Case Study: Murphy

How Murphy manages dynamic business travel easily with Perk

Murphy, founded in 1951, is a specialist engineering and construction company. It operates primarily in the infrastructure sector, providing engineered solutions for projects in transportation, water, energy, and natural resources. The company operates in the UK, Ireland, Canada, and the United States.

Murphy’s services span a wide range of infrastructure needs, including ground engineering, utility connections, highways and roadworks, rail construction, process engineering, and more.

Because Murphy provides construction services directly on-site, business travel and the secondment of specialist personnel are essential to operations.

Facing the Challenge of Managing Dynamic Booking

Due to the variety of projects, short-term assignments, and emergency callouts, employee travel at Murphy is highly dynamic. In addition, workers need to be physically present on-site, which makes selecting the right accommodation a frequent challenge. Before using Perk, this led to several issues:

Low adoption and compliance: Although a travel management company was available, it wasn’t widely used — mostly due to a lack of relevant travel options. Employees often had to make offline requests, which slowed down the process and made it harder to enforce travel policies.

Lack of transparency and insufficient data: With decentralised booking and multiple platforms in use, Murphy had little visibility into employee travel. Data on travel costs and patterns was sparse or unreliable.

Time-consuming approvals: The previous system required an extra approval step for all bookings, which was impractical for spontaneous or urgent trips. A more efficient approach to ensuring compliance was clearly needed.

Perk – The Solution for Data Transparency and Flexible Booking

Murphy partnered with Perk to streamline their travel processes and increase efficiency. With Perk’s self-booking platform and large inventory, employees can now find and book travel that fits their needs — on their own.

The all-in-one platform also provides customisable travel policies and automated controls, giving the company real-time visibility into bookings and spend through advanced reporting tools.

“Reporting is everything you need to be able to track your traveller’s spend, track your traveller’s location — track just basically what's happening in the company. And the fact that you can do it real time and be self-serve is unique.”

Alisa Pollard, Central Procurement Senior Buyer at Murphy

Actionable Insights Through Real-Time Reporting

Access to accurate data is critical for optimising travel programs. Without insights into bookings, spend, or travel behavior, it’s nearly impossible to evaluate policy compliance or make informed decisions.

Perk’s detailed and customisable reports provide real-time insights, helping teams act quickly and decisively. Dashboards are available to authorised users, who can access the data they need, when they need it — without bottlenecks or manual work.

Effortless Autonomy with Self-Booking

By integrating company-specific policies and budget limits directly into the platform, employees now have the freedom to book their own travel. This boosts flexibility, builds trust, and saves both time and money.

Importantly, because travel can only be booked within approved parameters, there’s no longer any need for manual approval. That’s especially valuable for urgent, last-minute trips, which can now be booked instantly on the go.

High Adoption and Cost Savings

Murphy’s employees have embraced the platform, with an impressive 98% adoption rate. This is thanks to the intuitive interface and wide range of travel options.

In addition to improving compliance, Murphy has also reduced travel costs. Over 50 hotel RFP programs in key locations have been integrated directly into the Perk platform.