P@SSPORT speaks to Mr Gregory O'Neil, President Asia Pacific of BCD Travel, on what difference a year has made in the area of corporate travel management.

What a difference a year makes. Last year, corporate travel tanked as companies cut back on their travels and budgets, and travel management companies in Singapore struggled to make ends meet.

Today, they are having a different set of challenges - that of managing growth and finding the staff necessary to do the work, keep up with new technology and, most importantly, please customers.

Mr Gregory O'Neil, President Asia Pacific of BCD Travel, confesses he has aged 10 years in the last 12 months. Business has come back with such a vengeance that when P@SSPORT caught up with him in his office, he was finding it hard to contain his excitement over how business has rebounded, and the challenges he faces in managing that growth across the region.

"In the fourth quarter, the floodgates opened and we didn't really expect it," he said. "We won $70 million worth of new business in the last week alone."

And he laughed, "Be careful what you wish for."

Year to date, Singapore is 69% ahead of budget and sales. Growth in China is stratospheric - above 200%. Japan, Korea and India have also seen growth.

"I am dumbfounded. Phenomenal growth is good but you need all the infrastructure to support it," he said. "It's a recipe for disaster if there is no scalability."

The biggest challenges - people, technology infrastructure, content and government regulations. "We handle 17 markets and no two markets are the same."

Hiring people is a major issue, especially in Singapore where he is based. "In Singapore, the market seems to play itself a little bit. There are only a small number of agents and I am not sure this market thinks long-term - people move around for short-term gain. Also, a lot of agencies are family-owned - and that family is not scalable."

The two Integrated Resorts that opened in Singapore have soaked up a large portion of the labour market and in China, he said, World Expo in Shanghai has taken two million people out of the workforce.

"Tourism is up and you need people to facilitate. Marina Bay Sands is sexy, working in a travel agency is not."

To try and position BCD Travel as a "sexy" employer, it has moved to new premises which will offer employees a modern, creative and lifestyle-friendly environment.

It is taking some staff-friendly ideas from Bloomberg, which is a client - for example, an area behind the firewall where employees can access the web and an open pantry area that's located in front of the office instead of tucked away at the back.

"The most challenging thing in Singapore is understanding the mindset. In the US, we talk about passion and brand values to motivate employees but I am not sure people necessarily want that here. The young people are pragmatic and they want to get rich quick. It's the same in China and India."

And while bringing in foreign talent is part of the answer, it is not the solution. Mr O'Neil admits that he made mistakes in the beginning when he brought in some foreign talent to grow the business. "You can be phenomenal in sales but if you don't have the experience of local markets, that changes things."

One way to handle the growth is the introduction of technology but Mr O'Neil says there's a lag between rising customer expectations and the legacy environment in most parts of Asia, even in Singapore which is considered one of the more mature corporate travel markets.

"Agents here are also used to the legacy environment - it's very high-human touch - but clients are bringing Western expectations to the market. The fare market is complex, and margins are getting lower."

Australia and New Zealand are the easiest to manage with most of the business done online. BCD Travel is seeing an increasing portion of the business being done in the region with online tools such as GetThere.

In the first quarter, it rolled out a robotic system with the idea behind it to produce one standard Passenger Name Record (PNR) for all markets. It is exploring how to incorporate social media into its client strategy.

Said Mr O'Neil, "Customers aren't grasping the social media as far as I can see. We need to establish content that is relevant and regional. Most of them tell us, we don't need another site to go to, we have no time for social media, not even time to read the newspapers."

He is confident however that the pains of managing growth can be resolved. "It will take time, things will evolve. We just have to do things differently."

He's learnt a few lessons the past year. "I had to listen a lot more. We tend to tell, not listen. I am asking a lot of questions. We are humans, not transactional computers. Understanding how to manage people and how to keep them engaged is critical.

"The good thing is because customers are also going through similar growth pains, they are more forgiving and accepting of the challenges but at the same time, they are looking for efficiencies, something that is quicker and faster, and we have to deliver on that."