While more than half of travel managers have endorsed a mobile app in the past year, almost 70% indicate their travel program does not have a mobile strategy in place, reported a recent study conducted by the GBTA Foundation in partnership with Carlson Wagonlit Travel (CWT) and the Carlson Family Foundation. Of the travel programs that have not adopted one, almost half will do so in the next two years, according to the travel managers surveyed.
“A strategy means thinking beyond apps,” said Dominique Betancourt, data insight manager for CWT Solutions Group. “It requires a broader view that takes the pieces of your travel program and brings them into the mobile environment to drive engagement, compliance and savings.”
The study, A Mobile Effect: Setting a Clear Mobile Travel Strategy, looks not only at current and future adoption, but also explores apps that are already in place and recommends best practices for implementing a mobile travel strategy. Research found most organizations already have the technology and the willingness from travelers to embrace it, but need to take into account the organization’s culture and the travelers’ needs, as well as the organization’s goals.
“The focus of a mobile travel program strategy should be centered on how to make a traveler’s experience so simple in program that there is more value there than outside the program,” said Monica Sanchez, GBTA Foundation Director of Research. “The study identifies best practices for where to start with a mobile travel strategy as well as next steps, enabling travel professionals to better serve both their travelers and the management of their programs.”
A Mobile Effect: Setting a Clear Mobile Travel Strategy is available to download. The research methodology – which consisted of both a short online survey of travel professionals in the United States and in-depth interviews with travel professionals across the United States and Europe – can be found on page 3 of the study. A webinar featuring experts from CWT and the GBTA Foundation discussing the study in greater detail will take place September 8 at 2 p.m. ET. Registration is available now and complimentary.
Published
11/09/2016
