Business travellers should not be overburdened with technology, Matthew Beck, regional director UK for Rearden Commerce, warned today (September 14).
"When you talk about giving technology to your users, what is it you are tasking them with? What are you asking them to do? There are processes and passwords they will have to use.
"Don't make life harder for your users. Make it so that they can do one-stop shopping to make life easier for them.
"It is not about giving them more gizmos," he said.
He was speaking at the Management Solutions UK/ACTE autumn forum in London on whether travel buyers should try to navigate the "minefield" of the increasing fragmentation of travel product distribution or whether they should use experts.
Earlier Beck had advised that companies should understand what their goal was and what content was available before deciding which path to take.
He said if the company was corporate-centric, it made things easier for the employers but if it was user-centric, it was easier for the travellers.
"The greater understanding of where you are heading, the easier it will be to find the specialists to help you down that path," he said.
Jeremy Broadgate, procurement director for Burley Street Limited, said there was no "hard and fast answer" to the question and it was "largely down to the culture of your organisation."
This included whether travellers were "disciplined" or mandated into using booking tools or preferred suppliers.
Fergal Kelly, Travelport's content portfolio director, said people were now becoming more comfortable with the vast pool of knowledge now available.
But he added: "Do you need to focus more on content or on the ability to deliver that content in a structured way so that you maximise the options available?
Olaf von Wachtmeister, director customer solutions EMEA for BCD Travel, said the question was really about whether corporates wanted to give away control of their travel policy.
This included issues like security and privacy of data.
"You could do it yourself but at the end, you will have little clue as to what is going on in your travel policy. The TMCs will take care of all this. It is easy for them to implement a travel policy and at the end, you will have been given the data and be able to report to your senior management," he said.
Beck warned of the dangers of standing still as technologically things were changing continually.
The "minefield" was taking the risk of standing still. "If you standstill, the experience will pass you," he said. "You have to move. There are obstacles in your way. There is no straight path.
"An organisation is going to determine which path it takes. You have to have a guide to the path you are going to take."
Earlier Jon West, UK and Ireland director of hotel booking service HRS, said that the travel industry was "miles behind" other industries in its use of the internet.
He said banks kept far closer watch on their clients and what they were planning to do. Quoting Charles Darwin, he said it was companies which adapted which would be the ones which survived.
The travel business had to decide whether it wanted assisted service or whether it preferred self service.
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