn where he was vice Presi-dent of Sales. Prior to that Thomas worked at Lufthansa as Managing Director of Lufthansa eCommerce.

©Th

alys

HS train travel is akin to travelling in business class with a network airline.


CaSeS StUdIeS IBO

Lesley Turvey, Senior Partner 3Sixty Global, shares her experience of sourcing and implement-ing a global travel consolidation project at the International Baccalaureate Organisation (IB).

n the last 6 years IB has seen student numbers increase organically by almost 100%. To sustain this level of growth, IB realised that simply increasing staff numbers and expanding operational arrangements would not be sufficient.

A restructuring programme was duly initiated to develop IB into a truly global organisation. This has resulted in IB re-locating to three new hubs; The Hague in the Netherlands, Bethesda, Maryland in the uSA, and Singapore.

Business travel representing almost 10% of IB costs base was a category in need of review. Lesley Turvey, Senior Partner at 3SIXTY global, who led the review said, “It was decided that the current fragmented travel and expense (T&E) service arrangements needed restructuring into a unified and consis-tent global framework.”

Going GlobalDaniel Benham, Chief Financial Officer, outlined the four criti-cal success factors that created the right environment for a successful global travel transformation project: 1.Management buy-in from the top; 2.Effective project governance with active sponsors; 3.A good team of internal colleagues and external consultants; and 4. A flexible timeline.

The IBO decided that if a global programme was going to be successful then it needed to have the following features:

> Effective Leadership: A Global Travel Manager, located in The Hague, would be appointed to drive T&E efficiency and effectiveness on a global basis;

> TMC contract: One global TMC, or a lead TMC with part-ners under global contract, would be appointed for all transient travel;

> Policy & Communication: A revised global travel policy, ta-king account of regional variations, would be implemented.

> Self-booking: Travellers should be able to book online and directly with the TMC;

> Payment: A single global solution for all travel expenditure using payment card technology would streamline adminis-trative processes and generate process efficiency savings.

> Reporting: Strategic and operational management repor-ting suites would be created to deliver meaningful data to budget holders, operational T&E staff and Senior Leader-ship. This, in turn, would enable performance to be mea-sured and help drive continuous improvement;

Making it Happen The project was delivered in 2 phases, over 2 years. The 1st phase focused on project management and sourcing, and the 2nd on implementation. Turvey explained that the 1st phase consisted of 4 steps:

Step 1 - Project Initiation and Stakeholder Engagement: IB identified the resource requirements and stakeholders for the project, and developed the project schedule.

Step 2 - Situational Analysis: By engaging with global teams data on transactions, spend and costs was gathered, and a proposed list of must haves and nice to haves in the pro-gramme was created. Turvey advises, “It is important to ensure local perspectives are embedded in global agree-ments.” From this activity a list of potential suppliers was created and an evaluation meeting held with stakeholders to review requirements and draft a Request for Proposal (RFP).

Step 3 – Strategy Creation and Approval: “We went out to potential suppliers via email, distributing the RFP, describing

Going Global: the International Baccalaureate


the process and hosting a supplier forum” explained Turvey. Alongside this, work was being undertaken by IB on how to compare and contrast suppliers which would be used to create a shortlist of potential suppliers.

Step 4 - Strategy Implementation: Background checks were performed on shortlisted suppliers, clarifications sought and supplementary questions issued with Turvey adding that “We held supplier meetings before awarding the contract. Once a decision was made we then began to communicate how we were going to roll out the contract within the business”.

Phase 2 saw the contract, which was awarded to BCD Travel along with the payment solution from Airplus, being imple-mented. The process lasted for 12 months, with The Hague Global Centre and uSA and Latin America operations opting for a booking tool alongside offline booking. In Asia Pacific bookings are fulfilled offline.

Return on InvestmentA programme that is simpler for the traveller, more efficient for the business and one that achieves better deals with suppliers has been the result. Benham said, “The IB global travel trans-formation project allowed the IB to move from four regional teams operating independently to three regional teams opera-ting under a single global travel policy with one global travel management company. Complexity has been reduced, travel services have improved and the organization also now enjoys cost benefits”.

The outsourcing of travel services has resulted in the closure of the IB Travel Office, and the establishment of global policies and procedures has seen expenditure on expensive flights and

hotel nights reduce. Turvey added, “Having access to global data sets means IB is able to leverage supplier spend globally and now understands how travellers behave at a local and global level.”

Building on the SuccessThe global programme has been built on the foundations of solid data and success in the future requires excellent commu-nication. Benham said, “Lesley has been a first rate consultant who also has been prepared to roll up sleeves and get involved in the day to day detail and decision making that is needed to successfully roll-out such a project. She has been with us when needed with her extensive up to date industry technical know-ledge and personal skills to work alongside our staff.”

Turvey believes that through the use of data IB has created a virtuous circle. Data enables the Global Travel Manager to analyse the programme from a global perspective and identify opportunities and risks, and this information is used to educate Senior Management, budget holders and travellers which, in turn, leads to changes in corporate and individual behaviour. She said, “All this means that the travel programme is now intelligently helping IB deliver its primary aim: quality educa-tional programmes in a cost effective way.”

Jonathan Green

INTERNATIONAL BACCALAuREATE IN BRIEF

> A not for profit education foundation founded in 1968.

> Schools in 147 countries offering education pro-grammes to over a million students.

> Combined hotel and air spend of $13 million, repre-senting 9.3% of IB cost base in 2012.

IBO has achieved financial saving by implemeting a global travel policy.


FOCUS Experts Opinion

We asked four experts to share their opinions about the issues that travel buyers need to consider in the coming year and the actions that can be taken to optimise performance.

The Experts View

“The economic climate will remain a challenge for travel programmes in 2013, leading travel managers to monitor their programme and suppliers closely, paying particular attention to ancillary fees and fuel surcharges. Policy compliance will remain important, to help manage travel in a cost-effective way.

Technology, and in particular mobile technology, represents the biggest opportunity for travel programmes in 2013, and will help encourage traveller compliance. In our recent Carlson Wagonlit Travel (CWT) survey on travel management priorities, 54 per cent of travel managers expressed their intention to offer mobile services this year.

