Security concerns pose new challenges for the travel manager
37% of travel managers participating in a survey conducted by ACTE and American Express Global Business Travel are seeing how their companies are increasingly concerned about traveler security issues. According to the authors of the study, this fact presents managers with new challenges, but also opportunities.
Faced with the growing prominence of security in the global travel industry, companies are adapting and focusing their efforts on the implementation of tools to address the increasingly palpable concern of business travelers in this area.
However, according to a new study by ACTE (Association of Corporate Travel Executives)in collaboration with American Express Global Business Travel (GBT), this concern has become an opportunity for the travel manager. And is that the travel manager is emerging, within the companies, as the key figure for compliance and implementation of tools and procedures to ensure the safety of their travelers.
In this regard, Luis Dupuy de Lôme, general manager of American Express Global Business Travel España, points out that “the business traveler has an increasingly clearer vision of his needs when traveling, with security being one of the most important. And their sense of security increases when they are aware that their travel manager knows what they are doing at all times to support and protect them in the event of an unexpected situation. This helps to reinforce trust, to boost employee productivity and, ultimately, to generate a favorable environment that results in more motivated and committed teams.
The research, under the title ‘Take the Lead on Duty of Care for the Modern Business Traveller’, and conceived as the third study in the series ‘Meet the Modern Business Traveller’, has shown that more than a third of participating travel managers (37%) are seeing how their companies are becoming increasingly concerned about security-related issues. On the other hand, 35% of the participants say that this concern has remained stable.
However, despite the fact that security is increasingly present among companies' concerns, a large number of these companies have not yet put in place the necessary mechanisms to deal quickly and effectively with this priority. In fact, more than a quarter of travel managers (27%) do not have a detailed six-month contingency plan in place to deal with possible critical situations at destination.
The absence of such plans may be connected to the fact that a large proportion of meetings and encounters are rarely planned far enough in advance. Only 14% of companies say they call key stakeholders to planned meetings once or more than once a month.
“The status quo for many companies is based on acting reactively in the face of a crisis, rather than being proactive and anticipating potential emergency situations. But this approach can put the traveler at risk and, ultimately, reactive action does not lay the groundwork for establishing procedures and protocols for the future. Proactive planning is a necessity in a global context of increasing threat," says Greeley Koch, executive director of ACTE.
In addition, the growing concern for security still needs to permeate and extend to the travel policy of organizations. A survey conducted as part of this study in September 2016 revealed that more than half of travel managers (54%) have adjusted their travel policy to adapt to new traveler needs related to security. More recent data, however, makes this trend clear: as of today, 58% of travel managers have not made any changes to their travel policy in the first six months of the year (2017) in response to a growing concern about security.
THE TRAVEL MANAGER, DRIVER OF CHANGE
Despite the slow pace at which changes are happening in terms of corporate policies, many travel managers have already begun to act, introducing or enriching different measures aimed at alleviating travelers' need for security.
The vast majority of survey participants (83%) make use of technology for traveler tracking, while 79% proactively share security information with the traveler. Additional tools used by most travel managers include security training, emergency check-in technology, security services from their TMC (Travel Management Company) and detailed action plans for emergency situations.
According to the survey data, there are 3 areas that most travel managers would like to focus on: nearly half (45%) would like more support from their travel agency; 40% would like to offer more security training to their travelers; and 38% want to implement check-in technology in emergency situations.
However, participants say that the cost of increased support from the travel agency and the implementation of check-in systems in emergency situations is a deterrent. In addition, they admit that the lack of knowledge about the products and services available in terms of security also influences the slow implementation of measures aimed at guaranteeing security. In this regard, the travel manager should remain in constant dialogue with the travel agency to address these challenges.
One area where the travel manager encounters fewer barriers is the ability to provide proactive security communication to their travelers. In fact, 60% believe that they provide adequate and sufficient information to the traveler, while 27% acknowledge that they are working to improve this area.