Consulting Services Provided By Consulting Strategies

• Corporate Travel Management Practices Audit
  Develops a clear understanding of the opportunities for achieving business process efficiencies that result in measurable improvements in effectiveness. This exercise explores current practices and compares them with best practices with other companies.

• Travel Agency Review
  Provides a complete review of current relationship with travel agency. Included is a technical, financial and operational review. CS will also audit travel and entertainment expenditures. The audit determines a metric analysis of travel purchases. Finally, if warranted, CS will develop a Request For Proposal customized to the client’s specifications. CS will develop a logical list of prospective travel management firms and manage the overall bid process from proposal to presentation and ultimately selection and implementation.

• Payment and Expense Management Solutions
  Offers complete evaluation and solution recommendations regarding commercial card programs and expense management systems. With respect to commercial cards, CS will evaluate spending patterns, current and future, and assist in recommending the solution that best suits the client’s requirements. We have done numerous selection processes for both corporate cards (T&E) and purchasing cards, as well as specialty products like fleet, meeting and one-card solutions. CS has significant experience with the selection of expense management solutions and is very familiar with the best of breed and ERP offerings. We assist clients with solutions that integrate their chosen cards (T&E and/or P Cards) with the optimal choice of expense system.

• Financial Modeling
  Allows us to illustrate several models for corporation/agency financial relationships and how to analyze and implement the model that is right for you.

• Travel Management Vendor Negotiations
  Our consultants are well versed in win-win contract negotiations for agencies, car rentals, hotels, airlines, GDS products, and meeting services, commercial card programs and expense management systems.

• Project Management
  Our project management process follows the client's internal practice. For companies for no preferred practice, we follow the CMMI model, modified for the specific project to avoid unnecessary steps and their related costs. This model includes a Plan, Define, Design, Build, Test, and Deploy stages (for off-the-shelf products, some stages are combined or virtually eliminated to save on timing and consulting costs). The subject areas covered include travel policy, travel agency relationship/operations, payment/expense reporting solutions, hotel program, technology implementations, and meeting management programs. CS can perform these services based on a flat project or hourly fee as preferred by our client.

• Global Associates
  Our associates also offer global expertise by virtue of the fact that they are regionally respected consultants located in the regions where travel programs are prevalent and because their projects are within their own regions. CS offers this regional expertise for Europe , Latin America , and SE Asia.

• Financial Contract Modeling
  It is critical that the elements of financial contracts be well managed with timely data to allow for corrections to meet the goals. That has become more difficult with city specific and threshold programs.

• Establishing Global Programs
  Multinational companies are increasingly managing travel programs globally. CS has significant experience with clients who desire to manage their travel program on a global level, while accommodating the regional differences that may exist. Whether a global TMC arrangement, commercial card program or the implementation of technology, CS assists our clients with their transition to global management with local sensitivity.

• Travel Technology Audit
  This exercise assesses use of travel technology solutions and identifies opportunities for improvement based on the current evolution in the travel technology arena, including GDS-bypass, GDS New Entrants, and all other technology solutions that make a travel program more effective and user-friendly.

• Implementation of a Corporate Owned Travel Agency
  CS is perhaps the only consulting firm with the actual work experience and technical knowledge to assist with the implementation of a company owned travel operation should that be the direction of choice. CS will complete the feasibility study to make that determination. If the direction is to proceed, CS will assist with completion of proper applications for agency appointments, operational set-up to include CRS and other appropriate technology, staffing (both recruiting and training) and vendor negotiations.

Consulting Strategies is also active in the travel industry community through participation in professional organizations. Currently, CS is a member of the following organizations:

• NBTA - National Business Travel Association  (David Hillman serves on the Corporate Social Responsibility Committee and Grant Caplan has served on the Technology Committee)
• TBTA - The Texas NBTA
• ACTE - Association of Corporate Travel Executives (Barry Lemley serves on the Corporate Social Responsibility Advisory Committee and David Hillman has served on the Board of Governors)