This is an important area of opportunity as we must remember business travel is—first and foremost—about doing business. Accordingly, productivity and keeping travellers connected on the road is a must, along with managing an efficient, effective travel management programme that yields maximum ROI for its stakeholders

CWT acquired WorldMate, the leading developer of mobile technology in travel, at the end of last year, and saw a record-breaking year of downloads for CWT To Go (our free mobile app that provides travellers with secure access to real-time travel information, along with features such as calendar sync, click-to-call CWT and weather forecasts). We will continue to focus on giving customers the best tools in 2013.”

“Changes in demographics, technology and online purchasing habits are having a huge impact in the way business travel is being booked – this creates both a formidable challenge and immense opportunity for business travel programmes in terms of how to keep travel policy relevant and appropriate.

It always comes back to the data, so essential to understan-ding what’s being spent where and keeping travellers safe. How organisations address the challenge of gathering this will vary enormously.

Technology providers and TMCs will have a role to play in finding a solution but the quest must start with the understan-ding the culture of the organisation. The appetite for a strictly enforced policy versus a more relaxed approach; the nature of those booking travel – passively accepting what has been determined for the group or proactively seeking to create a trip that works for them.

More than ever those developing business travel programmes will have to engage with all key stakeholders - c-level, boo-kers, travellers and providers to create something that meets the needs of all.”

andrew Waller, President Europe Middle East & Africa, and Global Partners Network, Carlson Wagonlit Travel

Catherine McGavock, The Global Business Travel Association


“The biggest challenge that the business travel sector faces in 2013, apart from getting decent data on travel spend at a time of fragmentation and merchandising, is driving compliance. This is especially important for multi-national corporations with hundreds or thousands of travellers. Travellers are also con-sumers who use mobile applications for leisure air and hotel reservations. With their preferred booking methods for leisure travel they also want to use these to book business travel.

But the biggest opportunity lies with technology too. With new and smarter applications I believe it will not be too long before it will be possible for a corporation to set up and effec-tively manage not only one, but several travel policies within a company – even customised down to the individual traveller where necessary.”

“Cost management continues to be a key challenge for the year ahead. Organisations are continuing to contain and con-trol costs at a time when the cost of air travel and hotel rooms is expected to increase.

Opportunity lies in analysing travel data to understand the cost of the overall trip and communicating clearly to suppliers the requirements of the travellers and organisation. One solution is to use fewer suppliers and optimise existing deals.

If the actual cost of travel is to increase try to get more “bang for your buck” by looking at suppliers for “value add” ser-vices, thus reducing the cost of the total trip. For example, negotiate with hotels to include Wi Fi, breakfast, parking, food and beverage discounts within the rate; consider demand-based /dynamic pricing as a possible alternative to fixed rates; and focus on managing traveller compliance. Most travellers want to do the right thing and 2-way dialogue will help identify how to improve travel policy and, in turn, compliance.

Mobile is increasingly important. Most frequent travellers use mobile technology and applications and want self-service booking tools that allow them to book travel any time of the day, or night. Smart supplier deals, a clear and forward thin-king travel policy leading to traveller compliance is the way forward for 2013”

Sari Viljamaa, Managing Director, Finnish Business Travel Association

lesley Turvey,Senior Partner,3SIXTY Global


As savings become harder to find across the travel category buyers are delving into the hotel and accommodation space with renewed vigour. Jonathan Green explores best practice hotel procurement.

Consultant PwC predicts a mixed outlook for the hotel sector in Europe. Some cities are expected to show growth but

overall RevPAR (Revenue per avail-able room) is expected to slow. For hoteliers the importance of retaining existing customers in a slow economy is of paramount importance. With this in mind how can corporate buyers secure the best rates?

Go armed with dataunderstanding demand is the first step. What travel is planned, to which loca-tions and what volumes are expected. By undertaking a full analysis of existing hotel data sets, rates and market trends a buyer can be prepared. Portman travel describes data like this as “inva-luable for benchmarking and identifying where cost savings can be achieved,” adding, “don’t assume that your hotel spend is too small to leverage improved deals.”

Compiling transparent and comparable data sets can be a challenge however. Florian Tinnus, Head of Corporations and Resellers, Global Customer Group, at Amadeus explained, “Based on the nature of the hotel industry, data quality of this commodity remains the biggest challenge for the buyer – especially when compared to airlines.”

Data on hotels can come from a range of sources, TMC reports, credit card feeds, the Global Distribution System and online content which then needs to be aggregated and reconciled. This can be a time consuming process, but advances in technology mean that solu-tions which reduce the administrative challenge of data aggregation are no longer just available to those with the biggest spend.

Traveller Expectations and ComplianceOne approach to achieve savings could be to simply downgrade hotels, but this approach can wreak havoc with compliance across the entire travel category and increase overall costs too. Mark Douglas, Director of Sales, at Hotel Booking Agent HRS advises buyers, “To check and ensure that their hotel pro-gramme is relevant to what their travel-lers need and want, taking into account location and facilities as well as rates.”

The approach taken by corporates to drive compliance varies and depends on company culture. Tinnus explained, “There are companies that run a very property specific programme where travellers are mandated to stay in the company approved hotels, or on the other end those who provide just a per diem cap for the traveller as the only compliance factor. On average, we find something in the middle works best - a programme must have compliance fac-

tors such as safety standards, proximity to company location and hotel classifi-cation.”

With a boom in booking channels, comparison sites and mobile technology business travellers increasingly expect their company booking processes to replicate their leisure experience. In theory an excellent programme, with great properties and rates, can be compromised if the booking process is too wieldy and overly cumbersome. This means ease of booking needs to be factored into the equation when sourcing a supplier.

If a process is simple and offers value travellers are more likely to comply Douglas believes. He said, “Companies should work with a hotel supplier that provides tools that make it easy for the traveller to book on the go - last minute bookings are on the rise amongst busi-ness travellers, who more often than not,

Hotels: Negotiating the best deal

FOCUS Hotel and accomodation


have to react flexibly and charge their travel arrangements at the last minute.”

ancillary CostsWhen is a room rate not a room rate? When breakfast, WiFi, car parking or other ancillary items are included in the rate. PwC believes that loyalty and reward programmes could make the difference for hoteliers between success and failure in attracting guests in 2013, and this principle can be extended to negotiating ancillary items in room rates at a corporate level. It is in this area that travel buyers can demonstrate the value add of a managed hotel programme to travellers and in the process deliver bot-tom line savings.

