Case Study: Travel program implementation

CTM recognized that efficiency resided in the opportunity to transition the 85 smaller volume agencies, many of whom were non-mandated.

A pro-forma approach was developed, yet still allowing for choice and flexibility, two key themes in our messaging. The targeted campaign to these agencies was anchored on a simple proposal document that outlined the benefits of the CTM model, with the focus being service, commercials, technology and, again, flexibility – we very much wanted each agency to understand it was not committing to a templated program approach. Instead, the imperative of ‘choice’ remained at the heart of our offer.

Another major selling point was ease and speed of transition. Agencies completed a minimum of documentation, from which we then scheduled face-to-face meetings to finalise possible inclusions over and above the baseline of service, including:

• Payment
• Reporting and approval hierarchies (i.e. single, multiple?)
• Portal single sign-on
• Bespoke requirements such as unique travelers (e.g. wheelchair, health, prisoners, etc), remote accommodation, Indigenous programs, etc.
• Suitability and subsequent choice of OBT

During our Discovery Meetings, CTM provided a thorough demonstration addressing the technology offering (excluding CTM Data, as this was only inclusive for Department of Finance & Procurement). Demonstrations included Traveler Tracker, the unused ticket widgets, Fare Forecaster, and basic Tramada self-reporting access. At this forum, the online booking tools were demonstrated and a decision was made.

From initial meeting to Go Live, each smaller agency was implemented in no more than two weeks.

For large mandated agencies, implementation was based on tailored implementation, communication and change management planning. These demanded more detail and resource, and therefore time. An example of our tailoring was the Department of Education, who elected to hand bookings over to individual schools through an OBT. We rolled this program out to approx. 800 schools around the state, none of which had previously enjoyed online booking access. We then undertook a statewide training program for these bookers, featuring more than 30 Webex sessions. The result was that the Department of Education went from a 12% OBT uptake with the previous TMC to a 60%+ OBT uptake with CTM.

For larger non-mandated agencies, CTM followed our more traditional sales process of communication, qualification and alignment. We generated expanded proposals tailored to the needs of each department, and provided technology demonstrations to either individual department staff or, where it made sense (i.e. similar booking patterns and needs), a cluster of department representatives. This all took place under the guidance of central WAG Procurement, who quickly came to understand the CTM benefit and added impetus to this ‘pseudo’ sales process.