Former industry executive Mark O’Brien has launched a new consultancy, dedicated to the corporate travel, meetings, payment, and expense industry. Avenue5 Consulting will offer strategic and tactical, advisory, category consulting and management services for its clients to solve complex, and challenging issues.
Taking to LinkedIn to celebrate the news, O’Brien noted, “Launching a company in a pandemic is tough but we got there, and we have already contracted with several customers and financial institutions who require a trusted advisor to help them solve complex, and challenging issues. We are super excited for the future and look forward to re-connecting with business colleagues old and new.”
The coronavirus pandemic rapidly transformed the business travel world, and as businesses look to adapt to the new environment, many are looking to consultants for support. In this context, Avenue5 Consulting hopes to help clients gain insights to drive better outcomes in terms of business travel.
The company has launched three distinct lines of business to provide informed intelligence on pre-covid activity versus post-covid recovery. Its category management division is focused on the sustainable true total cost of travel (TTCT) and offers a wide suite of services ranging from end-to-end framework integration, strategic assessment, and sourcing, to risk management, and traveller well-being. Its management division provides a range of services including organizational assessment and design, outsourced management, SME business travel agency support, and learning and development for the next generation of travel professionals.
A new survey conducted by global strategy consulting firm Oliver Wyman has found that a third of global consumers feel comfortable to travel again, as the Covid-19 pandemic seems to be receding. Business travel is now exceeding pre-pandemic levels in China, the US and Australia to that end.
In the UK, however, many businesses are still unclear of what strategy to take moving forward. As a result, business travel in Britain remains at a lower level than before the pandemic.