system (GDS) providers Amadeus, Sabre and Travelport. Suppliers are targeting business travellers directly, pulling some employees out of policy and causing pro- gramme leakage. Online booking tools, self-service attitudes, and the disaggrega- tion of content are commonplace. Company culture is more likely to dictate the type of travel policy and programme an organisa- tion puts in place. Furthermore, procurement as a dis- cipline in the travel space has matured in recent years. Category leaders are constantly looking for ways to improve existing methods of doing things. That, for some people, means the need for a TMC will no longer be a certainty. However, the GTMC’s Wait insists this is not a bad time to be in business. He believes the coming years provide an opportunity to bring focus and clarity to where the real TMC value lies.
ROUTES TO MARKET On content distribution, former Virgin Atlantic director Wait is sceptical about whether a new market entrant can compete with what GDSs already provide, and what
Online booking tools, self-service attitudes and the disaggregation of content are commonplace
they will make available in future. There is, Wait says, a “smart balance” to be found between direct and indirect channels. “Third party distribution for the most part focuses on the clients’ goals,” he says. “Meanwhile, most direct-sell channels promote the suppliers’ goods. For example, the International Air Transport Association [IATA] New Distribution Capability is an airline solution, not a market solution. You have look at the way it’s brought to market, and what it means for business travel.” Wait freely acknowledges direct-sell channels have advantages, such as rich- ness of content, product and service. Many provide better self-service fulfilment, and are good at generating ancillary sales. “But if you could provide that same level of content and display through an aggrega- tor that wants to sell to the B2B [business- to-business] market, you could argue that direct connect becomes less of a threat, and
therefore less attractive to airlines,” he says. “And the only way it would come to the fore again would be if either price or availability was used as the differentiator, as opposed to functionality – and that would really expose whether airlines are deliberately trying to cut out the third parties.”
CONSUMER TRENDS Joanna Macleod, senior vice-president for global service delivery at American Express Global Business Travel, employed a simple yet effective future-gazing strategy when she worked in the B2B online and IT sectors. “You have to exaggerate consumer trends to understand what is coming,” she says. “To understand business travel, TMCs should look at how leisure travel is developing, and take what’s relevant. It is becoming more disaggregated; the booking journey might take someone from an airline website to an aggregator, where they will make a price comparison. They might move elsewhere to find their hotel or car rental. So when it comes to pre-, on- and post-trip com- munications, how many emails, texts and alerts are they receiving?” Macleod says business travellers want to embrace their consumer habits, but without the ‘friction’ involved in the leisure shopping and booking process. In that context, she says the TMCs of the future must provide a proactive, rather than reactive service. “Business travellers usually travel alone
66
1 BBT MARCH/APRIL 2015
BBT NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2014
BUYINGBUSINESSTRAVEL.COM BUYINGBUSINESSTRA
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128