My company, iJet Intelligence Risk Systems, recently issued a
press release predicting increased operational risk for businesses in a turbulent 2009. Of course, it's pretty obvious that the worldwide economic crisis will have trickle-down effect and cause an increase in business disruptions. During times of global crisis and escalating geopolitical tension, the risks are hard to ignore. [more]
But what might not be so obvious are ways to mitigate these increasing risks, and travel is a key component of where those risks will hit. The point is not just to survive tough times, but to emerge from them in a position to thrive with a competitive advantage.
We talk a lot about business resiliency, but equally important is travel resiliency: using flexibility and foresight in travel planning in 2009 and beyond. It will likely save you and your company a lot of headaches, or worse, and money, too.
Here are two basic recommendations that can help just about any organization save time and money in the current economic climate:
* Monitor Early Warning Indicators: If you can cancel or re-schedule a trip because of predictive intelligence--anticipating an impending worker strike or travel disruption, for example--you will save money. You'll save not just in wasted expenses, but also in potentially lost productivity. Just imagine sitting on a foreign tarmac for five hours because of a canceled flight, or turning around mid-journey because the facility you planned to visit has been closed by a workers' strike.
* Use Resources Wisely: Again, reevaluating unnecessary or potentially unproductive trips because of early warning intelligence about disrupted destinations can save. This isn't even cutting the budget; it's simply using what you've already earmarked smarter. Simply in productivity preserved, iJet estimates that better planning could result in savings of 1 percent of what a company spends on business travel--or for some, millions of dollars saved just by reassessing how successful a trip can be.