“We transitioned to Locomote in 2018. We were able to redirect the internal resource to more value-adding work,” says Fiona Loughlan, Chief Executive Officer of the Institute for Healthy Communities Australia (IHCA).
Founded in the early 1990s, the IHCA is an independent and non-profit organisation that provides professional management consulting services to companies in the health and community services sector across Australia.
With the commitment to promoting social justice, impartiality, and ethics, IHCA aims to help every company grow and develop its services to respond to the needs of its clients. Using tailored training, consultations, and quality management, IHCA proactively supports excellence.
Since most of their clients are located in the regional and remote areas of the country, travel has become a necessary element in conducting business. But because their travel requirements were usually non-standard, they found it challenging to arrange travels and meet with their clients personally.
Problems IHCA Faced Before Discovering Locomote
Before they discovered the business travel agency, Locomote, IHCA allocated all travel responsibilities to one employee only. While this approach worked for the organisation in some way, they found it to be inefficient, expensive, frustrating, and time-consuming.
Inefficient Use of Time and Resources
It comes as no surprise that planning trips is not an easy job. Making the necessary arrangements for a single person already takes a lot of time and effort. What more if someone is booking for a group?
Before Locomote, IHCA depended on numerous third-party providers. According to Fiona Loughlan, “We were purely reliant on Microsoft products to track and record travel plans, booking direct with airlines and accommodation providers, and Google of course.”
They exhausted much of their time and resources in finding the best solution for their organisation. In the end, they realised how the process took a toll on their energy, time, and expenses.
Manual Arrangements
The absence of a business travel agency meant that IHCA had to do everything on their own, from the planning stage to the execution. But besides taking up time, doing so also opened up more opportunities for making mistakes.
From price comparisons to flight schedules and accommodations, there was a high probability of choosing at least one wrong option for the travellers. This is because navigating multiple service providers to create a cohesive travel plan can be overwhelming.
So, as one can imagine, doing things manually can give rise to numerous mistakes that are both frustrating and costly.
That’s why, for organisations like IHCA that require meticulous travel arrangements, finding an efficient and easy-to-use business travel agency is a must. Fortunately, they found their answer with Locomote.
Ways Locomote Improved the Business Travel Process for IHCA
In 2018, IHCA diverted from the manual process of arranging travel plans and pivoted to Locomote. Since then, the transition has resulted in increased efficiency, enhanced clarity, and significant savings.
Moreover, this shift in processes also allowed them to refocus their staff on more value-adding tasks and provide improved services to their clients. Overall, Locomote has been a significant player in enhancing and streamlining the organisation’s business travel processes to promote efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
Among the many ways Locomote has become influential, one of the best ways it has contributed to the company is its ease of use.
According to Fiona Loughlan, the company’s favourite part of the product is its ease of use. Regardless of if you are a travel arranger, approver, or traveller, the platform is intuitive and easy to use. Plus, the dedicated teams are responsive and easy to collaborate with.
Locomote’s ease of use comes in handy, especially when companies like IHCA require non-standard travel arrangements that need meticulous attention.
Top Features of Locomote That Can Enhance Business Travel
Apart from their convenient and easy-to-use features, Locomote is changing the game by offering all-in-one business travel management services to their clients.
Some of the notable features customers like IHCA can experience include the following:
Award-Winning Technology
As a business travel agency that deals with complex travel logistics, integrating the best technology into the platform is one of Locomote’s key features.
The company uses the leading innovations to give clients access to everything they need to build, manage, and measure their travel programs. Whether it be consolidating trip details, redeeming reward points, or generating reports, Locomote provides a convenient way to stay on top of all things travel.
Cost-Efficient Management
One of the biggest challenges companies face when making travel plans is meeting their budget. This becomes extremely difficult when the prices for airlines, accommodations, and transportation fluctuate daily.
With Locomote, this becomes a challenge that’s easy to overcome. By providing personalised results, it becomes more convenient to make a booking in minutes.
The platform compiles the best providers for flights, hotel accommodations, and other aspects of travel so organisers can have a much simpler time picking the best and most cost-efficient options.
Dedicated Support
Locomote understands that every travel requirement differs per client. That’s why they offer dedicated support with 24/7/365 access to a skilled network of travel experts. Whether it be through the website, a phone call, or an email, the agency can provide even the most demanding clients with the support they need to develop a seamless travel plan.
In other words, Locomote is more than a simple travel tool, it is a personal travel agent that allows every business to arrange travel without complications or stress.
Locomote: The Best Solution for Companies like IHCA
Through the advantageous features of Locomote, it was deemed the best solution for organisations like IHCA.
Although the organisation has primarily chosen Locomote for its affordability and ease of use, IHCA has seen how the agency has met all its needs. Over the years, Locomote has introduced increased functionality, but the core value proposition of its ease of use and efficiency remains the number one benefit for IHCA.
