Leading edge companies are incorporating options; for many, however, decision-making falls outside of travel management.

The buzz about mobile travel tools and applications is reaching a fever pitch. From online booking to payment and expense management, suppliers are rolling out mobile travel management tools one after another – even opening technology platforms that were previously closed in order to capture more share of this emerging market opportunity. In a recent online survey, AirPlus International asked travel stakeholders about their current mobile travel management strategies and found widely divergent attitudes and practices. While this is clearly an indication of a segment in its infancy, fast-paced changes and easy access will necessitate the development of best practices.

While mobile travel management tools have held promise for some time, development of the space lagged for several years, waiting for mobile operating systems that could handle robust technologies.

Recent advances and a spike in adoption of smart phones – especially among the corporate population – has brought mobile travel management tools out of development and into the leading edge corporations. Among survey respondents, 35 percent estimated that more than 90 percent of their travelers carry a smart phone or other wireless-enabled device that allows them to access web-based travel tools on demand. Another 29 percent pegged smart phone usage at 70 percent to 90 percent among their travelers.

Technology adoption like that doesn’t happen overnight; corporate travelers have been using smart phones for a few years and they are likely a few steps ahead of their companies when it comes to mobile travel tools. Availability in the marketplace bears this out: While there are probably under 75 mobile tools that are built for companies to manage their corporate travel programs (booking, expense, etc.) there are more than 2,000 traveler-oriented applications currently available for the iPhone alone. There are plenty of free and low-cost services targeted specifically to the corporate traveler as well, from itinerary aggregators and sharing sites to mobile services offered by airlines and other travel suppliers. Such sites as Kayak and Yapta, with email alerts about low-cost flights and hotels for traveler-defined trip parameters, have literally put alternative sourcing channels into the hands of managed travelers.

An interesting statistic that emerged from the research was how few travel stakeholders had any influence over their company’s mobile travel management strategy. More than 54 percent of respondents said they had no involvement in mobile. There are risks associated with turning a blind eye to the changes underway. As on-demand technologies and services permeate the consumer space, managed travelers are likely to migrate away from old-school tools, often with the best intentions that 1) they are finding better deals through their own sources and 2) they can be more productive when supported by technologies that fall outside the universe of corporate sanctions.

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AirPlus…_TheWire_April 2010 (PDF 245KB).