“We earn points while we sleep”
This information-management business turns accommodation costs into staff perks.
Before The Information Management GroupOpens external site in a new window (TIMG) discovered Qantas Hotels in 2014, the company had a fixed-rate deal with a hotel chain. “However, every time there was a special event in a city, they’d say, ‘We’re fully booked – but if you pay more, we’re not’,” says TIMG’s Chris Cotterrell. Now, with Qantas Hotels, “often for the rate you’d pay for a three- or four-star hotel, you can get a five-star”.
Cotterrell appreciates the sensitivities of customer service. TIMG started digitising information in 2007, introducing online backups, workflow systems, e-discovery and other new services every year since.
“Many people view digital change in the workplace as a threat,” he says. “We start with a very small part of a business; if you go in with a big bang, that’s difficult to make positive.”
Cotterrell is equally mindful of his 400-plus staff. He uses the Qantas Points – earned through Qantas Hotels and other Qantas Business Rewards partners – for his team, upgrading those who fly between Sydney and Perth, or the employee who left for the airport at 3am after nursing a sick child. “It’s almost like a company reward scheme.”