Any technology implementation presents challenges, especially as corporate needs have changed dramatically.
Online booking tools have to be ready for new and richer content like New Distribution Capability (NDC) and new policy criteria like carbon emissions.
For TMCs with single technology partners, implementations are work-intensive enough. But for Take2Eton, unfettered by exclusivity, ensuring the right fit between client and tech means a more forensic approach that demands a different skill set.
As we are an Elite partner of Concur, our clients have access to the full suite of Concur technology which, coupled with a thorough understanding of our clients’ needs, enables expense, travel, and accounting processes to be simplified and automated.
Our agnostic approach to travel tech means that support teams have to be expert in multiple online booking tools. Every implementation demands smart planning, clever execution, and total understanding of the client’s specific needs across the implementation team.
Our inhouse Concur Elite team is integral to this process. It’s the team’s job to solve profile or navigation issues, to action requests for corporate and traveller profiles and policy updates and manage back-office issues.
The team liaises with Concur and other online booking tool (OBT) providers, and with our account management, product support and finance teams. It’s a dedicated unit based on both sides of the Atlantic.
Despite being located on different continents, there’s a real sense of one team, as Travis Felt, SVP North America explains: “Commonality of roles is a laser focus for us right now, The Elite team is a single, functional team, covering the US and Europe.”
Meet the team
In London, senior team member Martine has worked for some of the UK’s biggest TMCs and joined the company in a training role ten years ago.
In that time, she’s seen online booking tools evolve and brands like Amadeus, Concur and Sabre become must-haves in travel programmes both large and small.
Martine’s 20 years’ experience makes her ideal for the Elite team, where she trains and supports UK-based clients implementing Concur technology within their travel programmes.
“I love my job” says Martine. “It’s truly diverse and there isn’t one day that’s the same as the last. No two implementations are the same either, it’s a great team to be in.
“Some of our clients have never worked with a travel management company before, so we help them to gain the maximum benefit from doing so by showing them the tools available at their fingertips, giving them eyes on what’s happening in their travel programmes and use the data we capture to inform their future decision making.
Our clients really value the level of service they get from us, our speed of response, and resolving their issues as quickly as possible. They don’t have to wait days for a response.
Our team has extensive knowledge of the different booking tools available in the market place. In many other TMCs, the knowledge is a lot more random, so it takes longer to respond to the client.”
Martine’s counterpart in the US is Natasha, who has worked in corporate travel since 2010, specialising in travel technology. She joined the company in 2022 and brings a wealth of experience.
Like Martine, Natasha has supported multiple implementations. “The teams’ experience means we know what challenges our clients face, and how to solve them. It’s our job to make everybody’s lives easier by making implementations smoother and simpler.”
“Our jobs only differ because travel technologies can sometimes work differently in the US to the UK. Our different career experiences mean our understanding of the many business needs complement each other.”
“In the US we have clients on Concur, and others on other OBTs, so the team covers both booking tools. Whether it’s updates, business extras, or the client needs help signing in, we make sure profiles are correct and being applied.”
Making a difference
Both Martine and Natasha have worked with many different OBTs in their career, so what makes Concur a real standout?
“Concur has been around for a long time now. It’s very flexible, easy to use and provides a one-stop-shop for travel and expense” says Natasha. “We can also link Concur to our technology eco-system with a single sign-on.”
Gaining status as an Elite Concur partner was hard-won, as Martine explains: “We had in-depth training and had to pass assessments to illustrate we had the required product knowledge to explain the different Concur modules and their benefits to clients. Essentially, ‘Elite’ status means that Concur recognises us as experts in their products.”
Doing things differently
Travis Felt acknowledges that other TMCs have Elite relationships with Concur but says they can’t hold a candle to our team because of the support that we provide to our clients, the implementation, and the operations teams.
“It’s how they work, supporting each other as well as the wider travel team, which makes implementations work. It’s also why our customers are so happy with Concur” says Travis.
“The Concur Elite team takes pride in doing an exceptional job with a customer because customers are at the heart of everything we do.”
