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Looking to cut travel costs? Cisco shows the way

GetThere

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By Local Tech Wire

Want to reduce your company’s travel cost? Cisco Systems is helping set the pace.

As part of its $1 billion cost-cutting program for this year, Cisco Nasdaq: CSCO) said it would sharply reduce travel costs by making more use of its own videoconferencing product. But it also implemented use of the “GetThere” travel web software program from Sabre Holdings Corp. in Texas.

"We've saved above the 50 percent we set out to save when we first started this," Susan Lichtenstein, a director of finance who overhauled Cisco's travel program, told The Dallas Morning News at a GetThere conference last week.

That’s a lot of cash, too. Cisco spends some $300 million a year on travel and ranks as one of the world’s top business bookers, according to Travel procurement magazine.

After being reminded about Cisco’s revamped travel policies when booking a trip, the newspaper said Cisco workers must clear other hurdles.

“If Cisco's people still decide to travel, the site pushes them to book with the company's preferred partners to keep costs down,” the News reported. “Trips booked within three days of departure require management approval, which encourages bookings in advance for lower fares.”

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