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Policy Compliance And Online Adoption Rate Vital For Air Methods

Nurses And Pilot Carrying Patient On Stretcher To Helicopter

Air Methods sees policy compliance and high online adoption rate

3 min
Company
Air Methods
Industry
Transportation 
Number of employees
4,500

Corporate travel never stops for an emergency air medical transportation company like Air Methods. Learn how the company keeps its travellers on the road—even during uncertain times for the travel industry—how it achieves policy compliance, and why data and reporting are crucial to success when you read the full story.


 

Challenge

Air Methods’ mission is to impact and save lives, and the company does this by providing emergency air medical transport across the US. It services over 200 rural areas, which means it relies heavily on a corporate travel management company (TMC) to get employees where they need to be, at exactly the right time. This might mean that employees travel on short notice, or they need to quickly travel to a different location and make changes during the booking process. It’s crucial for Air Methods to partner with a travel management company that understands its needs, and provides products and travel services to make sure the travel programme runs smoothly. All the while delivering a great traveller experience, supporting policy compliance, providing relevant data and reporting methods to understand the travel programme, as well as highlighting opportunities for improvement.

Solution

Travel never stopped for Air Methods during the pandemic because its travellers are essential employees and needed to make changes to their itineraries, often in real time. While others paused their travel plans, the company revisited its travel programme and sought travel management solutions that could keep up with changing needs. Key priorities included:

  • Cost effectiveness
  • Policy compliance
  • Traveller safety and satisfaction
  • Duty of care

‘We were looking for a platform that allowed us to make changes to our corporate travel programme, to layer our policies into it and to be able to navigate the tool ourselves to adapt to all of the changes our travellers face every day’, said Kimi Thompson, travel manager at Air Methods.

Egencia ticked those boxes, and more. Fast-forward a few months and a great partnership was in place.

Air Methods’ onboarding process was seamless. ‘Our account manager was always working with us to see what areas of opportunity there were...There was great collaboration between [Air Methods] and the onboarding team [at Egencia]’, said Thompson.

Outcome

Air Methods has seen great results since partnering with Egencia. The company reports a 98% online adoption rate of the online booking tool, and travellers are avid users of the mobile app.

Thompson is also pleased with how Air Methods was able to build its own corporate travel policies into the Egencia tool. This included price thresholds in cities where Air Methods has preferred properties and hotels—and taking advantage of Egencia Preferred Rates in areas where the company doesn’t have negotiated properties. Air Methods has also experienced cost savings through Egencia finding the best hotel rates and saving money when booking flights.

Having access to travel data and reporting functions has also been a major asset to Thompson and Air Methods. She utilises the Data Hub and Analytics Studio to pull reports to keep an eye on travel costs and can identify areas for potential savings. Thompson also provides reports to other departments to track their spend and see where travellers are going to make sure they remain within budget. As well as that, she escalates weekly reports to members of the Air Methods leadership team so they can track future travel and understand their travellers’ business trips, and if they’re on track with travel spend and within the policies outlined in their business travel programme.

Air Methods has unique travel needs as an emergency medical transportation company. However, having a strong business travel programme enables its employees to get where they need to be and remain within policy when making travel arrangements. This solid foundation, coupled with rich data to gather insights and make informed decisions about the future of its corporate travel programme, sets the company up for success.

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