In the complex world of expense management support, people make all the difference. Meet Vanessa Martin, T&E support consultant at Arago, whose 20 years of experience in business travel give her a sharp perspective and a user-focused approach. In this interview, she shares her best practices, her vision of the profession, and what her daily work supporting users looks like.
I'm Vanessa, I work at Arago as a T&E support consultant for Concur. I have nearly 20 years of experience in business travel, so I know this field well. I've held various roles, both on the client side and the provider side, which gives me a broad perspective. For me, the key skill for a support role is empathy and proactivity.
It’s not exactly related to expenses, but I do have a little story in mind. Back when I worked at a travel agency, a client once asked me for help with flights from Alger Houari Boumediène. I spent a long time trying to figure out who the traveler was — turns out those were airport names!
I think multitasking is essential in a support role. You need to be adaptable and able to juggle different types of requests. Of course, when there's an urgent or priority request, you drop what you’re doing to help the user who's completely blocked.
You have to put yourself in the user's shoes, be empathetic, and think about what you would expect from the person helping you. On top of that, you need solid technical skills to analyze issues and deliver the right solutions.
I try to stay curious about what's going on in the market. We're lucky to live in a time when social media makes this easy. You just have to stay alert and open-minded about what’s happening in the industry.
Through this conversation, Vanessa Martin reminds us that beyond technical skills, listening, curiosity, and reactivity are what enable high-quality support. Her experience, combined with a proactive and empathetic mindset, perfectly reflects the support culture at Arago: guiding each user with precision, care, and efficiency. Listen to this episode of our french podcast Arago Voices on Spotify: