PhoCusWright, a US-based travel industry research authority, has reported that cutting-edge gadgets and applications are more and more defining business travel.
The company report, PhoCusWright’s US Corporate Travel Report: Market Size and Technology Trends, highlights that more and more businesses are opting for managed travel programs, mobile applications and technological tools. Companies are increasingly offering iPads and other tablets for their employees’ for business use, and even integrating the employees’ own devices into the corporate network.
Susan Steinbrink, the company senior research and corporate market analyst, said, ‘The consumerisation of IT within organisations has definitely begun to impact the managed travel arena. A combination of factors-including increasingly tech-savvy travellers, new consumer-like applications and a shift to a bring-your-own-device culture-are starting to make corporate travel look and feel a lot like leisure travel.’
The report also provides an analysis of corporate travel technology trends, including changing IT consumer trends in corporate travelling, changes in traveller commitments, the personalisation of business travel, and the impact of smart phones, location-based services and tablets on corporate travel. The other points discussed in the report include how far online booking tools have penetrated the corporate travel markets, and how the equations of direct bookings, travel suppliers and intermediaries are changing in the corporate travel scenario.
Previously, the company has reported on how, with speedy progress in online travel technology, consumers are opting for online travel planning and purchasing, making it tough to predict travellers’ choices today, and offering insight on modern day leisure travel trends.
