Moving with the times

Mobile technology is changing the way we book travel and log data, but Martin Cowen says some corporates need to catch up now or risk being left behind

MOBILE PHONES, once the domain of the hooded teenager and the office geek, are now the norm. eBay and Amazon are generating $2 billion- and $1bn-worth of mobile revenue a year respectively. Search engine Google says that one-in-10 travel searches is from a mobile device.

If such a thing as a technology historian exists, he or she might argue that mobile phone technology is as important an invention - economically, sociologically and commercially - as the internal combustion engine.

But there are some people today - you know who you are - who haven't quite grasped the power and potential of mobile within the corporate travel environment.

At the Business Travel & Meetings Show in London, Clare Murphy from consultancy Bouda, hosted a seminar about self-booking tools. "We were quite shocked when a show of hands revealed that no-one in the room had a strategy for booking on mobiles. The technology is there and corporates really need to start getting their heads around it."

In the real world, the big technology companies and travel management companies (TMCs) have been looking at mobile quite closely for a number of years. While the deniers continue to drift along, they are getting further behind. The question now is not so much about having a mobile strategy, it's about how you balance the pros and cons of the mobile web-versus-native apps argument.

On the off-chance that any of the neo-Luddites are reading this, 'mobile web' refers to making sure a website can be read by any smartphone, which has internet access, whereas 'native apps' refers to a specific programme which has to be downloaded to a specific device, such as an iPhone, BlackBerry or Google's mobile platform, Android.

Brian Batts, head of product, consumer and new ventures at Travelport, says that "the jury is still out," on mobile web versus apps. He hinted, however, at a preference for apps because "they can provide much better location-based tools than the mobile web, and generally, people like apps".

Travelport recently undertook a poll of business travellers, which found that more than half of those surveyed used their mobile to book or search for hotels. Other findings were that 80 per cent would like to see mobile applications offering suggested restaurants and bars around the hotel location, while 67 per cent would like similar apps offering suggestions for recreational activities. The latter two stats are an indication of how geo-specific consumer-facing apps are expected to be available for travellers around the clock.

"The problem with simply optimising your website for access on a smartphone is that there is no geographic or location-based functionality," Batts says. A mobile website will know where you are in relation to the itinerary, but any deviation from that - which is where mobiles should come into their own - is difficult. "Until the web knows exactly where you are, apps will always have the advantage," he adds.

The GPS-based power of the app compared with the mobile web was also the differentiating factor for hotel reservation and bookings business HRS. Jon West, managing director UK & Ireland, was fairly unequivocal about where he stands: "Apps are specific to the device they are downloaded to and can factor in the user's precise location. There is great interest in using apps to actually book hotels, and the revenue opportunities are huge."

The other benefit of apps is that they facilitate interactions more easily than the mobile web. That interaction could be a business lunch recommendation, a booking or a cancellation.

As well as the traditional mobile functions, HRS has launched an augmented reality app called Hotels Now! The phone uses its camera, GPS and data from HRS to show which hotels are available in the area. Users look at their surroundings in real-time through the screen on the phone, and the data layer from HRS shows all the relevant hotel information, including availability, facilities and guaranteed real-time rates.

Amadeus has a similar nifty tool, known as MapCast, which forms part of its Mobile Travel Assistant product. This creates a visual overview of all travellers, allowing a corporation to connect with staff from the map using a combination of itinerary filtering and geo-spatial selection. MapCast can be opened from anywhere using a normal web browser and regular internet access.

Albert Pozo is Amadeus' director of multinational business and corporate travel. His stance is that "you have to make both - mobile web and apps - available and functional for business travel. Time will tell, but ultimately it is the travellers who will decide," what comes out on top.

When it comes to apps, Pozo was quick to point out that "the technology behind them isn't as complex as some previous platforms", suggesting that building apps wasn't the most efficient use of its 3,500-plus engineers' time. "But we do need to be careful about what sort of apps we develop," he says.

He's taken note of some recent stats, which revealed that the 10 billionth download from the Apple store took place this January, but that many of them were deleted or not used. "There is a pollution of apps," he says. "In the B2B [business-to-business] environment, appropriateness is essential." Perhaps apps are suffering from a similar image crisis to social media, at least where corporate travel managers, security and finance directors are concerned.

B2B social networking is starting to gain acceptance in the corporate world as many businesses realise the service and cost benefits that corporate networking can bring. This is borne out by recent updates from Sabre and Travelport regarding the growth of their own social platforms, Travelport Opinions and Sabre Red.

Apps, it appears, still have a long way to go for corporate acceptance, and the mobile web will offer competition, which currently B2B social networking hasn't faced.

TMCs have to negotiate the apps-versus-mobile question as well.

Egencia has recently launched a new mobile product and Johnny Shingles, managing director of Egencia UK, explains. "We've launched our product on the mobile web and through the iPhone. In terms of apps, we went with the iPhone first because generally it has good adoption rates, but we think the market is fragmented when it comes to platforms. The mobile web is a strong way of reaching many devices."

Mindful of security, Shingles noted that businesses might be reluctant to allow apps to be downloaded to the corporate iPhone or BlackBerry.

Another issue is that the BlackBerry is the device of choice for many businesses, but does not support the "rich applications", as Shingles calls them, which other devices can handle.

In February this year, global TMC HRG announced it had developed a mobile app, which will be available on the iPhone, iPad and most other mobile platforms shortly.

Users will be able to check travel itineraries, make hotel bookings and access their corporate travel policy.

Bill Brindle, the company's group distribution and technology director, says: "We recognise that the mobile channel continues to grow in importance as more smart-phones and tablets come to market. Our latest development simply enables clients to enjoy the flexibility and convenience of immediate access to information and services while they are on the move."

A benefit is that all actions taken with the app can be seen and detailed by the travel manager.

Also in February, expense management experts KDS launched KDS Mobile, which allows staff to enter expenses using a BlackBerry mobile device, and managers to approve travel requests, all while on the move. The technology will soon be available for iPhone and Android users, says KDS.

When the present is so unsettled, predicting the future is tricky. HRS's West started working in e-commerce in the mid-1990s, so has seen how the sector has fared through boom, bust, 9/11, recovery, global crisis and recession. His advice on e- and mobile commerce? "Distinguish as quickly as possible the hype from the reality, and make sure every decision is strategic."

One of West's headaches at the moment is the Facebook-versus- Google argument. "Will travellers use a search, or recommendations for travel advice?" he asks, hoping it will be the latter, as HRS has 2.7 million hotel reviews on its site. "It's difficult to know which horse to back."

Will Pinnell, Sabre's director of mobile technology, said his company was planning to roll out mobile compatible search and booking products for ancillaries. "We think that products traditionally paid for at the airport kiosk or check-in desk can be bought more efficiently at airports from a smartphone."

Amadeus also hinted at how mobiles on-site at the airport might work in its Navigating the Airport of Tomorrow white paper, while Egencia's white paper about traveller security is an indication of where it sees mobile in the medium term. Its short-term plans include adding search and booking capabilities to its mobile web offering, while widening the app platforms it works with. But the real issue for everyone is the deep integration of mobile usage, corporate policy and connection with back-office systems.

The arguments over mobile web-versus-apps will only get more complicated as the technology develops, but the need to have a strategic approach to mobile use within business is clear.