Three markets. Eight weeks. One pandemic. Discover how we got a new client up and running in the middle of a national lockdown.

THE NEED

World leading technology security company, Trustonic, was looking for a travel provider that met the expectations of their tech savvy workforce without compromising on personal service.

With a renowned service delivered by genuine travel experts, and state-of-the-art technology built in-house, Reed & Mackay was ready to deliver.

THE SOLUTION

After listening to the needs of Trustonic it became clear that a combination of Reed & Mackay’s offline service and a sophisticated third-party online booking tool, Concur, would provide the bedrock for making any type of booking. Over the top would sit an umbrella of leading Reed & Mackay travel technology, including; R&M/Portal (central travel hub), R&M/Insights (data and reporting tool) R&M/ Protect (duty of care and tracking system), and R&M/Approve for automated approval with multiple layers ofauthorisation and the flexibility to deliver on complex internal processes.

THE DELIVERY

Covering three different markets (UK, France and US), featuring a combination of wholly owned technology and Concur, and with just an eight-week timeframe to deliver, all in the middle of a global pandemic, Trustonic sealed the deal and we set to work.

Trustonic’s decision for the French and US markets to be managed by the UK team for phase one of the launch posed some challenges, but we were in no doubt that we could deliver;

TRUSTONIC NEED – Billing in the local currency for each market, whether travel is booked offline or online.

OUR SOLUTION – We partnered with our virtual payment supplier, Conferma, to make this happen.

TRUSTONIC NEED – Billback facilities on hotel and low-cost carrier bookings to remove the need for individual credit cards.

OUR SOLUTION – We put on our thinking caps and re-engineered our systems to deliver billback for low-cost carriers within a matter of weeks.

TRUSTONIC NEED – Automated approval with multiple layers of authorisation and the flexibility to deliver on complex internal processes.

OUR SOLUTION – We have one of the most advanced approval engines in the market – it’s a must have for a significant portion of our client base. So, we simply created an approval environment outside of Concur and built it into the booking process.

DELIVERING AT A DISTANCE

We may have had the solutions tied up, but launching them during lockdown took some creativity.

Clear communication of the support that was available from Reed & Mackay and the input we needed from Trustonic meant we knew what could be achieved and in what timeframes. Without fail we held weekly meetings to ensure any hurdles were tackled together and at speed.

The implementation process had to be managed remotely. With a fluid audience (due to people going on, or returning from furlough), ensuring the right communications were delivered to the right people, at the right time took careful planning.

It also meant that having a central area (R&M/Portal) for Trustonic employees to pick up any key changes to the travel programme, such as policy, and access training at a later date was imperative.

This resulted in record engagement for the remote training leading to a really positive start for the new programme.

CONCLUSION

We delivered a travel programme that is fit for today and agile enough to flex for tomorrow, with service that exceeds expectation and tools that impress even the most tech savvy. All delivered in the middle of a national lockdown.

WHAT THE CLIENT SAID – ROB STEPNEY HEAD OF COMMERCIAL FINANCE, TRUSTONIC

“As a global business, we were looking for a complex solution that allowed all employees to use the same travel booking tool in the same way, but retaining local currency billing behind the scenes. In addition, we wanted to retain the integrity of our internal approval process.

Implementation started during the first lockdown which was a further challenge, however, the entire Reed & Mackay team were very easy to deal with and professional throughout the entire process from start to finish. Any issues were dealt with proactively, with empathy to Trustonic’s needs, and the weekly meetings ensured timescales didn’t slip under the challenging circumstances.

I genuinely have nothing but praise for the whole Reed & Mackay team involved.”