Expert Insights

Service continuity in business travel

Our comprehensive national network provides the resources and people power to overcome a major crisis event.

During the devastating Queensland floods Corporate Traveller's clients continued to receive personal and timely service despite state-wide evacuations and major disruptions to telecommunications, IT, transport and energy services. Our ability to provide business continuity for travellers during this period was the result of an effective Disaster Recovery Plan that was executed with the support of the company's nationwide network of travel specialists.

Corporate Traveller's Disaster Recovery Plan can be activated for any major event for our business across Australia and guarantees our clients, no matter where they are based or where their travel management team are located, have 24/7 access to personal and professional service.

The situation

The week of Monday 10 January 2011 saw three quarters of Queensland declared a disaster zone when unrelenting rain storms caused mass flooding of the Lockyer, Bremer and Brisbane rivers. The destructive floods killed more than 40 people and left almost 28,000 homes damaged, 127,000 houses without power, thousands of commercial properties inundated and hundreds of streets across the state under metres of water. Brisbane's Central Business District (CBD) was evacuated for two days.

Travel management for Corporate Traveller's clients that needed to travel within Queensland, was impacted by a number of challenges during the floods including limited access to flooded towns in Queensland, an airport closure at Rockhampton, limited hotel availability and booked-out flights to some regional destinations. A higher than normal demand for car hire and limited road access impacted ground travel while the evacuation of staff from Corporate Traveller's head office in Brisbane, as well as the evacuation of many of our clients' employees also compounded the situation.

Our strategies

Leading up to and throughout the flood event Corporate Traveller closely monitored news and weather updates via the company's central monitoring hub and local media sources. This ensured our Queensland team, including more than 80 travel specialists, was able to assess the situation and respond as quickly as possible.

On Tuesday 12 January 2011, on advice from our risk management team, Corporate Traveller, like many other businesses operating in the Brisbane CBD, was ordered to evacuate our Adelaide Street building. Teams immediately activated the company's Disaster Recovery Plan which involved phone, email and after hours service diversions to Corporate Traveller teams that were on standby across New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia and South Australia.

The travel requirements of around 1100 clients were then 'adopted' by our interstate teams or managed remotely by Queensland travel managers that were able to work from home. As part of the recovery plan, Corporate Traveller's Queensland teams worked closely with their interstate sister teams to brief travel managers on the needs of each client. Queensland staff working from home and not directly affected by the flood kept in close contact with those interstate teams and clients.

Operational strategy

Corporate Traveller's Disaster Recovery Plan was activated immediately and involved:

• phones - Corporate Traveller's phone lines were diverted to interstate teams to ensure all enquiries were answered
• emails - these continued to be actioned by travel managers working remotely from home or were diverted to an alternative 'sister' team interstate
• after hours service - our service continued via our interstate teams
• updates - Corporate Traveller ensured clients were kept up to date on the flood situation via direct contact, email and website notification.

Staff relocations

Corporate Traveller also relocated a number of its Queensland-based staff to New South Wales during the two-day flood disruption to maintain service levels. This ensured our people could continue helping their clients with travel requirements with minimal disruptions.

True national and global support

Corporate Traveller's ability to efficiently execute its national strategy for disaster management ensured service continuity for all clients during the Queensland floods. Corporate Traveller is one of the few travel companies in Australia that can rely on its national and global infrastructure to provide the additional resources and people power needed to overcome a major crisis event.

Our clients can rest assured they will always have the support of our national and global teams for the safest, most cost and time efficient business travel. It's because of this national and global network of teams, Corporate Traveller can continue to provide speedy turnaround on travel bookings, responsive service and the right advice from travel specialists that have a complete understanding of your travel needs.