Reporting on travel program metrics used to start with a hunt. Understanding program spend, traveler behavior, or policy compliance meant tracking down the right report, adjusting the filters, exporting to a spreadsheet, or waiting on a data request. When one answer led to another question, the process often started again.
Natural-language analytics creates a more intuitive way to explore program data. Travel managers can start with what they want to know, ask questions in everyday language, and uncover new insights as the conversation develops.
Powered by Avenir’s connected travel data, Ask Avenir brings this approach to life with on-demand analysis, visualizations, and recommendations that help travel managers make more informed decisions.
Let’s take a closer look at one such example. Here’s how an inquiry about air spend can lead to deeper insights and opportunities for program improvement.
Begin with a Simple Question
Understanding where air spend is concentrated is a common starting point for evaluating program performance. But even when the underlying question is relatively straightforward, getting a complete picture traditionally involved pulling together information from more than one source.
What once took time and required multiple systems to compile can now be completed in one place, in seconds. With Ask Avenir, a travel manager simply asks for a year-to-date breakdown of air spend by airline.
Ask Avenir responds with a summary of year-to-date spending across carriers. In this example, the analysis reveals over $11 million in air spend across numerous airlines, with three major carriers accounting for the majority of that total.
The response also includes a visual breakdown, making it easier to compare carriers and identify spending patterns without building a report or navigating a predefined dashboard.
With direct access to the underlying data, the travel manager can move from an initial question to deeper exploration, following new inquiries as they emerge.
Follow the Data Wherever It Leads
Understanding where money is being spent is a useful starting point, but total spend doesn’t tell the whole story. For example, is an airline accounting for more spend because it handles more bookings, or because its average fares are higher?
To investigate further, the travel manager in our scenario continues their conversation, asking about average ticket prices and booking volumes across carriers.
In this example, United Airlines has the highest average ticket price of the three major carriers, while American Airlines has a higher booking volume and lowest average price.
These distinctions help put the original spending figures into context. Each question builds on the information already explored, allowing travel managers to investigate emerging patterns and prioritize the areas most relevant to their program.
Ask Avenir also suggests potential follow-up questions, such as analyzing ticket prices by cabin class, opening additional avenues for exploration.
Move From Information to Action
Identifying spending patterns is one part of effective travel program management. The next step is understanding what to do with that information.
With a clearer picture of airline spend, average fares, and booking volumes, the travel manager may now want to identify potential cost-saving opportunities and summarize the findings with recommendations for leadership.
Ask Avenir brings the findings together into an executive summary, highlighting opportunities to optimize air spend.
In this scenario, the recommendations include encouraging self-booking adoption, rerouting low-volume international routes through hubs when possible, and consolidating carrier selection by negotiating volume commitments with lower-cost carriers.
The response also estimates additional reductions from implementing a policy requiring 50+ day advance booking for non-emergency travel. While those estimates would need to be validated against routes and negotiated rates, it provides a starting point for evaluating possible changes.
For the travel manager, this summary creates a clearer path from identifying a trend to developing a recommendation. With relevant data and potential opportunities brought together in one experience, they can focus on evaluating options and determining which actions make sense for their program.
Put Your Travel Data to Work
The value of natural-language analytics depends on the quality of the information behind it. By drawing on Avenir’s trusted, connected travel data, Ask Avenir gives travel managers a more complete picture of program performance and a reliable starting point for further analysis.
Of course, Ask Avenir’s possibilities extend well beyond air spend. The same conversational approach can support questions about policy compliance, supplier performance, traveler behavior, and many other areas of program management.
Ultimately, Ask Avenir gives travel managers more room to focus on the work that requires their expertise, like negotiating with suppliers, refining travel policies, and working with stakeholders to improve program performance.
Ready to learn more about Ask Avenir and how it can support your travel program? Contact the Direct Travel team to get started.