Building an understanding of the costs incurred by the hotels when distribu-ting content could also yield savings. Douglas adds, “Another consideration we recommend that buyers take into account is to understand hotels’ costs, in terms of the channels that they are using to distribute their room inventory. A buyer can leverage the lower distribu-tion costs to negotiate the very best rates with the hotels directly.”

Programme ManagementThe true effectiveness of tender nego-tiation comes into focus once the pro-gramme has been implemented. The rates may have been negotiated with hoteliers, but this does not necessa-rily mean that they will be available to travellers.

Lanyon, a hospitality solutions provider, estimates that rate loading errors on the GDS are costing corporations an estimated €5bn each year in additional expense.

Hotels are responsible for loading nego-tiated hotel rates at a property level and there is no one entity that has complete control over the process. This means that contracted rates do not always appear on the GDS, the system used by many suppliers to supply data to corpo-rates. Portman Travel, a TMC, estimates that between 25 - 40% of rates are either not loaded or incorrectly loaded onto the GDS.

To minimise the risk of so called ‘rate squatting’ by hotels, buyers should perform regular audits. In a vast and dynamic market like hotels this can be a challenging process and buyers may choose to invest in technology solutions

that perform automated checks to see if the correct rate has been loaded.

all about the dataData once again holds the answer. A travel manager armed with meaningful data is able to go to market informed about accommodation needs and nego-tiate in a meaningful way. This is where the challenge lies in the hotel sector. Perhaps as the drive for savings focuses in on the hotel market suppliers and data reporting firms will invest in simpler solutions that address the long standing problem of gathering and comparing hotel data.

Jonathan Green

Seek “value add” services when negotiating with hoteliers.


CaSeS StUdIeS Siemens

Developing and integrating a mobility management strategy in a large corporation has it challenges, but the returns on offer can be significant. Rob Custer’s explains Siemen’s philosophy, the practical issues and how the move to an innovative model of mobility management is reaping rewards for Siemens and its employees.

So, what’s the background to the innovation in mobility at Siemens?Rob Custers: “We had been talking about mobility for a couple of years. The future is about managing and providing employees with access to a variety of mobility solutions. We introduced a new estate and office solutions called ‘Dynamic Office’ at our new HQ, which later became the ‘Siemen’s Office’. When the Siemens worldwide CEO visited he was so impressed that he said what had happened in Belgium should act as a blueprint for every other Siemens office in the world that was relocating. The next logical step was innovation in the travel and mobility space. What could we do differently? When I speak with colleagues in the sector everyone is loo-king in the same direction and exploring mobility. So, we took action and designed and implemented a mobility strategy. There have been challenges - from a technical, administrative

and tax perspective – but the biggest challenge was changing the mind-set. We overcame these challenges and are now changing behaviours.”

What did mobility look like in Siemens before the changes?Rob Custers: “We offered lease cars, which employees used for professional reasons or were offered as part of their remu-neration package. We realised that this solution no longer matched the needs of our personnel. We had employees telling us that, for example, they had a budget for a large, high performance car with lots of options and equipment, but they did not need it. The desires of the employee were not being met and the budget Siemens was allocating to lease cars was unnecessary. We realised that we needed to change and cus-tomise mobility solutions.”

Siemens: tailor-made mobility

Rob Custers wishes to provide his colleagues with real solutions to their mobility needs.


The move to a new HQ building has changed the culture then?Rob Custers: “Yes. We moved from a central Brussels location to a peripheral site in Anderlecht. We had been in previous HQ building for fifty years or so, and the move made us ask dif-ferent questions. For example, ‘Why do we need to equip an office with 100% capacity when we see that at any one time no more than 80% of the people are in the office?” Our real estate department set up this dynamic office environment decreasing the number of square metres we occupied and also reduced parking spaces. We have spaces for confidential meetings, benches for informal meetings, coffee corners and we ratio-nalised support services like printers. You use your employee badge to authorise a printer and you log in anywhere in order to receive your phone calls.”

What has been the response to new ways of working?Rob Custers: “The employee is able to organise his or her working day subject to his or her agenda. If an employee was faced with being stuck in a traffic jam due to an accident, then he or she can start working at home, arriving later at the office or not depending where he has to go that day. We have also installed satellite offices across the country – for example someone who lives on the coast doesn’t need to come to Brussels but can go to the base in Ghent. We also started talking to suppliers. We wanted to hear what the market could offer and how we could collaborate to develop a solution that met Siemen’s needs.”

So, the changing nature of workspace led to a more detailed look at mobility?Rob Custers: “Yes. We talk about working space and enabling our people to work at multiple locations inside and outside of the Siemen’s office estate rather than allocating desks to

individuals. All employees have the necessary infrastructure at home – laptops and with WiFi – giving them access to company servers. As we changed the way we worked this has had knock on effects across other support functions in the business. So just like we have done for the offices, we are moving away from a one-to-one situation with cars too. People use the office space and the car they need, when they need them. This is why the mobility strategy is closely aligned with office and estate strategy, and HR programme with its focus on Siemens being an attractive employer in the ‘race for talent’. This integration has been pivotal to the success we have had. We have seen that mobility needs are constantly changing – a young single person does not have the same requirements as a married person with children – we are customising the solution. The needs of each person can even change within the space of a single week and our solution means that the employee can respond.”

So how does the mobility budget work for an employee with a car?Rob Custers: “The first question we asked was whether a particular journey is necessary. Could the business outcome be achieved in a different way? If a journey was necessary, it was then about selecting the best form of transport; from air travel for international travel right down to a (e)bike, with eve-rything in between. Lets say the most appropriate method is the car, then comes the next decision – to use the best car for that particular journey – a company car, hire cars, pool car or shared cars. What solutions can we feasibly offer and what is the benefit for Siemens and the employee? Then going deeper and focusing on the efficiency of the trip with eco-driving and defensive driving techniques. We have developed a system and approach we call the ‘multi-modality integrator’ to make this happen.”

Electric cars are available for the personnel to use.


