How a leading global consulting firm uses Lyft to win talent and reduce travel costs by 15%.
INDUSTRY | BUSINESS TRAVEL
Challenge
Rapidly rising travel spend, with more than 3.5 million ground trips annually. Time-consuming expense reports averaging $30 each — across 20,000+ employees. Minimal insights into weekly rides.
Solution
Lyft Business Profiles for automatic expensing and Lyft Business Portal to glean insights into travel spend and behavior.
Impact
- Reduced travel costs by 15%
- Program earned traveler rating of 4.8 points out of 5
- Automated 98% of expense reporting
- Better understanding and management of ground transportation usage
Firm looks to Lyft to make ground transportation easier for partners, improve compliance, and automate reconciliation.
One of the world’s top 10 professional services firms serves a distinguished roster of private enterprises, public institutions, and nonprofits. The firm works closely with its clients to enhance performance, improve decision- making, and help them reach their most ambitious goals. Recently, the company sought an innovative ground transportation solution designed to the high standards it adheres to across its business.
The Challenge
The major consulting firm is among the most heavily traveled companies in the world. Over 20,000 consultants are constantly on the move to client assignments. The firm purchases more than a million air tickets and tallies around 3.5 million ground trips annually.
In the past, partners had to use personal corporate cards to book rides, collect receipts, and waste valuable time completing expense reports. The company calculated that this was costing nearly $30 per report, impacting project costs and hurting margins.
There were also policy issues that required verification or adjustments, visibility into corporate spend was limited, and the employee experience suffered — jeopardizing recruitment and retention.
“We had three goals for our reimagined transportation program. Improve our colleagues’ experience, creating a real wow factor. Always be on the cutting edge. And drive better cost management. Lyft plays a key role.”
— Director of Operations
Global Consulting Firm
The opportunity
Rather than looking primarily to cut costs, the consulting firm reimagined its managed transportation program to be easier and friendlier to business travelers. By creating “stickiness,” the firm also hoped to improve compliance and reduce travel spend. “Most programs are too focused on saving money. Our goal was to design an easy, seamless program so travelers can leave the hotel, take the ride, and they’re done.”
The solution
The consulting firm uses Lyft Business Profiles to support their 5,000 rides per week. It also relies on Lyft’s Business Portal to gain unprecedented insights into its ground spend.
TOP BENEFITS INCLUDE
The right stuff
The consulting firm chose Lyft for its safe, reliable, high-value service, and commitment to continual innovation, with a cutting-edge roadmap to drive business forward.
"Lyft’s core values are similar to ours — not only in how it does business, but in being socially responsible as well."
Winning the talent race
The firm differentiates itself by reducing administrative burdens for its employees. This helps attract and retain top people.
"Paperwork and logistical obstacles wear on you when you travel. Lyft alleviates the pain."
Nearly 100% automation
Using an innovative system it designed that leverages AI and other technologies — as well as Lyft’s automated expensing capabilities — the consulting firm is nearing its goal of fully automated reconciliation.
"With Lyft, we’re at approximately 98% automation. We’re also able to leverage Lyft’s reporting to better understand our colleagues’ behavior."
Looking Ahead
Going forward, the consulting firm is enthusiastic about partnering with Lyft. “We want to continually refine the experience and develop innovative new solutions. We can count on Lyft to collaborate with us to create cutting edge products for our needs."
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