The Client
Coordinating travel for Tate is a complex task. Having first opened as a single art gallery in 1897, it has evolved into a network of four across England – Tate Britain, Tate Modern, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives.
Championing art around the globe and supporting creators of any kind, Tate believes that art should be accessible to the masses, inspiring critical thinking about art practise. Some 5.8 million people visited Tate Modern last year and collectively the galleries contain more than 70,000 pieces of art. The expanding network means its workforce is constantly travelling around various locations 24 hours a day, moving heavy video equipment and attending meetings in some hard-to-reach places.
So, the institution was looking for a travel solution that was user-friendly, provided quality service and would enable employees to manage their travel. Tate’s primary goal was to find a consolidated platform that would streamline its employees’ travel activity while simultaneously cutting down on bureaucracy.
Tate also wanted to meet its duty-of-care standards, ensuring the safety of employees when they are on the road and guaranteeing the security of those leaving the premises late at night. Finally, the solution needed to enable the organisation to meet its target of reducing its carbon footprint by 10% by 2023.
Key Findings: £13,800 – the amount by which hidden costs were reduced in 2019
The Challenges
The initial hurdle for Tate to overcome was ensuring adoption – combating resistance, getting everyone on board and moving them away from alternative solutions, such as former suppliers or personal apps. Meeting this challenge would enable Tate to gain oversight of their travel activity and assist with better implementation of its travel policy.
Another primary challenge was the difficulty with balancing affordability, sustainability and expediency. Tate needed a solution that would enable the organisation to meet the challenge of becoming greener without compromising on the reliability, speed or cost-efficiency of the service.
The Solution
Declan McAlister, Tate’s Head of Procurement, worked closely with Gett’s dedicated account manager and onboarding team to ensure that different groups understood the value that Gett Business Solutions was bringing to their department. Gett Business Solutions was able to meet Tate’s requirements with an innovative, intuitive app and web portal that was easy for all employees to use.
The app offers a secure ground-travel experience with fully vetted, licensed drivers and car tracking.
The intelligent ground travel technology provides a range of vehicles to suit the needs of photographers and videographers transporting heavy equipment between Tate sites, as well as directors representing the organisation publicly.
Through the Gett app, Tate can book rides, benefit from in-depth reporting, track vehicle progress and cut bureaucracy with a single monthly invoice for all travel expenditure. The solution also cuts costs by streamlining back-end processes, revealing hidden and indirect expenses, and reducing man hours spent managing travel, all while boosting Tate’s green credentials.
The solution supports the adoption of hybrid and electric cars. It also lowers dead mileage, the distance that the vehicle travels before the fare is picked up, which also serves to markedly cut costs. In addition, Gett Business Solutions has partnered with EcoAct on a variety of VCS-certified projects in developing countries to offset its carbon emissions. These include an initiative to promote a transition towards wind power and a project for reducing deforestation in the Peruvian Amazon. These projects help ensure Tate is on track to reach its sustainability goals.
The Results
Tate has saved time and money through consolidating its travel management, cutting down on red tape and the use of resources. In addition, it was also able to transition to carbon-neutral travel, ensuring it is perfectly positioned to hit its target of a 10% carbon reduction by 2023.
Image credits: Adobe Stock and Getty Images
