Blockskye co-founder and CEO Michael Share confirmed to BTN
late last week that consulting firm Deloitte has signed with the blockchain-powered
travel management company and booking platform for its travel technology and
servicing.
The mega client win is a coup for the start-up TMC, which
planted a flag in 2023 to support PwC’s
program for its U.S. firm built on Kayak booking technology and devised by
then-PwC procurement executives Eric Gray and Danielle Cavnor, both of whom BTN
recognized in 2023 with a dual Travel Manager of the Year award. Both since have
left PwC, but Cavnor
has signed on as Blockskye’s sales SVP.
Deloitte’s move, which Share told BTN was for “more than the
U.S. program,” is a blow to BCD Travel, which has served the mega consulting
firm for more than two decades. BCD Travel, in a statement to The
Company Dime, identified Israel as the only other Deloitte geography the
startup won from the legacy player. BCD retains 25 other countries for the
Deloitte account.
But the U.S. program represents massive travel volume. Deloitte’s
U.S. firm for a decade has ranked consistently as either No. 1 or No. 2 in
BTN’s Corporate Travel 100, which tracks the biggest business travel spenders
in the U.S. by air volume. Deloitte knocked IBM out of the top spot in the 2017
rankings (based on 2016 data). That year, the firm quoted $480 million in U.S.
point-of-sale air volume and total $1.4 billion in U.S. T&E. Air volume
rose to $593 million in 2019 data, on total U.S. T&E of $1.9 billion.
The pandemic knocked Deloitte out of the top ranking in the
Corporate Travel 100, with U.S. air volume falling to $97.1 million in 2020,
the vast majority of which was consumed in the first quarter. That year,
Amazon’s explosive growth overtook Deloitte. By 2023, the company recovered
travel volume to more than $300 million.
That Deloitte would adopt a future-facing travel program
strategy with tech-driven partners isn’t a surprise. Like other large
consulting firms—PwC, for another example—Deloitte offers advisory services
across a broad spectrum of verticals, including travel. Its solutions include
“The Future of Travel,” which offers artificial intelligence and other
technology-driven solutions to advance travel ecosystems across industry and
government. It also is a blockchain firm, consulting across industries to
develop and apply blockchain strategies.
Applying such principles internally looks to have been an
imperative to support its travel culture.
According to the BTN CT100 survey responses, the
company in both 2023 and 2024 was reviewing new technology capabilities to “understand
their role, if any, in our programs.” The company also was looking to navigate
the airline distribution changes resulting from New Distribution Capability,
according to survey responses.
The Blockskye-Kayak for Business value proposition covers
both, in a nutshell, by providing direct connect NDC via the Kayak for Business
booking tool and logging all transactions and service touches on a shared
blockchain record. This allows all players in the chain—including the
corporate, the TMC and the supplier—to see, understand and service the reservation.
In 2023, United was the only supplier active with a direct connect with the
Blockskye-Kayak for Business partnership, which also included a direct pay and
settlement configuration. Blockskye recently announced a consumer card
integration feature, again with United as a rollout supplier, but the capability
is not
yet ready for prime time.
Additional outreach to Blockskye was not returned by press time.
Whether the TMC-tech duo has activated other direct-connect / direct-pay suppliers
could not be confirmed. Share on Friday did not confirm an implementation
timeline or activation date for the Deloitte account. He did, however, confirm
that Blockskye is hiring “more than 100 positions” to support this account
and others that have adopted the offering.