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Mobile technology


exhibitor, from travel management companues to rail specialists, seemed to be showing off a mobile application, with many seminars also devoted to the subject. Meanwhile, the travel buying community is


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left having to weigh up the needs and wants of travellers, bombarded by new apps daily, versus the more practical security and confidentiality concerns of the corporate. and those concerns are many. For


example, data exchange issues if mobile devices and internal systems are sharing information could pose a security threat to companies and this is where internal It security and data managers generally raise the red flag. then, there are concerns about apps being downloaded which might be capturing geographic location data as well as trip information being shared on social networks such as linkedIn or Facebook. Many are also worried that unleashing


travellers to apps and an unmanaged travel environment means losing all control. and, finally, there is the issue of information held on devices which are often mislaid or stolen. Carlson Wagonlit travel's president of


suppliers, product and technology, andrew Winterton, says: “the biggest issue is the information and where it is being shared to and where employees use services which place their travel details on social websites.” this has lead to a situation where many


travellers have two mobiles – a company device with no apps and a personal one with everything they like the look of – and sometimes three if you include tablet devices such as ipads. Hogg Robinson Group's director of


product development, paul saggar, says, “If we continue pushing back, travellers are going to do it anyway. people are far more technology savvy and we don’t want to end up in a fight.” saggar believes that corporates should


take a soft approach initially by developing a simple policy on mobile and informing travellers what they can and can’t do, educating them on potential risks and identifying a group of travellers who might want to be engaged in some kind of mobile app pilot scheme. “that’s what we’re doing – going to


corporations where we see a high level of adoption with the online booking tool. We have had one major multinational agree to take tripCase because the pilot was successful and that will help us understand


nyone would be forgiven for thinking mobile app fever had taken hold at this year’s Business travel show in February. every


how we engage and create something that we get value from,” says saggar. Both Hogg’s saggar and CWt’s Winterton


stress the need for companies to ask themselves the same questions they would with any new technology – what are they trying to achieve and who for in terms of policy compliance, communication with the traveller, more seamless expense processes and overall improved traveller experience. Winterton says there is a ‘small but


significant number’ of corporations that maintain strict control of their infrastructure and these fall broadly into two camps when it comes to mobile – those that have a blanket rule against downloading apps onto company devices and those that do allow some services to be used but with strict procedures and approval processes in place. airplus International's Global trends in Business travel Management 2012 survey shows 45 per cent of travel managers view the use of mobile technology to organise travel as a long-term trend. the study of 1,701 travel managers across 20 countries also reveals 53 per cent of companies allow travellers to use mobile solutions and five per cent intend to allow employees to within the next 12 months. the remainder, and


vast majority of companies, seem to fall into a category of knowing they need to do something about mobile but desperate for guidance on where and how it will benefit the company. this view is supported by a survey of 100 businesses by american express Global Business travel revealing that none have a travel policy which addresses the use of mobile applications. there are some companies which have gripped mobile apps by the horns and are experiencing significant benefits as a result. When the volcanic ash cloud crisis hit two


says: “our company has been reluctant because of the business we are in and data confidentiality so it took six months to finally get the go ahead from our inform- ation security team. We have now been using the app on a gentle roll-out for the past six months.” While the text-based service enables the


company to push flight information out to travellers, the more advanced app enables travellers to choose the elements they want to use including live information around flight delays, airport terminal changes and estimated travel time to the airport. “We have a whole a spectrum of travellers


from nervous and inexperienced to very experienced and the app gives you a signpost about what you need to be doing at each stage of the trip,” says Hill. In terms of mobile strategy fitting into


“Corporates should initially take a soft approach by


developing a simple policy on mobile app usage and inform


travellers what they can and can’t do, and educate them on the potential risks”


travel policy, the company only started looking at travel management in the past three years in terms of data collection and policy, and mobile has helped extend good behaviour established during the booking process to when travellers are on the road. Hill says policy leakage has not been an issue, with employees well drilled in data and personal security. While most travellers have ‘grabbed the mobile service with both hands’ a few say they don’t want the company to know where they are. “It’s not compulsory


and people can opt out but most people have realised the benefits. We have examples of people using it in Mumbai and different


areas in the world where there have been earthquakes and in most cases we have been able to get in touch with people and ask if they need help.” a further benefit that experian has


years ago many companies were left floundering when it came to communicating with travellers. Intelligence data specialist experian considered a number of solutions but eventually opted for amex’s text-based mobileXtend. after more than a year of using that, the company’s latest step is to extend a smartphone app version of the technology to a second group of travellers. Brian Hill, experian’s head of p2p and billing, eMea finance shared service centre,


realised with mobile is in traveller attitude to the travel management company. While previously initiatives were all about putting systems in place and focusing on cost savings, this is more about improving the traveller experience. Most experts agree mobile usage in travel


need not change a company’s relationship with its travel management company as long as a sensible approach is adopted in terms of traveller wants around access to itineraries and additional value-add services and corporate need around data protection.


➔ THE BUSINESS TRAVEL MAGAZINE 67


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