The top five tech trends to look out for in corporate travel

It’s down to the travel management companies and corporations to evolve from traditional approaches to continue to provide the highest-quality travel experiences. The corporations themselves want smarter business travel, through open and connected technology. They are also looking for solutions to decrease their travel spend, manage costs efficiently and provide travelers with the best experience - one that resembles what they get when they travel for leisure.

We spoke to several industry leaders to understand which technology trends they think will have a significant impact on corporate travel over the next year.

Voice is the next frontier

There’s a major shift happening between human and computer interaction, particularly with voice technology across Asia Pacific. As travel companies continue to invest in this, corporations will have quicker access to the traveler’s profile, real-time alerts and in-flight amenities checks within a single natural sentence. This means travel consultants and travelers won’t have to go through multiple screens; they can achieve the same goal – using voice.

Nishank Gopalkrishnan, Chief Business Officer, Musement, commented: “I personally think voice will be the differentiator moving forward. If you think of it, talking to one another is the most natural thing humans do. Typing, swiping and other forms of interaction are all just intermediate steps. as we are unable to efficiently talk to a machine. This will change, and companies that devise the most efficient way of selling high value and high engagement products via voice will lead in the future.”

Duty of care

In most countries, employers have a legal and ethical duty of care to their employees, which means they should take all reasonable steps to ensure employees’ health, safety and well-being. To help corporations with this, Amadeus offers a Mobile Messenger solution that provides real-time assistance and disruption management wherever employees and travelers are. Corporations can monitor the safety and well-being of travelers throughout their trip and anticipate their needs and take immediate action when needed. The case for companies to actively manage their travelers’ well-being is growing stronger every day. It’s been proven that happier, well-rested and healthy business travelers are more productive, more present, more likely to maintain strong relationships with their clients and suppliers, and more likely to stay with their employers. Furthermore, the human connections established through business travel can often boost employees´ career paths, help them close deals, and improve a company’s bottom line.

Jun Noguchi, Senior Manager, Head of HR Systems Health & Safety Fuso, Human Resources, Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation: “In any industry, the safety and security of employees traveling for corporate travel is a company’s number one priority. For us, it’s essential that we have a trusted travel technology partner that will help us focus on operations and then cost optimization. This will ensure we always undertake the right duty of care priorities and help us continue to give our employees the highest quality experiences whilst they travel for work.”

The rise of ‘Super-apps’

Corporate travelers are often juggling many apps (airlines, travel agencies, hotels). But the ‘one-app/ super-app’ concept is something very appealing for the corporate traveler, giving them the ability to book, make changes, get an itinerary, claim expenses – all on one single app. Amadeus' mobile-first traveler servicing solution  allows much of this, and gives travel managers a complete view of their travelers’ behavior and any additional ancillaries booked through the app, while easily reinforcing their travel policy through push notifications. It is one of the top trends among big players in the mobile space. Much like WeChat has done for years in China, several other companies in Asia like LINE, KakaoTalk, Grab, and Go-Jek are expanding to other verticals to add functionalities and content to their apps, from mobility options to food delivery, media, payments and travel, targeting more business travelers. Moving forward, travelers will expect everything to be easily accessible to them through one, simple to use app. Corporations need to bear this in mind when reviewing their solutions that they make available to their employees.

Feeling the impact of 5G

Faster networks through 5G are now being deployed across Asia Pacific and are enabling other technologies to take off, changing the way that we move around our own cities and travel to others. Thanks to the increased speed and amount of data, there will be more advanced connected devices – from smart homes to self-driving cars and smart cities – and increased personalization through Artificial Intelligence (AI). This greater connectivity will allow travel companies to provide a seamless travel experience in which a business traveler can go door-to-door from their home to a hotel with little hassle and a truly personalized service. The frictionless experience will continue at their hotel with 5G smart hotels – offering faster connection speeds for smartphones and connected devices. With 5G, the end traveler is going to be better connected than ever before. Corporations need to be ready for this and ensure they best equip their employees to take advantage of this 5G hyper-connectivity.

Edgar Vega, Commercial Head of APAC, Mobile, Amadeus, commented: “Business travel is no longer just about going to and back from home. It’s a series of experiences that demand an intuitive, streamlined management – which is driven through mobile. I’m convinced that the 5G rollout will completely transform the corporate traveler’s mobile experience. For starters, access to unlimited data will allow for more informative and productive business trips while on the other side corporations will be able to provide better guidance for their corporate travelers in terms of access to hotel, transfer and destination services in virtual reality format.”

Mastering security with a seamless travel experience

The security of corporate travelers will always be the number one priority for corporations and travel management companies. However, maximum security doesn’t always mean a smooth travel experience. One trend to look out for in the future is how the travel industry will master security alongside a seamless travel experience. Innovation in this space is well underway and biometrics are playing a huge role in making this happen. Long queues and scanning passports will become a thing of the past as travel becomes frictionless Amadeus is already working with several airports in line with IATA’s One ID vision to use biometrics to reduce wait times and move towards a remotely-hosted biometrics solution for the industry. By providing a seamless travel experience, business travelers will be able to spend less time waiting in queues and spend more time focused on the job they are there for. This is crucial for those that travel regularly for work – especially in terms of employee engagement. 

Faisal Ariff, Founder and CEO, BorderPass, commented: “In business travel there are two goals that corporations need to consider, security and seamless travel. The tricky part is applying them in such a way that one goal isn’t achieved at the expense of the other. Better yet, technology needs to evolve that can improve both sides of the equation. For business travelers there are some opportunities with identification that could help authorities in risk profiling and crowd management.

If you would like to learn more about how technology can be used to transform your business, talk to Amadeus.