Accenture MyTravel Summary—bringing transparency to travel
How Accenture Embraced Gamification
Like many large multinationals, Accenture, the
global consultancy and outsourcing company, incurs
significant costs supporting employee travel; in 2012
its global air travel costs exceeded $550 million.
To better manage those costs, Accenture launched a
global change program resulting in increased employee
compliance and millions of dollars in annual savings.
The key to this program’s success was a gamification
application called “My Travel Summary”.
The application, displayed on each employee’s intranet
landing page, is linked to travel data sources that
track individual employee travel statistics. It shows
employees in plain language how their travel decisions
impact Accenture, as well as the environment.
Travelers can see, for example, how many tickets
they booked out of policy, how much savings they
missed, and the C02 impact of their travel decisions.
Providing this degree of transparency enables
Accenture to influence employee travel behavior.
My Travel Summary was part of a broader range of
travel policy changes. Mary Bastrentaz, Accenture’s
Managing Director of Global Travel and Events, feared
that these changes would engender significant
employee backlash. But to her surprise, the overall
response was positive. For the first time ever,
employees could see the impact of their travel
decisions, she noted. Bastrentaz said that ultimately
“people really want to do the right thing” and
My Travel Summary is “bottom up creating a cost-conscious culture.”
In light of the successful initial launch of My Travel
Summary, Accenture is expanding its functionality.
Users will be able to compare their travel behaviors
with co-workers within their business groups and
geographies. A pilot program to reward employees
with “Smart Traveler” badges and discounts on
personal travel for outstanding travel behavior is
also underway. Bastrentaz believes that these changes
will encourage further engagement and deliver
business benefits for Accenture.
