software to reach into the traveller’s pocket via their smartphone or tablet device. Our research found that only 33 per cent of travellers can book travel using mobile devices. We expect that figure to rapidly increase over the next 12-18 months. As part of these changes to a more dynamic
travel management environment, we are already experiencing increased demand for IT consulting. When you are dealing with highly configurable software, corporations need assistance and advice to fully reap the benefits. Applications that try to shoehorn a fit with incumbent systems and processes are creating an environment that promotes rogue traveller behaviour. So just as Web 2.0 was a more collaborative approach, so too is Travel Management 2.0. Maintaining the status quo is simply not an option. 12 per cent of Gen Y (18-34 year olds) already hold senior management positions. And if you think that digital natives are going to put up with static, generic and inefficient business travel management, you probably haven’t met one.
THE TMC CHRIS CROWLEY
With apologies to Janis Joplin: Freedom’s just another word for everything to gain. So TMCs aren’t running scared from Travel Management 2.0. Companies have travel programmes because they
need security, cost control and service. Those needs aren’t going away in the world of Travel Management 2.0. The newly empowered traveller gets most of the media love, but the ownership and role of the corporate customer are very real. I’d argue that the distinction between TM 2.0 and
plain old TM is a false dichotomy. The beauty of it is that there’s room on the spectrum for all. We’re seeing some traditionally managed programmes make good use of the very technologies and behaviours that enable TM 2.0 – and that's without completely abandoning their traditional booking channels and associated controls. TM 2.0 is an environment where TMCs can
expand on their core safety and service competencies by helping companies manage their travellers – not just their programme. We can show them how to help travellers make smart choices for their own good, which equals the good of the programme, which equals the good of the company. Those smart purchasing choices may take
travellers beyond the confines of what we’d call traditional supplier policy. TMCs continue to expand on their already wide variety of content sources and rates and, just like the OTAs, back it up by price assurance. In the hotel category, some interesting questions are being raised. Several of our clients have told me in the past few months that they’re reevaluating the breadth of negotiated rates in their hotel programmes. They’re considering whether they might just be better off buying spot rates in certain markets. Clients are looking to us to drive efficiency and value no matter what buying process is in place.
For many customers, we’ll continue to be the point of access, generating the travel data at the point of sale. For others, we may become data aggregators, pulling in information from other booking and spend sources to build a coherent overall picture of the travel programme. Employees have the tools to behave more independently as consumers, even when they travel at their employer’s expense. But they’ll make good decisions if they understand how and why they should do so. So let’s create a
programme environment that values the actions of the individual and the input of the many. There’s a role for us in enabling and supporting both traveller communities and individual travellers, about whom we as TMCs know a great deal. We’re building blueprints for clients to help them
“Employees have the tools to behave more independently as consumers, even when they travel at their employer’s expense. But they’ll make good decisions if they understand how and why they should do so”
reach travellers before, during and after trips. I see some of our clients creating social enterprise communities for thousands of travellers, allowing them to interact with and learn from each other. For others, we’re showing them how to use mobile communications to influence travellers at the very moment they’re making buying decisions. Any fundamentally new approach to anything, whether it’s managed travel or quantum physics, brings risk. But it will also bring benefits. And I believe that TMCs are going to be at the very heart of new travel programmes and new traveller communities for many years to come.
THE BUSINESS TRAVEL MAGAZINE 25
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