We are FCC - Nº4

Business trips Where to begin? How much do I spend in business trips? The first we must do to be able to understand this challenge is to know how much we spend in business trips. A current picture of travel expenses within the organization will help us identify the services and products of which we were not aware or ignored. Accordingly, we will be able to detect the possible improvements that have a direct impact on the organization’s Profit and Loss account. How are business trips taken within the organization? By applying common sense and as- king ourselves simple questions, we may be able to find out how travel is done within the organization: Who? How? When? Where? Why? The- se are the essential questions to be able to identify the needs of tra- vellers. Although this many not be easy, the more information that we have, the more chances for success. In this way, we could define the types of business trips. Identifying the suppliers (service x expense) Determining the service requisites and the products to be purchased; looking for the appropriate service/product su- ppliers; selecting the suppliers based on their ability to satisfy the organiza- tion’s requirements; confirming that the services provided comply with the requested requisites; applying ongoing assessment processes to suppliers by performing qualitative and quantitative valuations; and implementing quality indices to the services offered. The- se measures, among others, should be implemented in order to maintain a portfolio of suppliers in line with travel requirements. Immediate improvement opportu- nities: (80/20) and concentration The application of the Pareto diagram can help us to rapidly and easily iden- tify immediate improvement opportuni- ties and assign an order of priorities to the services or family of products that we want to optimise. As to concentra- tion, it is recommended to negotiate with the largest number of previously assessed suppliers. An example of this could be hotel concentration, es- sential for organisations that have high expenses in this respect. Agreeing on the foreseen localisations and volu- mes (city/hotel) will contribute greater improvements to the organisation in relation to the condition agreed. This is the preamble before preparing a cata- logue of corporate hotels. Reviewing the current Travel Policy The collaboration and involvement of the Travel/Travel Manager Depart- ment, with a more strategic rather than logistics vision, is fundamental. A pe- riodical review of the travel policy is essential. Accordingly, it is necessary for senior management to support and demand its compliance. Without this collabo- ration and support, it would be impos- sible to implement a new travel policy within the organization. Constant optimisation On many occasions, we are not aware of the advantages of planning the trip ahead of time. Knowing how much the trip will cost before we take it is essen- tial since this has a direct impact on the budget contemplated for this pur- pose. Implementing a “Travel Portal” within the organization, self-reserva- tion tools and monitoring their adop- tion and implementation will generate processes that are faster, easier and more efficient. The result of this will be the unification of the approval pro- cesses in a single reservation channel for all employees. Furthermore, it will provide a real time vision of the costs per services and the automation of all process in the same comprehensive platform. I N T E R V I E W Juan Manuel Blanco Angulo FCC Procurement Department P E O P L E S P E O P L E S 30