By Howard Hunter, Uniglobe
In the last edition we gave you an overview of what Business Travel meant to us. We therefore thought that in this issue you should hear from the other side. We have randomly selected one of our clients, Graham Viles at Brand Learning, to provide you with an insight as to what their experience was like when changing Travel Management providers. Brand Learning - Global experts in marketing capability development supporting over 120 multinational clients with a touchpoint in over 60 countries.
Graham, tell me a little about you and your roles in the organisation? I qualified as an accountant in 1988, following the completion of my degree in accountancy at UEA Norwich. After working in audit at Grant Thornton, I held the position of financial director at Petal Group, a greeting card publisher. The company grew dramatically during that time and in 2002 I was closely involved in the successful sale of the business to a major competitor. Having spent several years working for a sourcing company in China, I then returned to the UK. Immediately prior to joining Brand Learning I was financial controller for Sodexho PLC at Ascot Racecourse.
My current role is diverse and interesting. It includes working with the finance, commercial, IT and facilities teams to deliver a seamless business operations function to a busy and expanding strategic marketing consultancy. Brand Learning has been listed as a Times Best Company to work for.
What does this mean to you? We were proud to secure a top five position in the Sunday Times ‘Best Companies’ award from 2009 – 2012, winning first place in 2011. This, in addition to a top ten finish in the Great Places to Work ‘Best Workplace’ award for 2013, reflects our commitment to providing the best possible experience to our employees. It’s very important to us here at Brand Learning that we’re constantly learning from the people we work with and are always looking to improve our standards.
Previously your travel was managed by one of the big three providers. Why wasn’t this working for you? Our previous provider decided to centralise its response systems and, as a result, our relationship felt a little less personal.
