Over the last two years, we’ve seen new industry-leading travel management technology emerge. We’ve also witnessed businesses reinvent themselves to stay relevant in our post-pandemic world. To continue future-proofing corporate travel programs, there are three key areas where travel managers should focus:
- Ensuring access to complete, pre-trip travel data
- Crisis preparation and duty of care
(E.g. virus transmission tracking and natural disaster monitoring) - Leveraging automation for optimized travel management
Travel Management Technology #1 | Complete Travel Data
Access to complete trip data is more essential than ever before. As lockdowns dwindle, and a growing percentage of the population is vaccinated, travel is picking up. Travel managers need to be extra vigilant in protecting their travelers' well-being by knowing their whereabouts acting quickly should travel restrictions change. Traxo has you covered with access to complete trip visibility – before, during, and after travel. With data available at your fingertips, you can easily and quickly locate your travelers, prioritize their health and safety while on the road, and provide post-trip support, if needed.
Thanks to this revolutionary data access, travel managers will be infinitely more confident in their ability to see all bookings from TMC and non-TMC sources and stop worrying about booking blindspots that lead to compromised duty of care.
Travel Management Technology #2 | Crisis Management and Duty of Care
After nearly two years of virtual meetings and conferences, business travelers are eager to hit the tarmac again. But, companies must leverage new travel management methods and technologies to ensure traveler safety. From monitoring viral outbreaks and natural disasters to terror attacks and civil unrest, business travel certainly comes with its share of risk.
Real-World Example: International SOS COVID-19 Impact Map
To better understand and diminish potential risk, one of Traxo’s duty of care partners, International SOS, designed a COVID-19 Impact Map that provides businesses and travelers an opportunity to assess risk before embarking on a trip. The Impact Scale is designed to “take into account integrated health, security and logistics considerations – three key factors in business sustainability during the pandemic.” This robust tool can assist travelers in determining their willingness to take certain trips and help companies decide where to resume/pause in-person business.
Travel Management Technology #3 | Automation
Artificial intelligence and machine learning have been making leaps and bounds in the travel industry and are the backbone of technologies commonly used in corporate travel programs today, such as TripBam and BTP Automation.
TripBam is a fully automated price assurance tool that provides you with a way to lower hotel costs and improve program compliance. “Traxo clients can automatically send their corporate hotel booking data to TRIPBAM for price monitoring.” TripBam offers both price monitoring and re-shopping of hotel rates; savings are found for more than 50% of bookings, resulting in direct savings back to your travel program.
BTP Automation is transforming the way businesses manage their hotel programs, all the while reducing client’s total hotel cost by an average of 14%. Leveraging AI to correct bookings in real-time, saves you time and money, but it doesn’t stop there. Imagine a dynamic business tool that automates the hotel procurement process — renegotiating payment terms and conditions to keep up with changing market conditions throughout the year. BTP Automation does just that! It’s finally time to wave goodbye to the labor-intensive, annual hotel RFP process. Best of all, with Traxo’s integration, corrective actions can be taken on bookings before travel occurs to recoup savings and ensure policy compliance.
Leverage New Travel Management Methods and Technologies
Future-proofing your travel program has never been easier with robust technology platforms that exist in today’s marketplace. Traxo’s ability to integrate with key industry partners means that you can manage your pre-trip data without prior training in data management or analysis.
Traxo’s partnerships with industry-leading travel providers ensure that businesses have all the tools (and data!) needed to run a safe, efficient, and cost-effective corporate travel program. To learn more, contact us today.