Role of Technology in Travel Management

Role of Technology in Travel Management set off INDUSTRY CURRENT PRACTICESINTRODUCTIONIn this chapter I leave al wiz absent an overview of the die industry in order to better understand the background about which I am writing. Conside ration of the value of the patronage operate hand, the role of Travel Management Companies and the role of engine room in its public presentation and future vision, are the relevant issues in this regard. An outline of the sundry(a) managerial approaches holdd by common soldier industry will help asseverate my analysis of pilgrimage instruction in the public sector and what lessons idler be learnt.VALUE OF BUSINESS spark offIn 2013 Hermes Consultancy Management produced a white paper on Corporate Travel Management in Western europium Opportunities and Ch whollyenges. The research was commissioned by Amadeus (a Global dissemination Service provider) in order to better understand how presidencys manage their croak activities and to id entify saving opportunities for pass away managers. The white paper calculated that in 2011, blood line concern pass in Western Europe amounted to almost dickens hundred billion, concentrated in five countries Ger many an(prenominal), UK, France, Italy and Spain. Hermes (2013). Eleven corporations in the UK, France, Belgium, Ireland and the Netherlands took part in the research study and numerous extend mangers, executives and survivelers from these companies were interviewed. The Central Statistics Office tells us that in 2011, the Irish melodic line belong spend was 548 million on 698,000 business trips (CSO 2013) of that public sector spark under the authorities pedigree locomotion contract was 5.9 million for 18,358 trips and in 2013 it increased to 6,972, 477 for 25,902 trips. The increase in volume fuck be attributed to Ireland Presidency of EU during 2013. crease function is a substantial and festering sector with a signifi sewert travel spend. As globalisa tion continues apace, companies and governments will reach out to vernaler markets for their goods and services, at the equivalent time as continuing to consolidate traditional markets in a ch all(prenominal)enging economic climate. Figures from the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) picture that spending on business travel at heart the UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain is forecasted to climb by 6% next year, an increase which whitethorn be set to inject about as a result of improvements to the global economy. establishment travel is predicted to increase by 4.9% according to GBTA, who believe that the slightly lower voice for government travel might be be suffice governments score for already successfully cut travel spend, while incarnate business is enjoying an uptick as it starts and continues to en bring up new employees who travel. Government business in Europe accounts for 4.7% (940 mil) of all business travel demand compared with 5% globally. The Direct or of Operations with GBTA McGavock believes that, that share is expect to increase for at least the short term. While 2012 was a serious year, by the end of 2013 we predict an upturn, and in 2014 we believe we will condition extensive growth. The next five years should see a limit back in business travel among all of Western Europes major markets. The European Commission predicts that the 27 countries it represents will publish from recession in the fourth quarter of 2013, with its overall economy growing by 1.4% in 2014, Eurostat (2012). Ac go in spite of appearanceg this growth will be an increase requirement for corporate travel and this expansion will require strapping and progressive counseling in order to control costs and spend. proceed MANAGEMENT COMPANIESTravel Management Companies are the medium through which organisations phthisis to implement and manage their business travel requirements. They should non be busted with the work of a traditional Travel Agency which provides travel to the unoccupied traveler on behalf of suppliers, flight path, hotel, car hire companies. Most travel agencies have a separate department that deals with business travel, and some travel agencies stipulate in commercial and business travel provided. This department would trade as a travel counsel community and implement the organisations travel indemnity. They gratify travel on behalf of the organisation according to its policy on the assort of travel permitted to fly, negotiate corporate fares/rates with beamlines and hotels as well allowing the organisation use its corporate credit card to procure flights online via their online meshing tool. correspond to the Buying Business Travel magazine (2013) the top five (5) TMCs operating in Europe based on their European spend areCarlsonWagonlit Travel ( short hundredweight), (1,157m)HRG Travel, (1,000m)American Express, (958.1m)Capital Travel and Events (525m)BCD, (480m)FCM Travel Solutions (428) all in all of the above have a presence in Ireland through each partner agreements or wholly owned. The current provider for the Irish Government travel contract is CarlsonWagonlit Travel. The previous government