There must have been some challenges?Rob Custers: “All projects have their challenges. We realised we were not always responding to the mobility needs of our employees and that we could become a lot smarter about mobility. For example an employee who chooses a big mono-space vehicle, because he takes his family on holiday twice a year. For work, a smaller vehicle would be more suitable. We were over-dimensioning the vehicle for a twice-yearly need. We wanted to extend the possibilities for the employee and increase employee satisfaction. So, now instead of choosing a large car, the employee can opt for a smaller one with fewer options and with the funds in his mobility budget – a sort of savings account to be used for other types of transport - he might opt for an e-bike for the home-work trip, a cabriolet for the weekend and take up the option on a monospace for the holidays.”

Is this not difficult to organise?Rob Custers: “No. Our leasing supplier, Athlon Car Lease, man-age the total mobility budget and all requests from employees. All invoices, including those from other suppliers, are sent to Athlon and we receive a monthly - fully transparent - invoice.”

Is there not a tax issue for the employee?Rob Custers: “No, ‘benefit in kind’ tax still applies and is calcu-lated for each employee – and can be done on a daily basis if necessary. Going back to the example of the driver with a large

monospace, he would have paid tax for this big car based on the list price and its emissions. Now, by choosing a small city car he will a lower level of benefit in kind tax, but he can still have access to a large vehicle twice a year - and only pay the tax on it for these two short periods. The employee wins finan-cially and this helps to promote our mobility programme.”

It sounds a bit complicated...Rob Custers: “Sophisticated, you mean? It was already fairly complicated already because each employee has a different benefit in kind taxation to pay anyway. It may initially seem that we have made it more complicated, but just because you offer more options or services it does not need to be. Systems for this type of solution will doubtless become more sophis-ticated and lighten the workload on our payroll provider. As lease cars come to the end of their contracts the process will become more unified making it simpler to administer. We needed an external partner that would support us. The first question was, “What should our mobility policy and budget look like?” The car is still core to the leasing contract, but Ath-lon had also developed other products such as Railease, Bike Lease, Bus’ness Lease, and Flex Drive and integrated these mobility solutions in the package. Some customers were using some of these options, but no-one was integrating all of it.”

Tim Harrup

The role of the supplier has been critical. Cécile Liénard of Athlon Car Lease explained how they put in place the solu-tion for a client a sizeable and complex as Siemens.

Cecile, present us with some contextCécile Liénard: It was vital to address the concerns of our client. We have been pulling together the various different parts of the mobility solution in recent years. By including car lease and other forms of mobility, like bike lease (sports bike, regular bike, electric bike, folding bike) under one full opera-tional leasing with maintenance contract the employer and employee can see the monthly cost of the car he or she has selected, and manage the mobility budget. We also offer bus and train travel with our brand new product Flexdrive, which encourages a driver to select a car to suit his everyday needs, not his occasional needs. This is why we provide the ‘mobility integrator’ to the driver. It is important that we support the end user, the individual driver, to understand and use the solu-tion to their advantage.

What about the administrative side of the equation?Cécile Liénard: Companies do not have to fear an increase in administration, because Althon manage this. We provide a detailed breakdown of who has used which type of car, or mobility mode, and when. We also provide the individual driver with information on the benefit in kind tax he will have to pay for the selections he has made.

What happens if everybody asks you for a large car at the same time?Cécile Liénard: We have a certain number of cars available and use third party suppliers. I will be really happy if the provi-sion of cars becomes a problem for us, because this will mean that this new mobility philosophy is catching on and becom-ing very popular. We have the model and ability to respond to changing customer demands.


Why did Serviceplan look for a new mobility solution in the first place?Serviceplan: “We have always needed pool cars to keep our business running, but managing them was problematic and expensive. We were spending a lot on car-pooling, but not reaping enough benefits.”

Why did you opt for carsharing?Serviceplan: “I liked the carsharing model that you see nowadays in several cities. I was attracted by the convenience of automation of user registration, accounting and access. In addition, I felt that the concept of carsharing fitted well with our vision of sustainability. I therefore began looking for an automated corporate carsharing solution for Serviceplan.”

What made you choose alphabet’s alphaCity?Serviceplan: “Alphabet is very experienced in corporate carsharing. They have already implemented AlphaCity in several other companies. We were impressed with how committed they were to our specific situation, presenting us with a tailor-made concept.”

So what did you need exactly?Serviceplan: “We needed a carsharing scheme with transparent accounting featuring a clear cost allocation to different company departments; we sought less daily handling of the cars, and we wanted to save money by letting employees pay us to use the cars privately.”

How did implementation go? Serviceplan: “It went very smoothly. Within a short time, Alphabet had provided new cars and registered 900 of our employees, putting chips on their driving permits which would enable car use. We redid our intranet to show how to book cars by mouse click. We presented the new corporate carsharing solution as a Serviceplan company-branded concept called weDrive.”

What was the reaction from staff?Serviceplan: “Extremely positive - even non-users have been full of praise. The scheme has proven to be an impressive employee incentive.”

are cars being used efficiently?Serviceplan: “The cars are constantly in use, which we believe makes the scheme highly efficient.”

What are the benefits of carsharing to your business?Serviceplan: “Cost transparency and cost saving: the automatic allocation of costs back to the specific corporate user means mobility cost-efficiency is now better considered by all departments.

Income from private use is automatically booked against the overall cost. Automation means no outgoings for a car-pool bookkeeper. Last but not least, users have to check and report car conditions so we also dispense with caretaking costs. It’s a triple win situation for the company, for the employees and for our bottom line.”

What about the introduction of electric cars?Serviceplan: “Yes, I can eventually foresee a limited introduction of e-cars.”

How is the collaboration with alphabet?Serviceplan: “very good: Alphabet reacts quickly to new demands with appropriate solutions. They take care of all the handling, servicing, cleaning, tyre maintenance, accounting, debiting of employee credit cards - everything. We don’t have to do a thing. We definitely feel that we have found the very best solution for our car pool.”

Further information: www.alphabet.com

Florian Freiherr von Hornstein, Managing Director of Serviceplan Group, one of Europe’s largest adverti-sing and communications agencies, talks to us about the recent successful implementation of Alphabet’s corpo-rate carsharing solution.

