Business Travel iQ
Efforts to ease the travelling process are increasingly concentrated on going right into the palm of the travellers themselves. Once a traveller is on their way to the airport or train station a new set of challenges can arise and communication is at times limited.
In an earlier Business Travel iQ blog post we talked about notifications at the core of apps, predominantly because they are required when people are on the move and need to be updated. It explains flight status alerts and trip itinerary view are the most useful app features because they cater to the 'now'. Last week KDS unveiled its KDS Move app, launching this autumn, which expands on this. The app focuses on notifications at various stages in the trip - sending alerts and counting down to when a meeting starts or when airport check-in will close, etc.
By focusing across an entire trip these apps are becoming a mobile personal assistant. It has long been the prediction of travel technology firms that tools help on-the-go will really lead the change in how travellers and suppliers interact. Real-time availability and booking are some of the reasons why Uber has become so popular. GDS and online booking tools currently do not have content from companies like Uber in their inventory but there are other ways of connecting to them. KDS Move, for example, allows each user to embed apps they personally use on business trips and use them within the traveller's own itinerary.
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Itinerary shown in KDS MoveMobile requires the need to be reactive and instant, which can especially help when things go wrong. KDS CEO Dean Forbes told Business Travel iQ the KDS Move app currently does not allow bookings or trip changes on-the-go, but it is working on 'disruption management' so individual elements could be rearranged when needed. Again this is akin to a personal assistant or a personal travel agent, just without the phone call expense and wait.
Forbes stressed the Move app is not tracking travellers and the real-time information is not passed onto corporates. Itinerary information and the journey timeline remain in the app and travellers choose for themselves which notifications they want. However one could argue that by the nature of KDS' door-to-door booking platform that if the traveller sticks to the assigned times then the corporate would roughly know their position in a crisis.
Personalising apps to the traveller helps with time management and well-being but also the expenses side by centralising receipts and claims. A mobile app might not be priority for travel buyers but policies linked to clever technology will help with compliance and cost savings.