1. What is the ITEM Incentive Program?

2. Shouldn't company employees be expected to control T&E costs within reason?

3. How does ITEM determine when an employee deserves an incentive award?

4. Can't companies just lower their T&E expense limits to control travel spending?

5. At my company employees must book travel through an agency. Can ITEM incentives be effective in this scenario?

6. What reward options are available?

7. My company already has an expense reporting system - can ITEM get its data directly from expense reports in the system?

8. Won't incentives encourage employees to waste time booking travel or to travel more?

9. My company typically bills clients for travel expenses. Are ITEM incentives practical for client-billed expenses?

10. Can vendor T&E expenses be reduced through ITEM incentives?

11. What are the licensing fees for the Incentive Program?

12. Who is behind ITEM and GxWorks?

1. What is the ITEM Incentive Program?

The ITEM Incentive Program enables companies to reward employees for reducing expenses while on business travel. ITEM automates the process of setting incentive targets, claiming awards, and reporting on overall program performance.

GxWorks has found that ITEM can generate savings of 10-20% even for companies that have fully implemented other spending control measures.

2. Shouldn't company employees be expected to control T&E costs within reason?

Unfortunately, without a concrete incentive, most employees actually spend company money freely during business trips, as this is commonly viewed as a perk of business travel. An incentive program will ensure that an employee spends the company's money as though it is his own.

Just as sales incentives directly align the sales goals of the sales force and company, ITEM incentives align the cost reduction goals of the employee and company. ITEM Incentives help control costs by promoting the following cost saving choices:

• Booking flights, hotels, and cars several weeks ahead instead of days ahead
• Encouraging cheaper alternatives on controllable costs like meals, taxis, parking, etc.
• Reducing usage of high cost services like room service and hotel laundry
• Choosing less expensive flight, hotel and car options like coach airfares, less expensive hotels, and smaller cars
• Spending the minimum needed time at a business destination by staying overnight only when necessary

3. How does ITEM determine when an employee deserves an incentive award?

ITEM utilizes market data and client travel policies to set appropriate travel cost targets for business destinations. Cost targets are set for airfare, hotels, meals, and incidental expenses. When an employee keeps costs for a trip below target, they receive an incentive reward. Companies can opt to use market-based cost targets which ITEM determines these by searching numerous travel vendors. Alternately, companies with a detailed travel policy can set their own cost targets through ITEM's administrative user interface.

4. Can't companies just lower their T&E expense limits to control travel spending?

When companies lower expense limits, employee morale may suffer and increased turnover may result. Many companies have already reduced T&E limits as much as possible. ITEM incentives enable corporations to further decrease travel expenses while simultaneously increasing morale through employee rewards.

5. At my company employees must book travel through an agency. Can ITEM incentives be effective in this scenario?

ITEM incentives can drive cost reduction even when employees make all travel arrangements through a corporate travel agency. Employees can reduce expenses by booking travel earlier and by selecting a less expensive hotel and car from the list of approved suppliers. Employees can also reduce their spending on meals, cabs, and other miscellaneous expenses.

6. What reward options are available?

ITEM supports the following reward options:

• Monetary Rewards - the default reward type, with a typical reward rate of 20% of savings
• Airline Miles - Airline miles are available on all major airlines with a typical reward rate of 10 miles per dollar saved
• Gift certificates - for retailers like Amazon.com, Macy's, iTunes, and more

GxWorks can handle all award distribution on behalf of clients, including management of tax issues arising from monetary awards.

7. My company already has an expense reporting system - can ITEM get its data directly from expense reports in the system?

ITEM Integration eliminates double entry of data and the need for a separate incentive claim approval process. ITEM can be integrated with clients' expense reporting systems so that incentive awards are automatically calculated from expense report data. If an employee deserves an award based on spending reduction, the award can be automatically approved and processed when the associated expense report is approved.

8. Won't incentives encourage employees to waste time booking travel or to travel more?

ITEM can reduce the time employees spend booking travel by rewarding only those employees who book through a mandated travel agency. For companies that allow self-booking, ITEM simply incentivizes employees to use cost as a major factor in decision-making, along with comfort and convenience.

ITEM prevents abuse of the incentive program through a multi-tier approval process that exactly matches a company's expense report approval process. By leveraging the expense report approval process, ITEM ensures that false claims and excess travel are minimized.

9. My company typically bills clients for travel expenses. Are ITEM incentives practical for client-billed expenses?

In situations where a company passes expenses through to its clients, ITEM can actually help drive incremental revenue. Consulting companies and other organizations that pass on expenses should consider offering expense reduction incentives to their clients. They can share the benefit of expense reduction through ITEM with their end clients, while capturing as revenue funds that would otherwise be used to pay for T&E expenses.

10. Can vendor T&E expenses be reduced through ITEM incentives?

ITEM can help reduce T&E expenses billed to a client's external consultants, attorneys, and other vendors as well. ITEM can be used to estimate target T&E costs for external resources, enabling the client to add incentive targets into vendor contracts. External vendors are then incentivized to contain costs, benefitting both parties.

11. What are the licensing fees for the Incentive Program?

GxWorks currently offers several different licensing options for clients based on their needs:

• New clients and smaller companies can take advantage of a licensing plan based on net savings achieved versus cost targets. In this model, GxWorks and the client share the cost savings resulting from ITEM implementation. A nominal per-user licensing fee also applies.
• Clients wishing to run ITEM internally can license the software on a per user basis. Market data feeds can be licensed as well.

Please contact GxWorks for more information on ITEM pricing.

12. Who is behind ITEM and GxWorks?

GxWorks was founded by entrepreneurs and IT architects with experience taking startup ideas from conception to successful implementation. GxWorks principals have successfully raised angel and venture capital (Lucira Technology), and previously sold a company (SmartWorkGroups) in the online collaboration space.