The Institute of Travel Management (ITM) has teamed up with BCD Travel to create a new “blueprint” designed to help travel managers deploy AI within their programmes.
The new toolkit-style resource has been developed by the ITM’s Platinum Pathways working groups of members and was unveiled at the institute’s Autumn Conference in London on Monday (5 October).
Sarah Whiting, BCD’s senior director for solutions engineering, said that utilising AI was “about making informed decisions within a rapidly evolving landscape”. She added that buyers need to identify where the technology can “create meaningful value”, as well as navigate barriers to adoption, which can vary between organisations and within industry sectors.
“I was surprised by just how much AI adoption is in its infancy within our buying group,” Whiting told BTN Europe. “Travel is such a human experience — so far, [travel managers] are only ready for AI to advise or recommend.
“They are not ready for the larger part of adoption into travel programmes, even though every supplier has integrated it and they all have AI features. As an industry, we’re not blindly following the AI trend, we’re waiting until it works in our industry.”
Whiting said the AI toolkit was designed to give buyers a “framework”, including how to understand their responsibilities when adopting AI into their programmes and giving practical examples of “real life” AI use cases.
In a snapshot poll conducted at the conference, buyers said that governance, accuracy and accountability were the three main issues that had to be addressed for them to adopt AI more widely within their programmes.
ITM also published a separate guide at the conference, entitled The Value of Managed Travel, in partnership with another travel management company, FCM, which looks at how travel buyers can demonstrate their value to senior leaders in their organisations.
This initiative aims to help buyers show that travel can be a “strategic asset” by identifying and clearly demonstrating tangible benefits that travel management creates for the wider organisation, including how savings from travel can boost a company’s revenue.
Gemma King, who recently joined FCM Consulting as global lead for outsourced travel resources, said the aim was to “start the conversation within the business” between buyers and key stakeholders to “understand what needs to be delivered and what are the objectives”.
“It’s about strategic information that starts to position the travel function as a strategic enabler,” explained King, who is also ITM chair. “There’s a wealth of data within the travel team, which the buyer can provide a story about. It’s about finding those two or three nuggets [of information] that they can go and use.”
King added that travel departments can provide data and insights across a variety of corporate priorities, including sustainability, sales targets and the impact of new locations.
“The guide gives them a clear place to start with actionable tools that can help them to elevate the travel function,” she said. “AI is going to do a lot but there's also the human judgement and bringing their experience — that’s where the opportunity lies for buyers.”
Kerry Douglas, ITM’s head of programme, said in a statement: “AI and the strategic value of managed travel are two very different subjects, that are intrinsically linked.
“Both are areas where travel professionals are increasingly being asked to make informed decisions, challenge existing thinking and demonstrate their contribution to the wider organisation.”