The Knowledge > Buyer perspective
Separating hype from reality on... SOCIAL MEDIA AND APPS
Forget Facebook and Twitter and log on to Yammer and Chatter instead, advises travel buyer Dennis Bailey
ACCORDING to one popular internet source, social media “includes web- based and mobile technologies used to turn communication into inter- active dialogue”. The key word here is 'interactive'. Do Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and
Dennis Bailey DENOVO
MANAGEMENT LTD. Dennis is a travel sourcing, operations and indirect purchasing “veteran” with over 20 years experience running multimillion pound corporate travel programmes on a pan- European basis. Previous employers cover the insurance, manufacturing and consulting sectors, including the Ford Motor Company and Fiat. He is now using that wealth of purchasing and travel experience on an interim or day rate basis in the business travel and indirect/service areas.
the like have a place in the corporate travel environment? That was the question I posed on LinkedIn recently, wanting to separate the hype from reality and determine what was really needed by travellers and travel managers as an interactive constituent of a managed travel programme, and what was already being used by them. You cannot attend a conference,
open a trade publication or go on-line without the use of social media and apps being trumpeted as the 'new' must-have business tool. In reality, however, we seem to be
at the same stage we were about 15 or so years ago with self-booking tools, when few of us had actually taken the plunge and implemented one, mainly because the products available at the time were very basic and very North American-centric. Research has thrown up some
truly staggering numbers. In every 60 seconds around the world, the following is estimated to happen: 320 new Twitter accounts are opened and 98,000 tweets are posted; over 100 new LinkedIn accounts are opened; more than 695,000 status updates are posted on Facebook; over 600 YouTube videos are posted online; and 13,000 iPhone apps are downloaded. These apps can be
“There are some innovative companies out there who are using apps, but within a private, secure corporate environment”
used by businesses of all
sizes to promote and sell products, services and events, but I am focusing on the integration of apps into the corporate work space – and I don’t believe we are talking about Facebook or Twitter. If an employee were to post comments on
Facebook about a travel problem, it's unlikely to get solved or even seen by the travel manager. Likewise, if
the travel manager wants to use these apps as a communication channel to post information to the traveller base, Facebook or Twitter is not the place to do it. Anecdotal evidence suggests that
many travellers carry two smart- phones, one supplied by their employer for business use – which more often than not does not allow the downloading of third party apps – and their personal phone which is the one they are most likely to use to access social media apps. So we have travellers who can’t
make use of mobile apps on their company issue phones and a travel manager who cannot necessarily be 'connected', thereby not guaranteeing two-way interactive communications with the travellers. Lastly, in a survey I recently conducted with over 100 friends, family and ex-colleagues who are regular international business travellers, over 95 per cent of them stated they are not interested in using apps such as Facebook or Twitter for work purposes, travel related or not. It’s very easy to conclude that these
apps are unlikely to ever be part of a managed travel programme. However, there are some innovative companies out there who are using similar apps, but within a private, secure corporate environment. The two apps that were mentioned
the most were Yammer and Chatter, both of which are similar to Facebook in terms of functionality and features. One global travel manager said:
“It’s just one of many communication channels we use as part of our broad engagement effort. We use this to post updates about our travel programme which might be formal announcements or more informal ‘saw this and thought of you’ type communications. We also use it to test how people are feeling and how they want to receive information by using quick pulse polls.” So a very big 'yes' from me to secure interactive media as one of a suite of communication tools, just don’t mention Facebook or Twitter!
JARGON BUSTER ➔ ACRONYMS: sadly you just can't get away
from them in the dynamic world of business travel. So to help you out we've listed some of the most commonly used ones below, just so you don't get your Best Available Rates confused with the British Associations of Removers.
ACFO Association of Car Fleet Operators ACTE
ADR average daily room rate APIS ATOC
BAPCO
BAR best available rate BTA BTC
Association of Corporate Travel Executives
Advanced Passenger Information System Association of Train Operating Companies
British Association of Professional Conference Organisers
business travel agent business travel centre
CDW collision damage waiver CRM CRO CRS CSR
DDR daily delegate rate ETES end-to-end solution FFP
customer relationship management central reservation office central reservation system corporate social responsibility
frequent flyer programme
GDS global distribution system GTMC
HBA hotel booking agent HBAA IATA ITM KPI LRA MI
Guild of Travel Management Companies
Hotel Bookings Agents Association International Air Transport Association Institute of Travel & Meetings key performance indicators last room availability
management information
MIA Meetings Industry Association MPI
OTM online travel management PNR passenger name records RFP ROI SBT SLA
request for proposal return on investment self-booking tools
service level agreement
SME small and/or medium-sized business/es TEM travel and expense management TMC travel management company
Meetings Professionals International
10 I THE BUSINESS TRAVEL MAGAZINE
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