To monitor travelers’ whereabouts, Safran’s security team had a manual process, using an Excel spreadsheet to track all bookings to high-risk countries
Approach
Safran moved from a manual process to Trip Authorizer, BCD’s automated trip approval solution, to protect their travelers’ safety
Results
With one standard process for all travelers, Safran can easily adapt their approval process to constantly changing risks and comply with the French law for duty of care.
Safran and BCD have had a long-standing partnership since 2013. As employees get back to travel, Safran relies on BCD’s automated trip approval process to protect their travelers’ safety and security.
Safran at a glance
Industry: International high-technology company in aerospace and defense
Headquarters: France
Number of employees: More than 76,800 employees in 276 locations across 27 countries
Annual revenue in 2021: Over 15 billion euros
Annual travel spend: 110 million euros
Challenge
Safran has 13 different subsidiaries. Protecting their travelers requires a lot of data management, like knowing where their travelers are, providing them with timely and relevant security information about their destination and storing the right email address of the traveler (not the travel arranger or the traveler’s assistant). This is critical for Safran to be able to reach them in case something goes wrong. To monitor travelers’ whereabouts, the security team had a manual process, using an Excel spreadsheet to track all bookings to countries at risk.
Approach
To optimize the efficiency of the security team, Safran moved from using Excel to Trip Authorizer. BCD’s proprietary automated trip approval solution provides Safran with a unified process to manage bookings to countries at risk.
For most bookings, employees simply receive a security email that serves as a travel guide. If something happens, like an earthquake or terrorist attack, travelers receive a call, email or text message to which they can respond to let their company know they are safe.
Mexico and Brazil by the numbers
In Mexico, there were almost 37,000 homicides in 2020, compared to almost 900 in France. For their safety, Trip Authorizer guarantees that Safran travelers only book approved hotels.
In Brazil, there were almost 48,000 homicides in 2020. When using a navigation system like Google Maps or Wase, travelers risk driving through areas which must be avoided by all means. Therefore, Trip Authorizer automatically blocks Safran travelers from renting a car in Brazil.
Source: countryeconomy.com
For bookings to medium or high-risk countries, which is about 10% of all trips at Safran, Trip Authorizer automatically applies the right agreed process:
When the risk is identified as medium (classified as Risk 3 in Trip Authorizer), the subsidiary’s security manager receives an alert that an employee is about to travel to a country such as Mexico or Brazil, two frequent destinations for Safran.
When the risk is identified as high or extreme (classified as Risk 4 or 5) the booking is blocked until the employee is trained and aware of the country’s risks. This applies to destinations like Iraq, or e.g. Nigeria, where an armed escort can be required.
As countries’ risk levels can quickly evolve according to the situation e.g. war, terrorism, political unrest, etc., Safran’s security team regularly reviews risks to adapt the Trip Authorizer process.
My objective is to unify our process so that every Safran employee travels with the same security standards. Knowing that this is exactly what BCD’s automated trip approval solution does for us, brings me peace of mind.
Jacques Warnery
Corporate Security Officer at Safran
Results
With Trip Authorizer, Safran is able to quickly identify hazardous trips to maximize their travelers’ safety before the trip even begins. It provides customized options specific to Safran’s security program and helps risk managers make informed decisions and take quick action when needed.
Monitoring travelers’ safety and security
Complying with the French work law for duty of care
Automating the trip approval process
Optimizing the efficiency of the security team
My objective is to unify our process so that every Safran employee travels with the same security standards. Knowing that this is exactly what BCD’s automated trip approval solution does for us, brings me peace of mind.
Frédéric Lefebvre
Senior Director Global Program Management at BCD Travel France
