Tech talk
Buying Business Travel’s regular look at the news, innovations and people in the industry’s technology sector
YOUR OWN DEVICES
BYOD (bring your own device) is a growing trend for workers on the move – but what are the implications for their travel managers? Martin Ferguson reports
24
IT’S NOT UNUSUAL for business travellers to traipse around the globe carrying a trio of mobile devices. I spent the best part of four years hauling two smartphones, a tablet and a laptop in my hand luggage. Regularly, I found myself in hotel rooms and airport lounges checking my work email on a Blackberry, using travel and social media apps on an iPhone, while my iPad and MacBook were reserved solely for writing or talking on Skype. It was extraordinarily unproductive to constantly switch between platforms (and carry four different chargers), and I was also far more likely to lose or damage the equipment. Like many contemporary
travellers, I wanted to access itinerary management apps,
review sites and use mobile check-in technology as well as email and company servers. At the time my employer didn’t allow any of the above. Everyone was issued with a company Blackberry, and access to consumer apps and personal email was heavily restricted. Eventually, the policy was overhauled. Blackberrys were still available, but staff could also connect to the company network using their own devices.
TAPPING TRAVELLERS Very few travel buyers are responsible for sourcing mobile technology and devising policy, but given its increasing importance to the travel programme – and the fact mobile technology is used more intensely by business travellers
– their opinions are increasingly sought by IT, facilities and human resources departments. There are major benefits to a ‘bring your own device’ (BYOD) policy. Chief financial officers are enthused by cost savings, as it reduces or eradicates the need to have a telecoms provider, and lessens overheads associated with employees’ personal usage. Research suggests employees are also likely to be more productive using a device they have chosen. And in any case, as Sabre’s customer innovations manager Joakim Everstin says: “Travel apps will find their way to the traveller regardless of whether the company you work for supports them or not.” Speaking at London’s
Business Travel Show, Everstin told travel buyer delegates
it is now necessary to have a clearly-defined mobile policy that allows the use of relevant apps – not only to control costs and stay within policy, but also to help make every traveller’s experience less painful.
SENSITIVE INFORMATION Security is the major obstacle to introducing a BYOD policy. Corporate assets and commercially sensitive information are at obvious risk unless an organisation has control of its staff’s mobile devices. While it’s unlikely a business traveller would argue with that fact, few want their IT administrator to have access to personal information. In a business world where staff turnover is
MARCH/APRIL 2014
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