American Express Business Travel Realigns

American Express announced this week that it has createda global advisory services unit within its Business Travel division called Global Advisory Services, which will comprise 200 consultants and analysts to help organizations optimize their global travel spend.

The purpose of the new advisory services unit will be to offer small-, medium- and large-sized companies a soup-to-nuts solution, from assessment to
implementation, that will let them get the most out of their investment in meetings, air travel, car rentals and hotels. The advisory services unit will bring together three practices- policy consulting, strategic sourcing and process management-that had previously operated independently and align them across the company’s four worldwide operating regions. Thus, the new unit will advise clients on how to best spend their business travel dollars, help them choose and contract with
suppliers, and oversee purchasing and expense systems.

“The new advisory services unit will be laser focused on providing the insights and capabilities required to deliver tangible ROI-in the form of purchase and process savings as well as heightened program controls-from the billions of dollars our clients’ spend annually on travel and meetings,” says Andy McGraw, senior vice president and general manager of
North America for American Express Business Travel.