GUEST BLOG: THE MUST HAVE TRAVELLER APP

Smart phones are an essential tool for business travellers, largely owing to the fact that information can be accessed instantly and easily. With the vast majority of corporate travellers now organising themselves with hand-held devices, leading corporate travel and events business, the ATPI Group, has recently introducing an expanded and upgraded version of its popular On the Go app. 

Version 2.0 of the app has been developed in response to demand from users to meet the increasingly specific needs of business travellers. The interface has been made as straightforward as possible, following feedback from users who expressed a desire to have information presented in a clean and simple way and to avoid any flashy gimmicks.

Since its initial global launch this time last year, usage of the app has continued to grow and the new upgraded version is already proving to be a popular tool for busy corporate travellers. Entering its second phase, the enhanced app now includes flight booking functionality for both scheduled and low cost carriers and an improved mobile itinerary, where ticket numbers are recorded in all flight bookings. The performance and speed of the app has also been optimised, and security features have been upgraded. Also, included in the app’s features is an itinerary display application which gives users access to all flight bookings in their name, while a flight status report allows users to track progress of any flight number – either arrival or departure.

Smartphone users can add a photo of travel documents such as passports or cards to the app safe in the knowledge that this data is stored on the phone with an extra security layer providing protection in case the phone is lost or stolen.

Since the launch of its first generation On the Go app, the ATPI Group has maintained an open dialogue with users to ensure it can respond to their feedback and take actions based on their ever changing requirements. As a result, the business has been consistently able to make strategic improvements to the app to ensure clients can get to their place of work quickly and efficiently.

Available free via iPhone, Android and Blackberry worldwide from the respective app stores - iTunes, Google Play, and Blackberry App World, the app can also be downloaded by any smartphone user.

Additional features of the 'On the Go' app include a currency converter, world clock and details of all the ATPI Group office locations and telephone numbers worldwide. A separate destination guide section offers handy tips on where to go and what to see in cities around the globe.

For more information and to test out the On the Go app, visit the ATPI Group at the Business Travel Show at Earls Court on 5th & 6th February 2013. Register now at www.businesstravelshow.com 

IT'S TIME FOR TRAVEL MANAGERS TO SWOT UP ON MOBILE

Earlier in the week, AirPlus International and ACTE published a white paper focusing on how mobile payments will change corporate travel and expense management. I read it. And I’m glad I did – it’s a really interesting insight into the future of business travel management.

There are a number of key things that come across. Firstly, forget all the scare-tactics about mobile encouraging rogue travellers. According to this white paper, mobile actually has the potential to drive compliance. Why? Because it helps to link a lot of currently disparate processes together. 

By automating the purchase of smaller trip transactions through NFC (Near Field Communication) technology (which is when you simply touch your phone against a ‘contact’ point on, for example, a rail ticket machine, hotel room door, airport check in desk), managers will win back control over expenditure. By linking it to an app for your travellers, you can also control which suppliers they use and eliminate the temptation to fiddle expenses. And linking everything to your management system makes invoicing easier, quicker and cheaper.

Secondly, mobile also has big benefits for the traveller. It means they no longer have to carry cash and credit cards makes it easier and quicker for them to account for their expenses when they return home, too.  

Yet, despite all the arguments for using mobile payment technology, we’ve been slow on the uptake, with just five per cent of companies actually using mobile payment technology in our industry. Why? Well, mainly because the technology isn’t widely rolled out yet. It is here and it will happen. It’s just a matter of when. 

And it’s also partly due to ignorance – travel managers just don’t know that much about it. If they did, they would want to embrace it and, perhaps by embracing, they could help to speed up its adoption? In the meantime, I recommend reading the white paper and getting a head start.

Posted by David Chapple, david@businesstravelshow.com - tell me what you think @btshowlondon

THE SMART MONEY IS ON SMART PHONES: BUYERS NEED TO GET A GRIP ON APPS

Last week’s eighth Ofcom Communications Market Report revealed that 27 per cent of all adults now own a smart phone. 59 per cent of these were bought in the last year. Oh, and we’re addicted to them. In fact, 37 per cent of adult smart phone owners have admitted as much.

In the business travel market, smart phones are beyond useful. TMCs use them to deliver information to travellers (itineraries, for example) as well as pulling data back (travellers can use phones to scan in expense receipts).

However, the smart phone epidemic has also seen an increasing number of business travellers use apps as though they were leisure travellers (which they’re not). And it’s this use of apps ‘out of policy’ that’s now a major cause for concern among corporate travel managers who are being warned that, unless they take back control, their policies are under threat of being compromised. 

My belief is that travel managers shouldn’t ‘ban’ travellers from using smart phones. Instead, they should find technology solutions with similar (or better) mobile applications attached that will keep travellers happy AND compliant. It’s essential that, when choosing these applications, managers opt for a platform-inclusive solution that’s also content rich, stable and fit for purpose.

Travel managers also need to embrace mobile communications as a tool to manage policy compliance in the same way they have harnessed self booking tools, pre-trip authorisation. Reports have indicated that use of mobile strategies can reduce the number of calls made to TMCs, in some cases by as much as 40 per cent, so making a considerable saving for organisations.

Technology has always been a key issue within the business travel industry and a focus for the travel shows at Centaur Travel Group. For 2012, we’re going one step further and launching a Technology Zone at our London and Dusseldorf shows. The zone is being introduced as a platform for technology providers who appeal to both travel and technology buyers, and will be a fantastic place for buyers to discover suppliers with smart phone applications, receive hands on demos, attend education sessions and network with new contacts. The smart money, in my opinion, is on the smart phone. 

Posted by David Chapple, event director, Centaur Travel Group.