Serviceplan on Alphabet’s Corporate CarSharing

VISION Advertorial Alphabet

Florian Freiherr von Hornstein and Marco Lessacher, CEO Alphabet Germany at the AlphaCity Serviceplan launch.

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VISION Corporate car sharing

Following its success among private individuals, is carpooling going to make its way into the cor-porate world in the near future? Does the wide use of car sharing vehicles mean the elimination of traditional fleet managers’ business models for leasing services? How should car manufacturers with their captive financial services reposition themselves to avoid going from playing a provider role for individual mobility to becoming a future supplier for corporate car sharing?

In recent years, carpooling has evolved into an exciting trend in the area of transport. In major European cities especially, the use of car sharing services as an alterna-tive to car ownership for those with individual transporta-tion needs is here to stay. Companies are now gradually

beginning to discover this new trend for themselves. The first corporate car sharing deals were implemented about a year ago by certain German companies and have shown great promise in terms of cost and efficiency. However, a recent representative study carried out by the Automotive Institute for Management (AIM) at the European Business School (EBS), showed that - although nearly half of all German companies could imagine introducing corporate car sharing at some point in the future - there is still some confusion about the actual potential of such schemes and how these would be received within the company.

From leasing to sharing?

In which areas of a company should car sharing be introduced? Jens Diehlmann: “The most obvious answer is to use corporate car sharing as a substitute for traditional car fleets, such as those offered by a variety of captive financial companies and independent fleet management companies. Because of the possibility of implementing usage-based invoicing for car sharing vehicles, significant savings can be made, particularly when compared to the fixed lease rates charged for car fleets in the corporate sector. As well as this, a number of internal pro-cessing costs such as individual travel expenses and corporate fleet management can be avoided. Issues related to a lack of use of company cars can also be addressed through the use of corporate carpooling. Corporate car sharing is an affordable and flexible alternative for short trips and recurring routes to other modes of transportation (airports, railway stations) or other company locations.”

How can car sharing be used as an incentive for employees? Jens Diehlmann: “If a company goes from using traditional fleet cars to introducing a corporate car sharing pool, then it can also provide an incentive for employees while enjoying the immediate cost benefits as described above. This incentive involves allowing employees to use car sharing vehicles in the evenings or at weekends for their own personal use - and at a lower cost. On the one hand, this model provides the company with the opportunity to generate additional revenues from the car pool and to increase the vehicle usage, especially at

ABOuT ERNST & YOuNG

Ernst & Young offers a comprehensive portfolio of services: accountancy, tax consulting, legal advice, transaction con-sulting, advisory services and real estate consulting. Ernst & Young is one of the three major German accounting and consultancy firms.

Jens Diehlmann

Ernst & Young PartnerEMEIA Financial Services,Global Leader Automotive Finance www.ey.com


off-peak times. On the other, employees can make journeys to and from their workplace at a lower cost and use vehicles for specific purposes (e.g. minibuses and vans) depending on the availability of the corporate car sharing pool. If the car sharing pool also includes a significant proportion of electric vehicles, then this also provides an opportunity for both the company and its employees to contribute to environmental sustainability and corporate social responsibility.”

What impact could the implementation of car sharing have on car manufacturers and independent fleet managers? Jens Diehlmann: “If, as expected, car sharing also becomes popular in the corporate world in cities in major industrialised nations as well as in megacities in emerging markets by 2020, this will have a significant impact on the business models used by those providing traditional leasing services for company cars. Major car manufacturers in particular, should swiftly bring to a close internal company discussions regarding the ‘cannibalisation of car sales’ by developing car sharing offers for their financial service providers to offer to corporate customers. The point is to respond appropriately to companies’ requirements for various business-related services for individual mobility. This requires a change on the part of captive finance companies to a business model with comprehensive mobility services which does not focus primarily on promoting the manufacturer, but rather the needs of corporate customers. Before going from a car fleet to a corporate car sharing system, every company should carry out a company-wide mobility audit. The objective of the mobility audit is first to determine all company-related individual mobility costs. In the next stage, the optimal building blocks needed to create mobility services for both planned and unplanned trips should be identified with the aim of achieving maximum effectiveness and cost-efficiency. A major challenge here is taking into consideration the needs of employees in the selection and specification of alternative transportation options.”

Jens Dielhmann, Ernst & Young

Corporate car sharing can be used as an attractive incentive to employees, by allowing for example

the use of the car sharing vehicles in the evenings or at weekends.

IN A NuTSHELL

It is no longer a question of whether car sharing will create potential growth in the corporate world, but rather when the opportunities for the significant cost saving potential associated with it should be implemented most effectively. Car manufacturers must give their financial companies the freedom to position themselves on the market as compre-hensive mobility service providers with a range of services on offer. Corporate car sharing is a usage-based individual mobility alternative which constitutes a further building block in the mobility business. One limitation that should, however, be noted is that even companies in a country like Germany will continue to offer sales cars and company cars to their employees as part of incentive programmes. This will most certainly be done in accordance with appropriately-designed state tax laws. The efficient and effective selection and compilation of mobility services for the entire company can be achieved by carrying out a mobility audit at an early stage.


VISION Car sharing

It is often assumed that car sharing is a B2C product - a way for private citizens to have access to a vehicle with-out the expense or inconvenience of owning their own car, but is car sharing losing its B2C tag and becoming a viable solution in the B2B market?

Car share operators often promote car sharing as a sustainable solution in congested urban areas citing research that each shared car removes four or five, and in some cases up to 10, private cars from the roads. What about car sharing as a corporate fleet solution? Tim Harrup investigates

As car sharing moves to the borders of the main-stream in urban areas the business community is increasing aware of the

potential that car sharing presents as a corporate mobility solution.

In a presentation to investors late last year Zipcar’s Chairman and Chief execu-tive officer Scott Griffith spoke of trac-tion in the uK B2B market. For the first time Zipcar for Business programme was outperforming the consumer market.

As OEM’s and leasing providers invest in mobility solutions and a plethora of car share start-ups pop up across Europe, the B2B market is firmly on the radar of car sharing innovators.

Get executives on boardAthlon Mobility Consultancy emphasise the importance of executive support for the project. The business case has to be proved and the bottom line benefits evidenced. Mobility International of Swit-zerland said, “Car sharing is a great tool to increase the utilisation of pool vehicles. It is therefore a great tool to cut costs.”

