In these dangerous times traveller-tracking is becoming increasingly important, says Zibrant’s Fay Sharpe – but the solutions pose all sorts of interesting ethical issues
BUSINESS TRAVEL, meetings and events are now increasingly global and exposing executives to greater risk than ever before. Nowhere can be considered really ‘safe’. Think about recent politically and climatically driven crises – examples include the volcanic ash cloud, unrest in Greece, the floods in Thailand and the riots in London to name just a few. Then there are potential dangers posed by travel to ‘high risk’ destinations where a business traveller may be conspicuous and vulnerable. The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 has played a significant part in bringing duty of care and employee wellbeing considerations to the top of the corporate agenda, but to my mind, key parts of the current solution for business travel – namely tracking procedures and systems – simply do not go far enough in addressing the issue of traveller safety. Sure, there are lots of rudimentary tracking options in the marketplace. Travel management companies (TMCs) and event management agencies can tell where a traveller ought to be at a given time for a large part of the trip by monitoring itineraries, arrivals, check-ins and agendas. Then there is the role of common sense in the event of a crisis – knowing who to call, when to call and providing executives with clear communication channels. Assuming that a traveller sticks to the plan, there is a degree of certainty as to that person’s location at a given time. But if they choose to drop out of the schedule
Fay Sharpe is the managing director sales and marketing, and founder shareholder for meetings, incentives, conferences and events (MICE) agency Zibrant. She has won Lloyds TSB CBI’s First Woman of Tourism and Leisure award and was recently named Boss of the Year in Executive PA magazine’s annual awards. She has also served for five years on the Institute of Travel & Meetings (ITM) Board.
comfortable’ with using their mobile device to provide their location to employers while on the move. Issues of privacy appear to go out of the window for travellers if it means avoiding or getting away from crises. Of course there is a balance to be struck between meeting legal obligations and the privacy of the individual, but where safety is concerned the latter seems to be a pretty petty problem.
So perhaps business
The option of tracking via a person’s mobile device gives rise to heated arguments about privacy, intrusion and invasiveness
(for example, leaving ahead of an afternoon session) and do their own thing, then the risk increases.
And what about, say, in
the evening when the traveller leaves the hotel and is arguably entitled to a bit of freedom of movement? What about when they have checked out of the hotel and are en route to a meeting? What if travellers are scattered in an emergency and never reach their destination? The risk doesn’t go away but the means to minimise it cuts out. And what about individual travel organised by a PA to a venue sourced by an agency where that agency has no access to delegate data, and even basic tracking is impossible? The gaps are too great and the risk too apparent – to insure the security of clients, we need the option
of real-time knowledge of precise locations. This leads us to the option of tracking via a person’s mobile device – which, of course, gives rise to an inevitably heated argument about privacy, intrusion and invasiveness. However, privacy is a
principle that may well find itself given short shrift when personal safety is to the fore. A survey by security firm International SOS revealed that respondents who travel to what they consider to be high-risk destinations (60 per cent) indicated that a majority (82 per cent) are ‘comfortable’ or ‘very comfortable’ with having their location tracked via their mobile device and being sent alerts and updates while travelling. A similar majority (77 per cent) said they are ‘comfortable’ or ‘very
travellers are increasingly accepting tracking via their phones or other gadgets. But what happens if the battery goes flat? Smartphones are the most likely conduits and they are not known for generous battery life. Which brings us to the
ultimate approach to tracking – some form of tag. It may be a bit of an imposition to be asked to give up your anonymity, even for what is typically just a few days’ trip, but weigh this protection against the worry for family, friends and colleagues should something go wrong and you can’t be found. Of late, sophisticated technology has emerged enabling us to tag and track our luggage to within a few yards to ensure its security, and I am sure it will not be long before such technology can feasibly be applied to travelling individuals. In my view the international
business travel and events sector should be awaiting this availability with great eagerness, and be ready, practically and psychologically, to embrace it – as in the right situation it will be absolutely appropriate. n