Global Investment Bank Downsizes Vendor Count and Reduces Transaction Fees by 6% - Adding up to $7M in Savings

A leading Global Independent Investment Bank in the Northeast had grown into 21 worldwide offices, spanning from its global headquarters to offices in five additional countries. The firm provides innovative strategic and financial advice to a diverse client base through all phases of the business cycle.

Like many other independent banks with offices across the world and many people to manage, the firm had numerous challenges when it came to efficiently booking and managing travel for client and company meetings, internal trainings, etc. One major challenge was their decentralized travel booking process with no efficient means for pulling reporting. It was that vendor sprawl, as well as a lack of an internal team to help streamline the travel booking process and reporting, led the firm to begin looking for better solutions. 

Unprecedented Times Uncovered Sizeable Opportunities

Then came the last three years. Like many of us, bank leadership learned that unprecedented times required revisiting many tried and true processes. 

For this firm, COVID-19 minimized the company's travel plans for the better part of nearly two years. They looked to their time grounded as an opportunity to reevaluate internal processes, as well as current travel providers and services. to get a better handle on what efficiencies and changes needed to be made.

• Looking to hone in on the best vendors and tools to support the firm worldwide, they sought to centralize the booking process across all locations and provide coverage to offices that previously did not have the necessary support. 
• On the vendor side, this Investment Bank wanted a reliable agency to provide efficient service. 
• To improve visibility, they hoped to adopt more timely and granular reporting to assess the ins and outs of the company-wide travel, looking to find efficiencies and savings.
• The team needed to not only find a centralized way of doing things but find a strong, consistent vendor and platform to rely on. Not only would this help make the firm more efficient and help reduce spending, it would allow them to  on what they do best: investments.

Concertiv proved to be the right choice. Understanding the need for a centralized booking process and more extensive reporting, Concertiv got to work looking for the perfect global program.

Solutions

The biggest challenge for any global firm when it comes to travel? Finding and managing a vendor or service that centralizes and streamlines travel processes as well as providing detailed and timely reporting.

Concertiv began by evaluated the firm's existing vendors, services, and spend and discovered they could reduce the number of vendors being used and save the firm valuable dollars.

After getting their arms around the firm's current process, Concertiv generated a list of potential providers and their capabilities. A preliminary review of finalists was narrowed down, data and metrics were analyzed, and a scorecard was created to help the client quantitatively evaluate prospective agencies.

In order to ensure the company could make an unbiased, informed decision, the Concertiv team engaged in their independent, vendor-agnostic approach to scorecard development. However, Concertiv's industry knowledge gave this Global Investment Bank the comfort and reassurance they needed to select their newest travel management agency.

Results

The firm was able to reduce its number of global travel management vendors from six to two (66%) and lowered their transaction fees by 6%. This allowed them to free up funds for other strategic business imperatives including hiring and training additional staff, and, importantly, returning funds to the bottom line.

But the results went further. Not only did the partnership between Concertiv and the firm lead to a centralized booking process across all locations, but it also provided additional coverage to 10 office locations that were previously decentralized. 

Training for new hires has become simpler and there is now a reliable agency and booking tools supporting the firm and providing efficient and expedited service. Taking tasks off off the firm leadership's plate allows them to focus on their own clients and to continually manage and grow the business.

Conclusion

Leveraging Concertiv's industry knowledge and holistic procurement support allowed the firm to secure a streamlined and cohesive process for booking travel. Getting improved and granular reporting enabled the firm to make informed decisions, find efficiencies, and realize significant savings.

At the end of the day, yes, the firm saved money, but they also checked off the items on their list and got a lot more than they were looking for:

• 100% agency coverage was found across all 21 locations, increasing duty of care and providing consolidated reporting globally.
• Simplified and centralized booking processes were implemented allowing for easier new hire training and consistency amongst all offices.
• Concertiv-negotiated travel discounts were now available across all office locations, leading to increased future savings for the firm.

The enhancements have vastly improved the way the firm manages their travel process and budget.

Taking time to evaluate your travel processes, spending, and reporting can seem like a daunting task, but Concertiv knows how to alleviate those pains.

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