ALD cites reduced dependence on traditional company cars and decrea-sing taxi budgets as further evidence of

how car sharing solutions are delivering cashable savings for companies. At a time when salaries for employees have stagnated car sharing also offers a way of presenting employees with other benefits as part of the company’s remu-neration package. Providing employees with access to vehicle is an increasingly attractive perk for urban dwellers.

To further engage decision makers, Ath-lon Mobility Consultancy advises aligning car sharing with a company’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) objectives. With research by Frost and Sullivan sug-gesting that 1 in 5 new shared cars and 1 in 10 of all shared cars will be electric by

2016 the carbon and CSR credentials of car sharing will increase.

Raising awarenessSociété Générale/ALD believes that car sharing is not yet the first choice for employees, but as awareness grows and employees experience car sharing solutions for themselves demand will increase.

A communication campaign built around the simplicity of the solution, the ease of access and its benefits is essen-tial to raising awareness and encoura-ging employees to try car sharing for the first time.

Car sharing: The future of corporate mobility?

Public car sharing schemes are being replicated in corporations.


«We have been keeping a close eye on new mobility concepts for some time. Car

sharing is a key element in this area.»Quicar

«Our motivation is to prepare the future of corporate mobility with a series of new

solutions, using new technologies and different means of transportation.»

ALD Automotive

The best advocate for the solution is the employee, according to Société Géné-rale/ALD. After experiencing car shar-ing, the ease of booking and the quality of vehicles on offer, employees start promoting car sharing to one another.

Traditional company cars are always available for private use and market professionals suggest that this should be the case with shared cars too. “Access to AlphaCity cars acts as a perk; employees can use the cars for private trips. In addition, the fact that Alpha-City cars are BMW Group models is a real incentive for employees”.

ALD Automotive says that its car shar-ing programme consists of four different ‘bricks’ that are cemented together into an all-inclusive monthly package: a car with a full service leasing package, an online booking platform, on board technology and operational services (customer service centre and vehicle maintenance). ALD says that in this form car sharing is a high tech, optimized and more ‘glamorous’ version of the tradi-tional pool car.

Make it simple The practical aspects of car sharing are as important as the notional benefits. Amongst these is the ease with which employees can access the car. Mobility International advises companies to keep it simple by implementing up-to-date technology, with vehicles booked via the internet and smartphone.

The solution needs to be integrated across a company’s mobility programme and be administratively simple. With Car2go for example, each month the

client company receives an itemized car2go invoice showing all employee journeys, times, addresses and distances.

As with other new solutions sometimes it is best to try, even on a small scale. The financial outlay is minimal and a car share solution could lead to significant savings – with car sharers showing man-agers the way.

Tim Harrup

DAIMLER MOBILITY SERvICES: CORPORATE FLEET SOLuTIONS

As part of its plan to significantly expand its mobility services, Daim-ler Financial Services AG (DFS) has created Daimler Mobility Services GmbH. Car2go, moovel, and other mobility services will be consoli-dated into the DFS subsidiary Daim-ler Mobility Services GmbH.

“We want to expand the car2go concept for fully automated rent-als to include the commercial fleet management sector”, said Robert Henrich, former head of car2go and now Managing Director of Daim-ler Mobility Services. He said that a pilot project with a corporate will be launched this year.

Employee private use is a perk.

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Back in 2004 four cars were located outside Clapham Junction rail station, London that could be rented by the hour. Streetcar was born and started to expand. Roll on to 2010 with 1,300 cars and a presence in 4 cities, Streetcar was snapped up by US car sharing giant Zipcar.

What goes around comes around. Zipcar has now been acquired car rental giant, Avis

Budget, for around $500 million. In a statement, Ronald L. Nelson, Avis Budget Group chairman and CEO said, “We see car sharing as highly comple-mentary to traditional car rental, with rapid growth potential and representing a scalable opportunity for us as a com-bined company.”

Avis Budget is not the only one that sees the potential. Hertz and Enterprise, along with OEM’s like Daimler and BMW, are active in the car sharing market and starts-up are springing up across Europe. Frost & Sullivan predict that the car sharing membership in Europe will surpass 5.5 million members and be worth €3billion by 2016. With one in five new shared vehicles and one in 10 total shared vehicles predicted to be electric by 2016 this translates to huge opportunities for OEM’s.

Scott Griffith, chairman and CEO of Zipcar said of the acquisition, “By com-bining Zipcar’s expertise in on demand mobility with Avis Budget Group’s expertise in global fleet operations and vast global network, we will be able to accelerate the revolution we began in personal mobility.”

Where’s ZipCar going to next?Zipcar moved from the uK into mainland Europe with a majority stake investment in Barcelona-based Avancar in February 2012. Then it was Austria in July 2012,

with the acquisition of CarSharing.at. Zipcar is keeping quiet, but expansion is on the cards. Nelson said, “Avis Budget’s existing infrastructure, scale and expe-rience with managing multiple brands make us uniquely positioned to accelerate the growth and profitability of Zipcar.”

Zipcar’s Griffith’s explained to investors in late 2012 that with the launch of a new IT platform Zipcar was more scalable and had a wider reach than ever before. He said it “set the stage for interna-tional growth.” He also said that he was “excited” about the long term potential of the European market and that vienna was a “Top 10 city for car sharing in Europe”.

With a presence in London, Barce-lona and vienna which other 7 cities does Griffith’s have in mind? With the resources of Avis Budget at Zipcar’s disposal we are likely to find out sooner rather than later.

Jonathan Green

Sharing Society: avis Budget acquires Zipcar

BUSINeSS SOLUtIONS Car sharing Avis and Zipcar

«Sets the stage for international

growth»

Which cities will Zipcar target next?


