Paper sheets and manual handling a thing of the past for Apollo

”It is a huge difference for us working in this way. The entire management of travel expense claims, time reports and schedules is carried out automatically and goes so much faster”. Cathy Anderson knows, as she has been a part of Apollo’s journey for over 20 years. Cathy works as team leader for the payroll administration at the company, which is now a part of the company DER Touristik Nordic AB.

Up until two years ago, DER Touristik AB Nordic didn’t use a system for managing expenses. The personnel handed in their paper receipts to the payroll administrators who got to keep track of and register them manually. At Apollo, there are over 200 officials who travel and/or have expenses. Considering this, it is not hard to understand the enormous savings in workload that this entails.

– In addition to the time saved, it is also a confidence in knowing that the system takes care of this for us. All data is collected at one place and the risk of inaccuracies is eliminated when all these things are handled automatically, Cathy says.

Popular app

Apollo started looking for a new payroll and personnel system during the fall of 2016. They had had their previous system for 20 years and felt that it was time to find something more modern. Eventually they chose Flex, and since the summer of 2017 they have used Flex’s solution for time reporting, scheduling, travel expense claims and payroll.

– We had a look at a few different systems and the reason we decided on Flex was that it seemed so smooth and easy to work with. And learning to use it has been easy, for us working with payroll as well as for our staff who use the system for reporting.

Cathy tells us that the response from the staff was largely positive. Some staff groups, whose members are not that used to working with computers and who previously just handed in their receipts was a bit sceptical to begin with. However, as they discovered the advantages and the improved overview that was provided to them, they have gradually changed their mind. Especially the app is used by many staff members for time reporting; the fact that it’s so intuitive and user-friendly makes it much appreciated.

Staffing system that saves time

Another area that has been made more efficient thanks to Flex is the staffing of Apollo’s Contact Center (the department for customer and support forum).

– Previously this has been handled manually, with Excel files for different schedules. Almost a half-time position was required only to schedule the staff. Now everything goes so much faster. Just the fact that the time is counted off and we can see how much staffing is needed. That’s great!

About Apollo
Apollo is one of the leading tour operators in the Nordic region with close to 400 employees and one million travellers each year. With Apollo customers can travel all over the world, whether they wish to go on a relaxing trip to the sun, go on a training week in a warm country or spend a weekend in an exciting big city. The offer includes package solutions, training trips, boat cruises and city trips. In addition, Apollo offers safe booking services for flights and hotels separately if the customer prefers putting together his/her own trip.

Apollo is a part of the group DER Touristik Nordic AB, which also consists of the airline company Novair, the specialized tour operators Golf Plaisir, Lime Travel and Xtravel as well as the sports resort Playitas. Since 2015, Apollo is part of the privately owned German company group REWE with over
300 000 employees.

Apollo is actively working for sustainable travelling and social responsibility and cooperates with SOS Barnbyar, Ecpat and SOK (Swedish Olympic Committee). Apollo is Travel Life certified since 2016.