Finastra saves over $650,000 in three months with Traveler Engagement

U.K.-based fintech firm achieves 5:1 return on investment in campaign that boosts traveler awareness and compliance.

CHALLENGE

Finastra travel leader Mauro Ruggiero knew he needed to take action when an employee began reading aloud from a travel policy document saved from his first day on the job 10 years before. The policy had been updated many times over that decade, but the employee wasn’t aware of the changes. Nor did he know where to find the latest version.

To complicate matters, many of Finastra’s employees were just becoming familiar with the company’s travel policy for the first time. Finastra was created in 2017 through a merger of financial technology firms Misys and D+H. The merged company used Misys’ travel policy, so it was new to about half of Finastra’s employees. Clearly, Ruggiero needed to get the word out.

”The basics of the program were not getting to the end-user,” said the director of global travel management for the London-based company. “That meant we weren’t getting traveler compliance, which kept us from fully meeting duty of care requirements and capitalizing on supplier volumes to drive savings.” He sought Traveler EngagementTM expertise from Advito, which already handled hotel, air, and ground transportation sourcing for Finastra.

“We’re meeting supplier agreements. Online adoption is up. Our hotel attachment rate is creeping up. Savings are growing…When people around the company are talking about travel, and the numbers are going in the right direction, those are signs of success, and Traveler Engagement is making it happen.”
Mauro Ruggiero, Director – Global Travel Management

Solution

Advito’s Traveler Engagement team listened to Ruggiero’s challenges, analyzed his travel program data and then got started on solutions. A baseline traveler survey revealed a lack of awareness. “People didn’t know about the travel program or where to find the policy information they were supposed to be following,” Ruggiero said. “We learned a lot from that survey.”

Advito customized an education and awareness campaign that helped travelers find the information they needed and broke down policy essentials into easy-to-digest pieces of content.

  • A travel intranet redesign created a cleaner layout and navigation, making it easier for employees to find program information and self-serve through the online booking tool
  • Fact-or-fiction infographics busted commonly held myths—like that employees could save the company money by booking what seemed to be cheaper hotels, flights and rental cars found on consumer travel websites
  • City guides to frequent destinations simplified trip planning, drove volume to preferred hotels and ensured employees knew what was expected of them in these high-traffic markets—such as how much they were allowed to spend on meals.
  • Videos in offices and elevators raised awareness of the travel program and gave short explainers about its benefits.
  • Quarterly newsletters written from the employees’ point of view explained how booking in the program kept them safer, reduced on-the-road hassles and saved time and money.

 

In addition, Advito guided Finastra through a redesign of its Concur online booking tool portal. The new configuration simplified travelers’ choices. In-tool messages nudged them toward better travel spending decisions. The company continues to expand these OBT merchandising techniques—for example, using data-driven insights about traveler behavior to prioritize which air, hotel and car rental options get top placement in the tool.

Results

In just three months, Finastra achieved a 5:1 return on its investment in Traveler Engagement. The savings demonstrated how small shifts in traveler behavior have a significant impact on reducing costs. Better policy compliance led to improvements, among them:

$468,000

savings with a 2% increase in online booking

13%

increase air bookings at least 14 days in advance saved $91,000
Spend management piggy bank

3%

increase in hotel-to-trip-night bookings saved $29,000
“I have a small travel team, but even a large team wouldn’t have had Advito’s expertise. They know how to do Traveler Engagement marketing and communications that wins over travelers. I needed their help.”
Mauro Ruggiero, Director – Global Travel Management

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Whether your goal is to understand your air travel footprint, build the optimal ground supplier portfolio, discover your hotel negotiation leverage, develop a communications plan, or to decrease carbon emissions – Advito is here to help you succeed.