MAY/JUNE 2013
Technology
Julian Munsey is head of strategic business development at Hillgate Travel. He suggests the main technology theme his business is working with is “integratability”. He says: “For us, integration is the key – the ability to get systems to talk to each other and develop a tool or product specific for that client.” Hillgate has a number of success stories under its belt where it has connected different systems to create a new service – earlier this year it announced that any booking made through Hillgate Travel can be captured via Concur’s travel planning tool Tripit, which will then aggregate the data to automatically pre-populate expense claims in Concur Expense. Munsey says the key to the integratablity of the various products and platforms is “single sign-on access”. This simplification of process – accessing all a traveller’s data by using a single user name and password – is a driving force for many businesses. Travelport uses its Universal
Record product to aggregate all travel data. The firm’s corporate account director, Oliver Rait, says: “This is an evolution from when corporate booking entered the market and users needed a profile. At the moment, each service – the TMC, the corporate booking tool, even the supplier – has access to different data. We need just one place with a central repository.” Amadeus is also working on similar products, using the phrase “profile synchronisation” to say the same thing. Another aspect of “integratability” is the new approach by the GDSs to sharing information by allowing authorised businesses access to their codes – the building blocks of their massive systems. Hillgate is an approved Sabre Red developer, and is working on tools for clients based around its link to Sabre. Travelport has a similar approach, with its Universal API (application programming interface) which again can be accessed by authorised techies to work with. Amadeus is also a big fan of open source systems, putting its code out to the wider developer community.
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CLOUD THEORY ‘The cloud’ is another buzzword that’s become widely used over the past few years. The cloud is a marketing- friendly way of saying businesses can use the internet to host their systems and store data. A number of businesses have emerged which offer cloud- based services. In theory, this could be
tranformational, but the jury is out. “The cloud isn’t something a business our size should depend on –putting all your data and critical software out to a remote server farm somewhere,” says ATPI director Gary Hance. “Cloud-based tools have a role, but try running a business with a Gmail account or a Skype line.” However, Hillgate’s Munsey notes that tools, such as Skype, are driving a revolution in how businesses look at the costs of communications. He also points to “mapping technology” as an area where TMCs and corporates now have access to data which can be integrated with other products, some of it at no cost. “My IT department says Google offers everything from a free service with limitations, through to a developable paid-for product,” he says. “Tripit used this to provide driving directions between venues on an itinerary, for example.” Over at Sabre, Ellis believes the
Cloud is game-changing. “It fosters interaction more efficiently,” she says. “There are security issues, but Sabre has a global workforce and we would miss the cloud if it wasn’t there.”
PEOPLE-TRACKING Location-aware technologies have been around for some time, ever since people-tracking shot high up the corporate agenda post 9/11. The technology is relatively straightforward – most smartphones can pinpoint locations accurately enough for a whole industry to be built up around location-specific apps and tools.
Simplification of process – accessing all a traveller’s data by using a single user name and password –is a driving force for many businesses
Corporates here have to balance a duty of care with privacy issues – but forward-thinkers need to be aware that there is a generational gap. According to Ellis, “younger employees will be comfortable sharing data, so long as the employer clearly communicates the benefits to them of sharing that information”. So while tracking using a GPS (global positioning system) signal is nothing new, an emerging technology which has the potential to shake things up is tracking by itinerary in advance. There is no one technology at work here – again, it is the “integratability”
of various data sources into one screen. Travelport is working on tools for big corporate customers, who see the value in being able to pre-empt travellers’ decisions, or at least respond to them in real-time. “Unbundling of airline services causes corporations and TMC’s headaches,” says Travelport’s Rait. “A corporate wants to understand and manage the spend, but is often forced to do that retrospectively – if at all – through an expense programme, rather than applying travel policy managed through a corporate booking tool upfront during the booking and pre-trip decision process.” Rait adds that some issues with corporate booking tools are “more mundane – there’s still a difficulty getting air and rail on to the same screen, for example”.
LOOKING AHEAD Sabre’s Ellis is well placed to talk about not only what current technologies will become game- changers, but also about the social, demographic and cultural trends that are as big a part of technology’s future as the technology itself. “Business travel is becoming increasingly about the traveller,” she said. “They are taking decisions themselves and expect consumer tools in the workplace. Companies can take advantage of these consumer tech trends and give travellers the same tools and devices to manage their working lives as their personal lives.” Wearable technology could
have some business travel uses, if the smartphone can become the same size as a watch. In 2011, 17 million wearable devices were sold, by 2016 there will be 171 million. Further ahead, Ellis expects optical devices to gain “critical mass within five or ten years”. If you’re thinking that some of
this sounds a bit Hollywood, you’re right. More than ten years ago, Minority Report won great critical acclaim with a plot based around using technology to predict crimes before they happened. So could there be a developer out there working on an app which tracks the business traveller by his GPS-enabled smartphone, connects into the payment systems and is able to put a block on the company credit card once it recognises that he or she is about to check in to a non-policy hotel? More importantly, is there a corporate travel buyer who has commissioned a developer to come up with this? n
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