providers were HRG (Club Travel) and FCM Solutions. Due to the size of the Government spend approximately 6 to 9 mil annually it is non surprising that the top TMCs have continually competed for the business. In supplement as it is a centralised contract, a large sized company would be required to deal with the volume of transactions generated by Irish Government travel. Each of these companies use a global distribution dodging (GDS) which provides a network whereby TMCs can access fares from the various lineline reservations administrations and facilitates online transactions. This in turn provides a portal for clients of TMCs to procure their air travel through the use of online booking tools OBT). The most popular GDS providers are, Travelport, Galileo, cavalry sword and Amadeus, public sector has had access to Travelport through KDS OBT licensed by CWT and Galileo OBT licensed by HRG.ECONOMIC CLIMATEThe impact of the global economic downturn has resulted in an increased emphasis on generating savings, as companies get to to operate within an ever decreasing resource envelope. This is relevant to all organisations and Travel Management Companies in particular. Economic stringency has allowed travel managers to take a more prominent role within their companies, and has made travel management, as a profession, an important element of a companys strategic planning. According to the Global Business Travel Association (2014), travel managers have been asked to lead company-wide efforts to reduce travel costs, track relevant savings, and narrative them back to senior management. The knock-on effect of this to TMCs is increased competitiveness within the travel management sector. The natural ambition of business organisations is specifically the trans mutation of inputs (resources) into outputs (goods or services) (Worthington Britton, 2006 4). In the context of a TMC, the company employs the relevant module to carry out specialise travel advisory duties, and provides the necessary booking systems to their faculty in order to maximise their input to output ratio in the current economic climate this is becoming more and more challenging. So the drive is on in every sector to accomplish greater value for money. engineering scienceIn Chapter 2, I looked at engine room in relation to the procural of travel here I will examine it as it impacts on the business environment, in which TMCs operate. In terms of external environmental factors, Thomas Davenport (2013) indicated that proficient change is one of the main issues currently impacting TMCs, with the potential of completely transforming the way in which the companies operate. Davenport ( 2013) and a number of other authors including Fred Gebhard (2013), highlighted that th e travel industry is at a prominent Data crossroads, and that complex, large volume and unstructured datasets are beginning to mold and transform the industry. Additionally, Davenport suggested that big data will require the industry to manage a number of challenges, in order to unlock its potential technological complexity data accuracy and rights of use business and technological alignment. At the corporate buyer level gaining access to accurate travel inform data is a major factor in the effective management of air travel and presents opportunity to identify where savings can be achieved. This is very important for both the buyer and supplier of air travel. It is kindle to note that technological developments pose both an opportunity and a little terror to TMCs. The opportunities for the companies may involve ensuring the company is up to date with technological advancements within the industry in order to hang on competitive. Conversely, if TMCs are tardily on the uptake of embracing and implementing new engineering in their organisation, they may be at a disadvantage within the business travel market. Overall, the rapid advancements in technology alone present a significant challenge to the travel industry, specifically to TMCs.Voice BASED AND MOBILE TECHNOLOGYA key writer on the travel industry, Scott Gillespie (2012) identified various technological changes which he emphasised are a tipping point for the corporate travel industry. Some of those changes mentioned include the technological advancements of voice-based user interfaces from Apple, Google. Gillespie asserted that these new interfaces may be a holy terror to company policy compliance, callable to the convenience of using such interfaces for travellers which may in turn cause them to purchase travel outside of company policy direction. If the traveller does not book through the proper channels directed within company policy, there is no way for the TMC or corporation to track the trav ellers whereabouts or provide them with services in an emergency (West, 2013) In Chapter 2 we looked at M technology and the growth of that market and its increase importance in the procurement of air travel. CarlsonWagonlit Travel has invested in this arena in its recent acquisition of Worldmate a leading fluid technology company. This will bear fruit in CWTs mobile app CWT TO GO. Airlines are slowly moving towards mobile address app technology