The Industry Landscape
Complex Travel Finance Needs Precision and Speed
In the travel sector, operational precision and financial efficiency are key drivers of success. Yet, legacy processes, fragmented systems and manual interventions often create barriers to streamlined billing, collections and vendor payments. For many travel management firms, this adds up to working capital leakage, compliance risk and missed opportunities for optimization.
To stay competitive, leading travel firms are embracing integrated finance and operations models, smarter governance and platform-led transformation to drive agility and cash flow resilience.
The Client Challenge
Disconnected Processes. Delayed Billing. Dispute Backlogs.
The European division of a global travel management firm grappled with entrenched inefficiencies across its finance (accounts payable and accounts receivable) and travel operations functions. Key issues included:
Manual, siloed processes with poor governance
Underutilization of enterprise tools like ProTAS and Lightning Agent
Unclear hand-offs between teams and systems
Rising backlog of disputes and debit balances, creating audit risks and cash flow volatility
The scale of these challenges, compounded by rapid growth and regional process variation, placed increasing pressure on the firm’s operating model – highlighting the need for a more scalable, future-ready approach.
The Solution
An Integrated Transformation of Finance and Travel Operations
Stepping in as a digital-led domain partner, WNS leveraged its CFO Advisory Services – a proven suite of finance transformation solutions – to uncover gaps, inefficiencies and automation opportunities. The engagement delivered a comprehensive roadmap built on three pillars:
End-to-End Value Chain Analysis
Analyzed the full lifecycle, from customer bookings to vendor payments, spanning operations and finance, identifying friction points, duplication and cash leakage risks.
Governance, Escalation and Tool Optimization
Defined escalation matrices, re-designed workflows and aligned governance protocols. Critical tools (ProTAS, Lightning Agent) were re-evaluated to unlock full ROI and drive automation – such as auto-triggered chaser dispatches and automated ledger cleanup.
(aTOM)
Leveraged our proprietary aTOM solution to map the client’s as-is state and define the to-be process state across geographies, creating a harmonized blueprint for future-state integration and performance tracking.
The Outcome
From Fragmentation to Strategic Finance Enablement
Within 18 weeks, the transformation delivered measurable outcomes and positioned the client to scale operational excellence globally:
~USD Million in potential impact identified, including
- ~USD 1.4 Million in operational changes
- ~USD 1.2 Million in finance processefficiencies
- ~USD 8.6 Million in collection delays
- ~USD 10.75 Million in delayed dispute resolution
- ~USD 1.75 Million in billing backlog and un-invoiced bookings
~USD Million business impact realized via
- ~USD 5.5 Million in backlog resolution
- ~USD 3.6 Million in ongoing dispute run-rate reduction
- ~USD 178,700 saved from duplicate payment prevention and a cleaner accounts payable ledger
Faster dispute resolution through
- ~50 percent of all resolutions made touchless
- ~25 percent reduction in turnaround time
Strategic insights with board-level impact
Root-cause visibility and clear ownership maps shared with the client’s board and audit committee, with savings now budgeted as a key cost optimization driver
Scalable methodology and cross-functional alignment
Workshops conducted across regions ensured buy-in, enabled implementation and laid the foundation for digital transformation
Based on the impact, the CFO of the European branch recommended WNS to the Australian finance leadership team for further process remediation. The board has also endorsed the roadmap