ACTE COLUMN CAROLINE ALLEN Prepare to innovate
Many organisations are rethinking their structures to better embrace digital innovation
I
S YOUR COMPANY organised for innovation? As the 2020s fast approach, we may want to ask ourselves what sort of companies we want to work for. Even some of the most conservative organisations recognise the need to build a digital focus into their core infrastructure. Yet being able to truly harness creativity is a challenge for traditional businesses. Management consultancy BCG’s 2018 list of the world’s top 50 most innovative companies includes 11 digital organisations, but also several banks and firms from the insurance, pharma, manufacturing and retail sectors. Encouragingly, travel-related organisations are also featured: Uber, Alibaba, Airbnb, Marriott, Expedia and Intercontinental Hotels Group. As digital advances now enable
previously unimaginable levels of personalisation across all types of industry, digital strategies may necessitate completely new organisational thinking.
Caroline Allen is the regional director of the Association of Corporate Travel Executives (
acte.org).
The most progressive organisations are nimble and responsive – focusing on talent and team structure – and have a chief digital officer to oversee digital innovation and transformation. They also operate on a set of firmly embedded principles to ensure they are: customer-centric; agile; experimental; operating standardised structures, units and processes; focused on operational excellence; champion efficiency, lean techniques and competitive cost structures; and able to easily share and act on ideas, expertise and data across business functions. With big changes to strategy, operations and enterprise required, it’s no surprise that the digital innovation gap is widening. Many companies have not yet worked out how to embrace and harness new potential. Only four types of innovation
have grown in importance and are being pursued by more companies
since 2014: big data analytics; fast adoption of new technologies; mobile products and capabilities; and digital design. Yet companies across all sectors of industry are struggling with data analytics capabilities. Those that make it work use data analysis to identify new opportunities for exploration, reveal market trends, inform investment decisions and set business priorities.
New types of jobs will emerge as fundamental business priorities evolve. It’s important to identify the companies that embrace the principles that appeal to you to help you make the right decisions. ACTE conferences and webinars
offer advice on how corporations and travel suppliers can get ahead in the innovation arena.
DAVE LEES Bristol airport has announced that Dave Lees will join as CEO on 1 August. He joins from Southampton airport where he is managing director. Previously, he was operations director, and also planning and development director at Southampton.
BUYINGBUSINESSTRAVEL.COM
JOHN NIXON
Industry veteran John Nixon has been appointed as global director of operations at ATPI. Nixon spent more than 20 years at CWT, where he held a number of senior operational roles. Most recently, he was global director of CWT’s technical service centres.
BERNARD LAVELLE Southend airport has hired Bernard Lavelle as aviation business development director. Lavelle was previously sales director at London City airport, where he was responsible for growing airlines, routes and passengers to record levels.
WENDY STACHOWIAK The GBTA has appointed Wendy Stachowiak as vice- chair of its risk committee. She is vice-president of global travel partnerships at International SOS. Stachowiak will educate members on integrating risk management in travel and meetings programmes.
BBT March/April 2018 119
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