The Biz at BTN Podcast

When faced with the rapidly approaching deadline for American Airlines’ removal of content from EDIFACT channels last year, Oracle travel operations director Brian Hendrickson was able to work with his travel management company, online booking tool and global distribution system to enable touchless ticketing for NDC a few days before that deadline hit. Hear his story, along with how he has grown NDC bookings since those early days and how he plans to keep adapting for the future.

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Faced with growing demand for internal meetings and limited support staff to manage them, Elevance Health travel services manager worked with his company’s meetings and events teams to create an attendee management dashboard to streamline the meeting management process. Hear how he went about creating this tool, bumps along the way and the newfound efficiencies meeting and event planners at Elevance are enjoying as a result of having this tool at their disposal.

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BTN executive editor Michael B. Baker hosts 2024 BTN Best Practitioner Dorian Stonie, Salesforce senior director of global travel. In this episode, aired Sept. 16, Stonie talks about working with legacy ecosystem players American Express GBT and Concur to implement New Distribution Capability content at scale and what the future holds for the Salesforce program with NDC now fully in play.

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Special guest Flight Centre chief experience officer John Morhous kicks off our What to Watch series with and existential crisis. Do we still know what corporate travel is? Compliance? Policy? Podcast host and BTN executive editor Michael B. Baker jumps into the abyss with Morhous for 27 minutes.

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Yvonne Moya joined Randstad as its global travel manager just prior to the Covid-19 pandemic. She was tasked with globalizing the program. And she did it, but how she negotiated contracts and forged partnerships was unconventional to say the least. She spoke to BTN about how the pandemic changed her processes but not her goals. She sees innovation as the path forward, but also is pragmatic about what innovation can happen now and what travel managers will have to wait for. She spoke to BTN about her experiences, about her reaction to her new global TMC Egencia announcing it would be acquired by American Express Global Business Travel and about how Randstad is getting its core business travelers back on the road.

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Path Back to Business Travel is BTN's newest podcast miniseries. Listen to crack-shot travel managers talk about how they are handling their organization's return-to-travel strategies, what has changed about their travel program or policy, how their travelers are responding and when they expect travel volume to ramp up.

Episode 1: Takeda Pharmaceutical Elevates the Travel Experience

Global head of travel, meetings and events, aviation and fleet Michelle De Costa globalized Takeda's travel program during the pandemic, while maintaining about 20 percent of the global pharmaceutical company's 2019 travel volume. She used the experiences of the traveling few to inform Takeda's return-to-travel strategy and education programs. Realizing that managing the travel experience will be more important than ever, De Costa invested in new technologies to keep Takeda travelers informed and confident as they get back on the road.

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Path Back to Business Travel is BTN's newest podcast miniseries. Listen to crack-shot travel managers talk about how they are handling their organization's return-to-travel strategies, what has changed about their travel program or policy, how their travelers are responding and when they expect travel volume to ramp up.

Episode 2: Willis Towers Watson Defines New Ways of Thinking About Travel

Business travel at risk management, insurance and advisory firm Willis Towers Watson slowed to a trickle during the pandemic. Global procurement director Emma Jones took the moment to reassess the purpose of business travel for the company and to work with a strategic group to shape the strategic future for Willis Towers Watson travelers, taking into account the critical need for in-person interactions to support the business but also traveler well-being and a commitment to sustainability. She spoke with BTN editorial director Elizabeth West about how she put structure around travel decision-making and why.

[Editor's note: Jones has stepped away from her role at Willis Towers Watson in the weeks since BTN interviewed her. This was a planned departure, and she continues her Board of Directors role at the Institute of Travel Management.]

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BTN’s first series of podcasts, The Influencers, gets up close with the innovators and envelope pushers who most influenced the business travel sector in 2020. What are they doing now and what is their outlook as the industry recovers? BTN Editorial Director Elizabeth West interviews industry leaders who made big moves during the pandemic.

Episode 1: Jamie Pherous, Managing Director, Corporate Travel Management

Australia-based TMC Corporate Travel Management stretched its reach in 2020, making a big move into North America with the acquisition of Milwaukee-based TMC Travel and Transport. He talks with BTN Editorial Director, Elizabeth West on how travel demand recovery in the Asia-Pacific bodes well for the rest of the world.  

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BTN’s first podcast series The Influencers gets up close with innovators and envelope pushers who most influenced the business travel sector in 2020. What are they doing now and what is their outlook as the industry recovers? BTN Editorial Director Elizabeth West interviews industry leaders who made big moves during the pandemic.

Episode 2: Emmanuelle Gailland, VP Distribution, Air France-KLM

Air France-KLM distribution VP forged a new model for Airline-TMC-GDS agreements that motivates the TMC to make choices about the value of airline content per channel. The airline continues to be aggressive in how it pushes content into the managed travel market, and it’s doing so on its own terms. Gailland speaks to BTN Editorial Director Elizabeth West.

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BTN’s first podcast series, The Influencers, gets up close with innovators and envelope pushers who most influenced the business travel sector in 2020. What are they doing now and what is their outlook as the industry recovers? BTN Editorial Director Elizabeth West interviews industry leaders who made big moves during the pandemic.

Episode 3: Ralph Kaiser, CEO, UATP

Airline-owned payment platform UATP stepped into the gap when corporates and airlines needed solutions to deal with the unused tickets/cancellation refunds that proliferated in the Covid-19 pandemic. UATP has done more than that, and is facilitating innovation in global markets for both consumer and corporate payment. CEO Ralph Kaiser talks with BTN Editorial Director Elizabeth West.

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