Sharing economy principles open up new possibilities for business travel
Forum Business Travel and Amadeus España have presented in Barcelona the study “The 10+1 faces of the technological business traveler”, a report that compiles and analyzes the opinions of international experts and frequent travelers. Among its many conclusions, it states that the application of the principles of the collaborative economy to the field of corporate travel opens up new possibilities for optimization.
After its presentation in Madrid, last November 13, FBT and Amadeus have unveiled its content to around fifty travel managers gathered at the NH Collection Constanza hotel in Barcelona. The event featured speeches by Íñigo García-Aranda, Marketing Director of Amadeus Spain; Óscar García, founding partner of Forum Business Travel; Cristina Badía, Services Technician at Abertis, and corporate travel experts Pilar Navas and José Montes Cabello.
According to García-Aranda, “in travel management you have to take into account the whole process, from start to finish, and the expenses that go with it at all times. The traveler is eager to manage his own trip, with his own tools, and companies have to make it easier”.
For his part, Óscar García stressesó that “a stressed traveler is less productive, so his safety and comfort is now more of a priority for the travel manager. Technology provides many tools for this, from reducing waiting times at airports, to tracking luggage in the event of loss or geolocation applications in the event of incidents.
The experts also recommended caution to companies when incorporating technology into their travel programs. For Pilar Navas, “companies should make a selection of solutions and tools and provide integrated packages of solutions, especially so as not to saturate devices”. Cristina Badía señaló that “information sharing is very valuable and platforms for exchanging opinions and experiences among travelers help improve travel policy”.Finally, José Montes Cabello, said that each company sets its own technological standards, but each traveler also has his or her own applications, so their solution platform will probably always be incomplete.
The report on technology applied to business travel, prepared by Forum Business Travel on behalf of Amadeus Spain, highlights the growing popularity of tools that make business travel “a more pleasant, simple and secure experience”, as explained in the press release.
Based on interviews conducted with a representative panel of international experts in the sector, on the personal experience provided by frequent travelers from companies with a presence in Spain, and on the knowledge developed by the companies themselves;a and the knowledge developed by the latest global benchmark studies, the report unveils the keys to the moves the industry is making to bring innovation closer to the end user.
From this approach, specifically oriented towards the traveler's perception, the study explores the segments and suppliers that are proposing the most advanced solutions, the role that companies are going to play in innovation;technological training of their employees, the evolution of sales channels and the significance of the emergence of disruptive distribution models in the market, such as collaborative consumption, among many other aspects.