UPDATE NOW?
Managed Travel 3.0 is the latest buzz phrase in business travel – at least according to one tech company. But what does it mean and how will it affect buyers?
‘MANAGED TRAVEL 3.0’ SOUNDS LIKE THE UNLOVED SEQUEL TO A MOVIE you didn’t watch in the first place. In fact, it’s the kind of phrase that has been known to furrow many a travel buyer’s brow at industry seminars and workshops over recent years.
One seasoned buyer, when asked to contribute his thoughts on the subject, replied: “I didn’t realise that we were at version 3.0 of travel management already...” But let’s get away from the terminology and look at the principles behind Managed Travel 3.0 (MT3.0) and what they will mean for buyers over the next few years. It is early days for the concept. Travel tech giant Amadeus produced a white paper in autumn 2015, entitled Managed Travel 3.0: An Insight from the Inside, and Australasian online travel firm Serko has also penned a few thoughts on the subject. But beyond that, there’s very little in the public domain so far.
WHAT’S NEW ABOUT MT3.0? Before looking at the principles of MT3.0, it’s worth casting our eyes back at its predecessor, Managed Travel 2.0. While definitions vary, MT2.0 was broadly based around the concept of open booking with travellers being given the ability to buy travel from anywhere they like as long as the supplier is deemed as being safe, the trip is within budget and the employer gets the necessary management data (although, others more practically refer to MT2.0 as being centred around the widespread adoption of self-booking tools). So what’s new about MT3.0? For Amadeus, it means putting the power in the hands of the individual road warrior: “The corporate citizen will grasp their travel destiny, using mobile, merchandising and personalisation to interact, transact and make their requirements known,” it says. “The business traveller will be more
72 BBT MARCH/APRIL 2016
solicited, more connected and more in- formed than ever before.” Technology, particularly through the use of mobile apps, will drive this concept forward to give travellers a richer experience on the road. This is not just about booking flights and hotel rooms, but being given a personalised experience where in-room services are configured using a traveller’s profile and preferences, and advice is given on the best nearby restaurants in which to eat or even where to go for a run or walk. MT3.0 also imagines a utopian type of seamless business travel, where flights are automatically rebooked if a traveller is about to miss a connection due to a delay or can- cellation, and apps will suggest appropriate times for a taxi pick-up to the airport.
PERSONAL SERVICES Many within the corporate travel world refer to the issues and potential of MT3.0 as being based around ‘traveller-centricity’ and personalisation, which marks a shift away from buyers mostly being concerned about the costs of airfares, hotel rooms and other services. Drawing attention to this subject has been one of the main priorities for the As- sociation of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE) and its executive director Greeley Koch, who says a move towards to traveller- centricity “will be a logical step for progres- sive business travel managers”. He adds: “The purpose of all business
travel is to increase corporate revenue through sales and service. The basic func- tion of the travel programme is to assist the business traveller in fulfilling the corporate objective, not merely to provide travel by the cheapest means possible.” Former Astrazeneca travel buyer
Caroline Strachan, who is now a partner in consultancy Festive Road, says that companies’ appetites for operating a more traveller-centric policy will depend on their
sector and corporate priorities. “I believe traveller-centricity will continue to be a priority for some and start to become a priority for others,” she says. “There is an important difference as some industries, like professional services, with their people as their product, are quite rightly already people-focused. However, you wouldn’t expect a company in financial distress to be increasing their travel investment or improving the traveller comfort levels.” But the idea of giving travellers more power does not go down well with all buyers. Continental AG buyer Ruediger Bruss says: “Why should travellers become more empowered? It is the company’s money they are spending, so they should spend it via the channels and with the suppliers defined by the company. “Personalised content is definitely off the
menu. Suppliers are trying to circumvent the travel manager by addressing travellers directly. The goal should rather be: helping travel managers actively steer volume towards contracted suppliers.”
THE NEXT STEPS HRG’s chief information officer, Bill Brindle, thinks there will be an “evolution over the next few years” using the principles behind MT3.0. “It might break down by traveller types,” he says. “For example: it may not apply to factory traffic, which is consistently going between two or three points, but it may be used to give more freedom to sales teams who travel more widely. “I think it’s about time for MT3.0 – we’ve seen the rise of booking tools, but these are starting to top out in terms of what they can do. There’s also the challenge of the millennials, who expect to be able to interact in this way.” Amadeus believes MT3.0 will create
“even more opportunities for innovation in travel” with business travellers effectively using their devices as “virtual travel assis-
BUYINGBUSINESSTRAVEL.COM
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