Technology and innovation are transforming corporate travel management.

The responsibility of travel managers transcends the management of traditional categories of expenditure (hotel, airline, rental car or travel agency, among others) to intervene in a much more complex ecosystem, where new players operate and the traveler has become the center of the strategy. This is one of the conclusions of the Conference on Technology and Innovation in Travel.

According to the conclusions of the study prepared by Forum Business Travel, in collaboration with Amadeus España, and presented in Madrid (November 8) and Barcelona (November 10), the management of corporate travel is evolving towards a much more comprehensive management of travel costs, which takes into account the travel process and the management of its costs in a much more integrated way;

The management of corporate travel is evolving towards a much more integral management, which takes into account the travel process and the management of its costs in a much more complete way and from start to finish (end-to-end), i.e. before, during and after the trips.

Corporate travel management has been greatly enriched by the emergence of new players in the field of travel and accommodation, new means of payment, tools for processing extra expenses and security and risk management systems, among other innovations.

The company now has more options for efficiently managing travel and integrating it into its travel policy. For its part, the employee gains in comfort, especially in booking, information and administration procedures.

In fact, the growing interest in traveler satisfaction translates into (1) the desire to minimize the so-called traveler friction,, i.e., the impact of travel conditions on employee productivity; (2) the attention to traveler satisfaction; and (3) the need to improve the quality of the traveler's travel experience;bleisure, or the enjoyment of leisure moments in business travel; (3) the use of gamification, or the use of gaming to train and familiarize the corporate traveler with travel policy or technology; and (4) the engagement, to involve the traveler in the business strategy.

As Oacute;scar García, founding partner of Forum Business Travel,

In this cycle, innovation and technology are becoming increasingly important, both in the field of hardware and software, with more advanced devices and applications better adapted to the needs of the traveler;

For Ludo Verheggen, director of marketing at Amadeus Spain, “technology is proving to be the true transformational linchpin of business travel. State-of-the-art self-booking tools, such as Amadeus cytric Travel & Expense, enable travel managers to manage complete, end-to-end corporate travel. In addition, intermodality and the exploitation of relevant data mark a new era in the more strategic role of travel managers than ever before.