which will replaces the requirement for printing of electronic tickets and boarding passes by using mobile phone QR code (barcode) technology to check in for flights. The ongoing evolution of technology emphasises the importance for TMCs to keep up to date with it in the provision of procurement systems for clients which are not only economical, efficacious and effective but contemporary and convenient to use.CORPORATE hearty RESPONSIBILITY (CSR)The concept that organisations should be held accountable for the effects of their actions o n people, their communities and the environment is known as CSR. There are many aspects of CSR which impact on the travel industry and consequently their end users. There are increase concerns for rising carbon emissions this coupled with rising costs naturally leads organisations to look for alternatives to air travel. These alternatives include video conferencing and webinars, however, it has been emphasised that face-to-face meetings still remain an important aspect of business negotiations (Forbes, 2009). This affects the competitive environment of TMCs, since a threat of a substitute method to conduct meetings is available. Travel Management companies sine qua non to maintain their relevance in a rapidly changing business environment. And Government travel needs to be particularly vigilant as penalties are imposed on increasing carbon emissions under the Kyoto Protocol.MODELS OF TRAVEL MANAGEMENTIt is not feasible to produce a definitive list of air travel procurement nonplu ss, but in general they autumn under the following categoriesINHOUSE CENTRALISED MODEL TMCThis fashion model is one where all travel is procured from a centralised office within the company in association with a TMC, who provides online and offline bookings. This model allows greater control over travel policy and spends and is used by both private and public sector. Business travelers would feel this model is too restrictive and doesnt allow flexibleness but that is mute point when it comes to controlling spend.INHOUSE DECENTRALISED MODEL TMCThis model is one where travel can be procured by the individual employee either directly with the TMC for offline booking or online through the corporate booking tool. This model allows greater control to the individual and is favored by high-tech or internet based companies, E.G. EBay, Google, independence over their booking. This model tends to be come with by an incentive programme, whereby travelers can gain perks by purchasing travel within company policy and in this way costs can be controlled.INHOUSE CENTRALISED AND DECENTRALISED TMCThis model is a mixture of the two above and is a very inefficient model of travel procurement as it is very difficult to control travel expenditure and policy compliance. It is generally adopted by organisations where there is little senior management buy in to control the travel spend.INHOUSE TMC IMPLANT.This model allows a staff part of the TMC to reside within the organisation to procure all of the travel requirements of the organisation. This can be an expensive option unless travel policy is rigorously enforced.INHOUSE GDS IMPLANT( verify with Volker in Amadeus/ Microsoft )This model allows for the provision of a staff member of the GDS provider to be embedded within the organisation to assist the procurement of all travel requirements of the organisation. This can be a very efficient option as it eliminates the middle man charges of the TMC in the procurement of air trave l as it procures direct with the GDS provider. Some organisations who favour this method similarly have a TMC contract for the provision of VIP or specialised travel only.In the public sector in Ireland government travel is purchased through a centralised contract but managed and procured in many different ways by each of the Government Departments, bodies and agencies with varying fashion of online and offline methods. Some use the contract to procure only air travel, others use it for air and hotel (Brussels hotels only as per the contract) and car hire. More and more private companies are using a travel expense management system (OBT) where all expenses related to travel air, hotel, car, and subsistence/entertainment are captured on the same system, in this way making it more transparent and easier to control and decompose travel expenditure.SUMMARYThe world of business travel is a valuable, innovative and technologically evolving industry. The opening up of new markets and th e drive to expand business into new frontiers is a reality. Coupled with this is the requirement to develop new business relationships which must be nurtured though face to face meetings thus bountiful continued impetus to this sector. We have reviewed the role and function of TMCs and technology in the travel industry and the future challenges they face. The various models of travel management gives us an insight into how the travel industry operates and provides a framework that can be compared against the research findings when examined in more detail and assist in establishing what can we learnt by both the private and public sector in the management of air travel