Skip to main content
SHOWCASING EXCELLENCE

THE ARCADIS CASE STUDY

STRATEGY REVIEW

HOW THE LEADING GLOBAL DESIGN & CONSULTANCY FIRM FOR NATURAL AND BUILT ASSETS, ARCADIS, APPOINTED FESTIVE ROAD TO;

  • Review their travel programme strategy, and
  • Implement structure, rigour and excellence to their global travel programme

The mission

Arcadis has 27,000 employees worldwide.  Active in all regions with the main markets in the US and EMU (Europe, Middle East and UK) and organised across 4 key business lines with a global turnover of around £3bn.

Following a challenging period of travel management, Arcadis appointed FESTIVE ROAD to complete an in-depth review of their travel strategy to identify areas for improvement and to create a detailed road map for future success.

“The FESTIVE ROAD team offered a refreshingly personable and authentic approach, coupled with knowledge, credibility, methodology, structure, and great consultative rigour. Their strategic review of our programme, using the Managed Travel Model™ provided a detailed roadmap for change which led to the appointment of a (interim) global travel manager. Managing travel has gone from being a real challenge to an activity that I’m proud to be associated with and is rewarding to be a part of.”

Martin Silvester
Global Director for Workplace and Travel – Arcadis

Walking in Arcadis’ Shoes

A lack of clarity

WHAT WAS NEEDED WAS A STEP BACK, TO TAKE A STRATEGIC VIEW

The Issue: With increasingly frustrated traveller voices and strained supplier relationships the programme had become highly tactical.  With time dedicated to firefighting instead of longer-term thinking, a fresh perspective was needed.

The Solution: The joint team started by working through a clear understanding of the Arcadis internal challenges.  Then, using FESTIVE ROAD’s proprietary Managed Travel Model™ and external market knowledge, the team created an in-depth gap analysis and detailed plan for improvement for the Arcadis travel management strategy.

The Result: Arcadis now have clarity on the long-term vision for the travel programme which has been endorsed by the Executive leadership team.  The ongoing management of the programme is more focused, supplier relationships are improved, and negative internal voices reduced.

WHAT MARTIN SAYS…

“With Arcadis being a consultancy ourselves, we naturally have high standards and expectations. We were so impressed with FESTIVE ROAD’s methodology that we applied their approach to other categories within the business.”

MANAGING TRAVEL WAS PAINFUL & NOISY

RECOGNISING THE NEED FOR CHANGE

The Issue: Arcadis had found managing the travel programme a real challenge.  Beset by the impact of low resource investment, a pure procurement focus and limited strategic direction the management of the programme was taking up time and energy without effective results. It needed dedicated resource and expertise.

The Solution: Having completed the strategy phase, the direction and what needed to be delivered was clear but the who and how still an open question. FESTIVE ROAD provided an outsourced Travel Management solution, focused on delivering against a robust set of objectives.

The Result: Outsourcing provides a resource that is immediately operational and effective from day 1.  A few months on and managing travel has gone from being a personal challenge to something enjoyable to manage and a positive force within the business.  Martin tells us he’s much happier – and making Martin happy is what we are all about.

WHAT MARTIN SAYS…

“People buy people. It’s a real differentiator. There was real honesty from FESTIVE ROAD throughout the negotiation and during the relationship since.”

GETTING THE RIGHT PEOPLE WITH THE RIGHT APPROACH WAS KEY

MATCHING PEOPLE WITH CULTURE

The Issue: With the plan ready, getting the right people to implement it was key. Arcadis was looking for a personable and authentic approach to resonate with their culture.

The Solution: Matching great people with great clients isn’t only our approach, it’s our bedrock to success. From the initial engagement with Arcadis through to the first phase of delivery and on to implementation FESTIVE ROAD assigned different people with different skills, but each with the same core ethos of integrity, honesty and openness.

The Result: From the very first engagement, Arcadis said they were struck by the authenticity, knowledge, technical competency and credibility of the FESTIVE ROAD team and how this helped drive the project’s success.  Well done team!

WHAT MARTIN SAYS…

“I can summarise our engagement with FESTIVE ROAD as – It has been a pleasure working with a really great bunch of people who clearly know what they’re doing.”

Mission success

Arcadis was looking for an independent view to help them re-define travel management strategy.

Within two months, Arcadis moved through a complete strategic review, resulting in a right-sized, bespoke roadmap for the travel programme.In the short term, the positive exposure of the travel programme and its strategy to the C-Suite increased considerably and the negative exposure (from traveller voices etc) decreased.

To speak to Martin about how clear Arcadis are on their travel strategy and how proud he is to be leading the programme these days, or to talk to one of the Festive Road team contact hello@festive-road.com.

PTM Coffee Table Book

Register here to receive your complimentary copy and future updates of the our PTM Coffee Table Book 

The MACROSCOPE Report

Register here to receive your complimentary copy and future updates of the MACROSCOPE REPORT