Have outsourcing, will travel
The role of the travel manager may soon be nearing extinction. Thanks in
part to a growing number of companies who have resorted to outsourcing.
Based on a report, outsourcing the role of a corporate travel manager is
done in variety of ways. Some companies hire a person to do the work
part-time while bigger companies with more complex requirements hire
procurement specialists to the work for them.
Normally, the corporate travel manager resides in the company's
procurement division, since his job includes booking travel and
accomodation.
But outsourcing procurement itself is currently en vogue along with a wide
variety of corporate activities, ranging from manufacturing and
back-office processing to service call centers.
In Europe, a lot of start-up companies have taken over corporate travel
functions of their clients. And the signs are there that it's going to
boom like what's happening to, say, HR.
Big ticket consulting firms like AT Kearney, Accenture and even IBM are
reportedly looking for such companies to partner with, if not acquire, and
eventually start becoming travel managers for some of the biggest
companies around.
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