Sharing Society: avis Budget acquires Zipcar

BUSINeSS SOLUtIONS News on car sharing

Hertz goes electric The Hertz Corporation has signed an all-electric car shar-ing partnership with Milton Keynes Council, where local residents and businesses will be able to reserve and drive Nissan LEAF vehicles in Milton Keynes for £5.00 an hour. Michel Taride, President of Hertz International, said, “Elec-tric vehicles are of huge importance to us […]. This part-nership highlights the growing popularity of car-sharing in communities seeking green solutions which are both convenient and cost-effective. The other attraction of this scheme lies in its simplicity - members can simply click, book and drive.”

atos launch 100% electric fleet International IT services company Atos has instigated the first 100% electric company car fleet in association with the Bolloré group. Bolloré is behind the French car sharing service Autolib’. The Atos scheme, called MyCar, features electric cars produced by Bolloré and which are powered by solar panels installed at the Atos headquarters in the Paris region. MyCar will later be rolled out to other Atos offices in France and beyond.

Flinkster carsharingDeutsche Bahn rail commuters can transfer from train to car at over at 140 german cities with rail company’s Flinkster car sharing service. Flinkster has 800 vehicles that can be rented by the hour with 24-hour access. All Flinkster vehi-cles can be booked online, smartphone app or via a hotline. and can be opened with a customer card. A flat rate for con-sumption includes fuel/electricity and unlimited mileage, like many other car sharing schemes.

Carbox innovatesFrench start up Carbox is to grow its B2B customer base by increasing its fleet to 500 vehicles, develop its Mobilities product and move outside of its home market and into Belgium. Mobilities, a multimodal alternative to a company car, allows an employee to give up their company car entitlement in favour of a shared car on the basis of a ‘mobility credit’ scheme. Danone piloted this solution in 2012 with a select group of managerial staff and is extending the pilot. In 2013 Carbox will move onto the international stage becoming the operator of Mu Professional for Peugeot in Belgium.

driveNow aiming for 1 million drivers by 2020DriveNow GmbH, BMW’s car-sharing venture with rental com-pany Sixt AG (SIXT), expects to earn its first profit in 2013 from a two-year-old venture that rents cars by the minute. Since May 2011 DriveNow has been in four German cities and is now looking to add another location in Germany and move into another Euro-pean country. Andreas Schaaf, the partnership’s managing direc-tor, said “We could expand quicker, but we want to prove that the business can be profitable” adding, “We look at profitability from city to city.” DriveNow will roll out 40 electric-powered Active E models, converted versions of the carmaker’s 1-Series compact, in Berlin and 20 in Munich in 2013 to test of how customers deal with recharging vehicles.

CiteeCar CeO InterviewSome people have described Citee Car as being the Ryan Air of car sharing. Bill Jones, CEO replies, “Ryanair changed consumer behaviour in a very mature market, very quickly. They changed the way people thought about and booked travel, changing the airline industry in the process. The impact of Ryanair has been phenomenal. In that context being compared with Ryanair is a compliment. All the macro factors are in place for change in way cars are owned and used. We are making change possible, providing the right service, at the right price, in the right way.” Adding, “Our vision is that within 3 years we will be a multi-country, multi-city, operation. Next year we will be operational in 6 German cities and another European country. In 2014 we will be in 3 countries and operating in 20 cities.” Read the full interview with Bill Jones at :


BUSINeSS SOLUtIONS Industry news

Parking about to become simpler Experts estimate drivers searching for a parking space accounts for 30 per cent of all urban traffic congestion. INRIX Parking helps to solve this this problem helping drivers quickly identify and navigate to the entrance of their preferred parking loca-tion most convenient to their destination. The INRIX database includes more than 18,000 parking facilities in North America and 42,000 in Europe sourced both for in-car and mobile use from leading providers ParkMe and Parkopedia. Kenwood will be the first consumer electronics manufacturer to implement INRIX Parking in its new in-dash DvD entertainment receivers, which debuted at the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show. “INRIX is connecting the car to the apps and services people need now to enhance the driving experience,” said Bryan Mistele, presi-dent and CEO of INRIX. “By making it easier for people to find a place to park, we help reduce traffic congestion for everyone.”

e Bikes & Scooters on the riseAthlon Car Lease is starting the full service leasing of electric bikes and scooters in the Netherlands. This full service leasing structure includes insurance and maintenance. Armand van veen, Managing Director Athlon Car Lease in the Netherlands, said “E-bikes and e-scooters fit into our line of Ev solutions. Solutions that enable customers to save costs, the environment is relieved and parking problems can be solved. Pike Research has forecast that sales of electric motorcycles and scooters will reach 18.6 mil-lion by 2018.

tomtom launches new app for easy miles registrationTomTom Business Solutions, specialist in telematics and integrated fleet management solutions, has launched the new Webfleet Logbook app that helps drivers to keep an accurate log of their trips using a smartphone. The new app for Android and iPhone helps drivers and businesses reduce expenses administration and creates reliable logs to help with tax compliance. A driver selects whether a journey is for business, private or commuting purposes, validating journey information on his mobile device.

Crisis has no effect on lease car mileageAccording to a survey of Business Lease Group, the economic crisis has not had an effect on lease vehicle mileage. Over the last 5 years, the average annual mileage reported by lease drivers has remained largely the same. By the same token, the average list price of the cars chosen by lease drivers has stayed at the same level. These findings are the result of a survey by Business Lease Netherlands of the 20.000 vehicles in its Dutch fleets. “You’d think that the economic crisis would trigger a reduction in mileage, but that isn’t the case”, says Dick Cozijnsen of Business Lease Netherlands. “But we do see a change in driving behaviour. Drivers are increasingly aware of the cost of fuel, and are looking for ways to minimise that cost, both for themselves and for their employers.” The study also shows an increase in the demand for electric cars (e-cars). Over the past year alone, the number of registered e-cars has quadrupled; this trend is expected to continue for the foreseeable future.


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CaSeS StUdIeS Co-operative

The opening of the Co-operative Group’s new £100 million head office in Manchester, United Kingdom, later this year will signal the introduction of a full scale ride-sharing scheme. We talked to Amanda Jones, Head of Business Change and Transformation at the Co-operative Group, about why the Co-operative Group is engaged in sustainable mobility.

a New approachThe Co-operative Group’s new head office complex, which boasts an impressive array of energy efficiency and sustain-ability performance standards, brings together 3,000 head office based employees into one open plan building.

The Group’s belief in sustainability does not stop at the office walls. Amanda explained that sustainable mobility is an impor-tant consideration. She said, “We felt quite strongly that the environmental design of the building should extend to the way our people travel.”

