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TMCs export support. (Going Offshore to Improve Costs, Service).

Article Excerpt
Travel companies are exploiting regulatory liberalization, cheaper communications and a general shrinkage of the globe to maintain or improve service and cut costs. For travel management companies, opportunities include the shipment of contact center jobs to such locations as Costa Rica, India and the Philippines, as well as the creation of regional centers using multiple languages to service multinational corporations.

One component of a recent deal to consolidate nearly all of Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM's global card and travel needs with American Express involves handling IBM travelers from a pan-European Amex center in Nice. Other recent developments include American Express' movement of standard 24-hour operations to the Philippines, TQ3 Travel Solutions' establishment of a four-language, six-nation call center near Brussels, the expansion in India and Panama of operations by Rosenbluth International subsidiary Upstream and the impending opening of a regional Carlson Wagonlit Travel center in Poland.

Travel management companies clearly are trying to slash labor expenses, presumably without reducing service quality. American Express' Travel Related Services division cut 15 percent of its workforce-- or more than 11,000 jobs--between the beginning of 2001 and 2003.

"At TRS, the most significant reductions occurred within our Corporate Travel business," American Express chairman and CEO Ken Chenault said in remarks prepared for a financial presentation last week. CFO Gary Crittenden said Amex, during the fourth quarter, "geared up for the movement of...

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