“The largest corporations that spend the most on business travel are generally at about 75% of their 2019 spend, and they seem to be plateauing there. The growth is really coming from the small and mid-sized enterprises – those are the ones that are powering the recovery.” - Scott Gillespie, Founder & CEO of tClara
The current state of business travel is in an interesting place, characterized by a healthy dose of cautious optimism and adaptability that’s counter-balanced by concerns over climate implications and the rising cost of travel.
The post-pandemic “recovery” that we all expected is indeed underway, but it has also exposed some hesitancy in the market as some business travelers have grown to prefer the convenience (and low cost) of Zoom over in-person travel.
To discuss this and more, I recently welcomed back Scott Gillespie to the podcast. Scott is the founder and CEO of tClara, a company that provides advice, thought leadership, and innovation to business travel industry stakeholders.
Scott is an industry-leading expert on travel strategy, carbon emissions, justifiable travel, traveler friction, and trip valuation. He has also worked across the travel industry and got his start in the ATK strategic sourcing practice of the 1990s while managing the corporate travel category.
Scott was first on the podcast all the way back in 2016, and we recently reconnected over a piece of research that he has undertaken called “The Justified Business Trip” that measures the ROI of individual business trips and its usage in managing travel demand.
In this episode, we also discussed the current health of the business travel category. Scott has recently attended the 2023 GBTA conference, and I started by asking him some of his takeaways from the event.
We covered things like:
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Procurement 6 is a short podcast from Art of Procurement that publishes in the Art of Procurement feed every Friday morning at 6am US Eastern Time.
Presented by a member of the Art of Procurement team, each episode has 6 short segments that summarize the week in procurement.
Segments range from procurement tips to podcast summaries, from details of events to news or overviews of blog posts that capture our attention.
“Yes, change is hard to manage and process at any level which is why I always recommend that you give change in bite-sized pieces. Bring people along the way.”
Chandell Shorter, Senior Consultant of Change Management, Corcentric
Change, especially large-scale change, can be hard, overwhelming, or even scary for some people, but it’s also an inevitable part of life and work. Procurement professionals often find themselves at the very center of critical change management projects, leading change around processes, technology, talent management, and skills development, all of which can have profound effects on the company morale and culture.
How can procurement lead the business through this change without implementing it in a way that it backfires or creates resistance?
In this episode, based on an AOP Live session, Chandell Shorter, Senior Consultant of Change Management at Corcentric, and Joe Payne, SVP Source-to-Pay at Corcentric, discussed everything procurement should know about change management with host Kelly Barner.
They covered:
Links:
Procurement 6 is a short podcast from Art of Procurement that publishes in the Art of Procurement feed every Friday morning at 6am US Eastern Time.
Presented by a member of the Art of Procurement team, each episode has 6 short segments that summarize the week in procurement.
Segments range from procurement tips to podcast summaries, from details of events to news or overviews of blog posts that capture our attention.
“There are two ideal profiles for a procurement founder … you have industry veterans that live the problem, feel the pain, go out and create a solution to solve that pain. That’s been a tale as old as time. … There’s also serial entrepreneurs that don’t have a procurement background but understand a problem and want to go study it and bring on others to help them.”
In recent years, there has been an “explosion” of procurement tech startups. But not all procurement startups are able to reach their full potential.
In this episode from Digital Outcomes 2023, Philip Ideson speaks with Jack Freeman, procure tech investor and Partner at PeakSpan Capital, about the challenges and opportunities procurement tech startups face, particularly in category specialized solutions like SaaS, vertical software, finance, or construction.
Jack shares his perspective on:
Links:
Procurement 6 is a short podcast from Art of Procurement that publishes in the Art of Procurement feed every Friday morning at 6am US Eastern Time.
Presented by a member of the Art of Procurement team, each episode has 6 short segments that summarize the week in procurement.
Segments range from procurement tips to podcast summaries, from details of events to news or overviews of blog posts that capture our attention.
As companies face the weight of inflation and the potential for recession, executives are reevaluating their decentralized approaches to procurement management and decision making. Instead, many organizations are making the move back toward centralized procurement models to keep a sharp eye on the bottom line. The focus has shifted from viewing cost savings as a 'nice-to-have' to a necessity for operational continuity.
In this episode, based on a recent AOP Live session, Mu Wagh, Chief Operating Officer at Procure Analytics, and Matt Reddington, their Vice President of Operations, discuss how a strong corporate culture can help companies navigate challenging economic times as they transition to centralized control in procurement.
Mu and Matt provide valuable advice on how to strike a balance in the transition to centralized control without adding friction into the procurement process or doing harm to the organizational culture.
Links:
Procurement 6 is a short podcast from Art of Procurement that publishes in the Art of Procurement feed every Friday morning at 6am US Eastern Time.
Presented by a member of the Art of Procurement team, each episode has 6 short segments that summarize the week in procurement.
Segments range from procurement tips to podcast summaries, from details of events to news or overviews of blog posts that capture our attention.