The Business Case To better understand employee travel patterns a travel survey was conducted. Amanda said, “We realised that for some people the car is the only viable option. Results from our 2012 travel survey show that lone car drivers account for 20% of our employees travelling into work.” She added that ride-sharing was a “natural fit” and “a practical solution” for employees who rely on a car to travel to work.

Following a review of the survey data the Group decided to conduct a one year pilot project. Amanda explained, “We wanted to understand demand, the resources that would be needed to manage the scheme and the true benefit to the business of its implementation.”

This results - improved employee engagement, evidence of the Group’s commitment to environmental standards and a reduction in emissions - convinced management to implement a full-scale ride-sharing programme.

Amanda added, “The ride-sharing scheme offers us an avenue to tackle our carbon emissions produced from lone car drivers.

Implementing the scheme has undoubtedly contributed to the 22% reduction in single occupancy car drivers we observed last year.”

There have been other direct and indirect benefits too. “Another indirect benefit is that it has encouraged drivers to consider greener modes of travel altogether and has made them more aware of the Groups green activities.”

The scheme will form an integral part of the Travel Plan for the new HQ building. “We now have 460 users registered with all 20 of the free car parking spaces designated for car sharers being used. During 2012, 8,283 kg CO2 was saved through over 50,000 miles being shared. This equates to an average of 970 miles being shared and 160kg CO2 being saved each week,”

Co-operating on the Commute: the Co-operative Group


commented Amanda. She also says there been “positive feedback” from users who regularly log their journeys on the website.

Successful ImplementationHow did the Group achieve success? The first step was data capture and analysis. A travel survey was issued and the results analysed to determine whether there was a critical mass of employees who would benefit from a ride-sharing solution.

The next stage was to engage with specialists Carbon Heroes who support and manage the scheme. The importance of partnership in delivering the solution has been integral to its success.

Carbon Heroes has provided support throughout the imple-mentation of the scheme and continue to have an active involvement. “The communication between the Co-operative Group and Carbon Heroes has been excellent throughout and is essential in solving any issues that may arise,” explained Amanda.

When the scheme first started, there was a lack of employees registering onto the website and regularly logging their jour-neys. The challenge was engaging the audience. To promote the scheme a dedicated area for car sharers to park for free significantly increased the number of people registering. Amanda said, “The 20 free car park spaces are a huge incen-tive for employees to start regularly ride-sharing and is by far the biggest driver of why people log their journeys on the web-site on a weekly basis. We currently have a high demand for the car parking spaces and have had to create a waiting list for users.” To monitor parking compliance Carbon Heroes provides weekly logs of those that have been sharing journeys.

Next StepsThe Co-operative Group is looking to build on the successes that have been achieved when the move to it new HQ happens later this year. “We are in the process of arranging for Carbon Heroes to come in and set up a stall for 2 lunchtime sessions in March 2013. This is to encourage more employees to sign up, and help answer any questions that employees may have regarding the scheme.” In the coming months the number spaces designated for car sharers will also increase.

Craig Barrack, Managing Director of Carbon Heroes said, “We’re delighted to work with The Co-operative on this pro-ject. We have seen shared mileage increase steadily over past months and are working to increase uptake over the coming year.”

The importance of evidencing the benefits of ride-sharing is not lost on the Co-operative. Amanda added, “Sufficient data has now been collated so that new targets can be created.”

The Co-operatives new offices have won multiple sustainability awards and mobility is part of the sustainability strategy.

THE CO-OPERATIvE GROuP IN BRIEF

> The uK’s largest mutual business with an annual turnover of £13 billion

> Operates 4,800 retail trading outlets and employs over 100,000 people

> 5th biggest food retailer

> Major financial provider (Co-operative Bank and Co-operative Insurance)

> Number 1 uK funeral service provider and farming operation, and 3rd largest pharmacy chain


Standing in the lobby of Bannino’s North Plaza office complex in Brussels I can check the status of my journey across the city, the country or internationally.

As the workforce becomes increasingly mobile real time information on travel choices at work-places is being pioneered

by real estate company, Banimmo. Banimmo has seen increased interest in mobility requirements from clients when they are selecting properties and has negotiated an exclusivity arrangement with Flat Turtle for its real time mobility information solution.

Bannino’s North Plaza Manager Amaury de Crombrugghe said, “We wanted to provide more concrete and detailed information to potential tenants” adding that, “Flat Turtle does this by providing multi-modal public transport and travel information in real time.”

adds ValueIt is basic idea that adds value for cus-tomers, as one of the initiators, Chris-tophe Petitjean from Flat Turtle explains, “If someone in the building needs to catch a particular train or flight the sys-tem presents them with the information on how best to travel to the terminal, depending on the conditions at the time. Banimmos clients can look at the real time transport and traffic situation before leaving the building and plan their trip accordingly.”

That simple and straightforward. Next to the wide screen display is an iPad so those unfamiliar with the transport

options or looking for new routes can search for travel options.

If there are delays on a particular travel network a traveller can select another mode of travel. Additionally, as the local weather is forecast for the next 2 hours walking and cycling are encour-aged. Amaury believes that tenants may decide to install the system on their own floors as well as using the central screen in the lobby of the building.

Tim Harrup

Flat turtle: real time travel info for building occupants

BUSINeSS SOLUtIONS Flat Turtle

Occupants can look at the real time transport and traffic situation before leaving the building.

DATA BEHIND THE DESIGN

Flat Turtle collects data from national railway and public trans-port operators, the airport and traf-fic authorities and aggregates this into a single hub. From this, it then directs tailored and relevant infor-mation to each of Banimmo offices with a Flat Turtle system.

Further information, programme and registrations at www.smart-mobilitymanagement.com/sme

For further information and details about Smart Mobility Awards’ applications, please contact Jonathan Green: [email protected]

30th May 2013Van der Valk, Brussels

Timing:

09:00 17:00: Conference & Breakout sessions19:00: Cocktail Reception20:00: Awards Ceremony21:00 23 :30: Gala Dinner

Integrated Mobility Management:Time to go Mobile

One buyer and one supplier award

Forum Awards

Audience: Mobility, fleet, travel, purchasing, HR, facility managers, suppliers and partners.

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