Feature: Mobile Technology
➔flight information from their smartphones,” says Joerg Hennemann, bmi’s chief commercial officer. “The importance of smart phones and being able to do business on the move is now an essential requirement for UK businesses and customers.” With such facilities on the market, it’s not hard
to see how travellers often stray away from company policy. “It is very likely that most travellers are using some kind of mobile app to support their activities,” says the Egencia report. “In the worst case, they are booking travel or changing itineraries outside of approved booking channels and veering away from travel policy as they independently source and consume travel. “In the best case, the travel manager and company have strategically incorporated mobile tools in their travel programme so that employees want to use the recommended platforms, tools and channels provided.” Thankfully, there are tools out
there to do just that thanks to forward-thinking intermediaries such as TMCs and HBAs. Travel and expense management specialist Concur is one supplier worth paying attention to. Its mobile app allows its customers to view and manage their travel itinerary and expense claims while on the go, and amend or make new bookings for air, hotel and car rental. It has some handy stats to back up its value
“Mobile technology is transforming our industry, impacting developers, suppliers, buyers and especially employees”
corporate buyers and especially employees,” says Barry Padgett, general manager and executive vice president Europe. Hotel booking agent HRS has
two apps on the market, HRS Mobile and Hotels Now!, with the latter employing 'augmented reality' to show users the hotels available in
their current surroundings and to subsequently book the guaranteed real-time rates displayed. Of more interest to travel managers, however,
too. It claims that giving travellers access to such information while on the road reduces the time to submit and approve expense claims by 28 per cent, reduces processing costs by 40 per cent and increases compliance by ten per cent. “Mobile technology really is transforming our entire industry, impacting developers, suppliers,
SMART TICKETS
THE advent of mobile boarding passes for air travel in 2008 was something of a milestone in the industry. Over ten million United and Continental passengers have so far used the facility, and around 30 other airlines currently offer the option, with the likes of British Airways, bmi and American Airlines among them. While the ‘mobile’ option accounted for just two per cent of use (versus paper boarding passes) in 2009, the figure is expected to rise to over 11 per cent in 2012. Other sectors, however, are encountering issues that impede progress. “While some initial steps in UK rail ‘smart’ fulfilment have been taken, the range of ticket types and journeys for which these can be used remains limited due to the very nature of the rail environment,” says Ken Cameron, managing director of Evolvi Rail Systems. “Most mobile ‘apps’ that exist today for UK rail are for journey planning and timetable checking, not booking and fulfilment.” Currently, a smart ticket can only be ‘issued’ if the
entire journey supports the necessary technology. Therefore, passengers making a journey with one or more operators would need each to be able to accept, read and validate smart tickets. If rail journeys begin
or end in the TfL Underground network or include Travelcard capability then smart ticketing can’t be utilised.
Cameron concedes that it might seem easy to draw parallels between smart ticketing for air and rail, but says there are some fundamental differences that aren’t always appreciated. “For instance, for airline check-in there is an ID verification process linked to photo documentation. A check-in process does not exist for domestic rail, and furthermore there is often no pre- existing reservation data record,” he explains. “There are a number of challenges around pre- boarding or on-train verification, interlining and fraud prevention that render the widespread adoption of smart ticketing for this category of corporate travel complex. Substantial infrastructure investment to support the
wider introduction of these methodologies needs to be made before the channels become truly effective.” Cameron concludes: “Smart ticketing is certainly an aspiration for corporate rail, but the nature of the UK’s franchising regime and its relationship with national distribution imperatives continues to have a significant impact on progress in this field.”
is HRS Mobile. It allows anyone to access and book hotels from its 250,000-strong inventory but, in addition, business users can enter their customer number in order to access corporate rates. Furthermore, HRS clients can also build in price limits and other booking conditions. “We’re the only hotel portal to capitalise on every route to market and we’re the only ones
that recognise how frequent travellers wish to receive their travel information – in real-time and on the go,” says Jon West, UK director of HRS. Travel management company HRG is busy working behind the scenes on its technology product and plans to extend mobile access to both its HRG Online and HRG i-Suite through apps and mobile-enhanced websites. Users will enjoy a hotel booking facility,
flight and rail schedules, trip data and itinerary information, all within the parameters of their own company travel policies, and all transactions made by a user are captured and fed through to a corporate travel manager. The company is currently working on a pilot programme with clients, initially on the Windows Phone 7 platform, but it will eventually become available on most mobile web browsers and apps for the likes of iPhones, iPads, BlackBerrys and Android phones. “We recognise that the mobile channel continues to grow in importance, as more smart- phones and tablets come to market,” says Bill Brindle, group distribution and technology director. “Our latest development simply enables clients to enjoy the flexibility and convenience of immediate access to information and services while they are on the move.” Another TMC, Chambers Travel, is promising
the launch of a market-leading application in June, while Amadeus' Mobile Partner app is already popular with travel managers. Synchronised with the company’s Amadeus e-Travel Management (AeTM) self booking tool, it allows travellers to access their full itinerary and travel managers to download and sign-off or reject trip requests that await their approval. Some suppliers are presenting corporates with
all manner of bells and whistles, but others are struggling to keep pace with this fast-evolving arena. Just how large a part that mobile devices play in your travel programme is, as Egencia suggests, very much down to how receptive you are and how your company embraces them. Love it or loathe it, this is one area that you won’t be able to ignore much longer.
62 I THE BUSINESS TRAVEL MAGAZINE 18 I THE BUSINESS TRAVEL MAGAZINE
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