IDC Study Proves OAG Technology Can Reduce Travel Expenses

(NBTA, Atlanta, GA, July 29, 2001) – The use of OAG technology can afford corporations and government agencies a major reduction in time and money spent on business travel planning and budgeting, according to independent research conducted by International Data Corporation (IDC).

IDC’s Travel Management Study evaluated feedback from a cross section of the 2,300+ major international corporations and government agencies currently using the OAG Travel Information System. The organizations surveyed varied greatly in size, industry and global locations, and included such firms as JP Morgan, Sony, and Airbus.

The OAG Travel Information System is a planning and management information tool enabling travelers and travel arrangers within corporations and government agencies to plan trips more effectively, monitor the adherence to specific travel policies and gather the information needed to help negotiate better travel deals.

For its research, IDC analyzed data before and after the introduction of the OAG Travel Information System. The results showed an impressive reduction in the time spent on planning, an improvement in the adherence to travel policy and a dramatic increase in travel discounts.

"Once the OAG Travel Information System was up and running, businesses armed with our accurate data were able to increase airline and hotel discounts by up to 20 percent," commented OAG. "And in today’s slowing economy, managing and controlling travel expenses has become a major priority. IDC’s research into our technology has confirmed that the OAG Travel Information System can help corporations do just that."

Other dramatic results include a software provider who started using the OAG Travel Information System and was able to re-deploy 14 percent of its corporate travel staff, despite the fact that the annual number of tickets booked grew from 115,000 to 128,000.

Time saving was also shown to be a major benefit of using the system. Prior to implementing the OAG technology, the average traveler was spending approximately 65 minutes on the phone for every flight or trip he or she was planning. This could increase up to as much as three hours for complex multi-leg trips. The study showed a savings of up to 90 percent of travelers time spent on travel planning.

"Today’s government and military organizations will benefit greatly by deploying the OAG OFFICIAL TRAVELER Travel Information System. It offers access to the most comprehensive and un-biased travel information designed exclusively for government and military travelers," added OAG.

Other key findings from the survey included:

• Fewer resources are tied up in the travel planning process and a substantial overall saving in time.
• Travel agents are now beginning to levy a charge for answering the telephone (often as much as $12 per call). The e-mail function within OAG Travel Information System can reduce this to as little as $2, as well as reducing the number of overall contacts to the travel agent.
• Increases in adherence to travel policy of up to 10 percent on flights, and 16 percent on hotel bookings. One global manufacturer increased compliance to its travel policy from 50 to 85 percent, leading in turn to savings of 20 percent on its hotel budget.
• A five percent reduction in the number of overnight hotel stays for the average traveler, thanks to improved scheduling.

Another key finding revealed that some corporations and government organizations have abandoned other, more complex software systems, which had simply not been adopted by users. The research also highlighted how the number of external agency representatives could be reduced, once most of the detailed travel planning was taken out in-house. As a result, some companies achieved cost cuts of around 24 percent while a few businesses experienced a reduction of as much as 50 percent.