Dear jhabley,
Recent trends affect not only the "how" of corporate travel but the
"why". Advances in electronic miniaturization and wireless communication
mean that corporate travelers are plugged in even while they fly, yet the
same developments on the ground mean that it is increasingly difficult
to justify travel expenditure. Why spend thousands on going somewhere in
the flesh when a virtual face-to-face meeting is arranged for pennies? A
corporation that takes full advantage of broadband internet technology
can look forward to great savings on corporate travel.
This does not mean that corporate travel planners have become redundant,
but they must certainly reassess their mission. Since much of the
personal contact that once took place by letter or in person is now
expedited at the speed of light through transoceanic cables, entire
categories of corporate travel must be scrutinized for purpose and
cost-effectiveness. Is it useful to troubleshoot a client system on-site,
or can it be done just as well remotely? To close a sale in Paris, is
it necessary to be in Paris? When your Japanese business partners want
to discuss an upcoming contract, is it worth the hassle of interminable
security checks and 12-hour jet lag to fly to Tokyo?
When the answer is yes, as it still will be in many circumstances,
corporate travel planners will have at their disposal a far wider variety
of tools, both commercial and technological, than they ever had before,
but will also face unprecedented obstacles. Among the benefits and
hazards of corporate travel in our time are the following five trends.
1. mobility devices increase productivity but introduce new risks
Gone are the days when in-flight work meant scribbling on a notepad or
muttering into a bulky dictaphone. With the advent of ultra-light laptops
and palmtops, the corporate traveler finds no respite from work among the
clouds. The five-martini preflight ritual has given way to the five-page
report preparation, the fifty-word-per-minute typing session in the sky,
and the palmtop stylus marathon upon landing. Simply put, mobile devices
and wireless communication have made corporate data ubiquitous.
The ubiquity of data brings with it drawbacks as well as advantages. As
PDAs acquire ever greater capacity, transporting not only incidental
files such as agendas and outlines but mission-critical files such as
contracts and confidential reports, synchronicity and security become
important considerations. When a traveler modifies a local copy of a
file while off-network, what mechanism ensures that the changes are
integrated into the master version? When a file is distributed among
multiple stakeholders, how can they all get the latest updates? Who
carries the authoritative version?
Not only are travel planners increasingly responsible for ensuring that
data leaving the office makes a safe return, but they must be conscious
of the risk of travelers exposing their data to outsiders. Mobile data
is much more prone to leakage than land-bound data. When a file leaves
the office, is it protected with industrial-grade encryption? What kind
of wireless signals does a laptop or PDA emit? If communications are
intercepted in a waiting lounge or on a train, what are the possible
consequences? The IT department cannot take sole responsibility for
addressing these questions when it is the corporate travel planner who
supplies travelers with the productivity tools that expose corporate
data to numerous liabilities.
2. web conferences obviate many categories of in-person meeting
It is too early to tell whether web-conferencing technology has had a
measurable influence on the frequency of corporate travel. The processing
power and networking infrastructure necessary for high-resolution,
real-time videoconferencing have only recently been established, with
the videoconferencing software itself still in its infancy. Furthermore,
travel of all kinds, personal and corporate, by plane and by train, has
been hit hard since the tragedy at the World Trade Center, making it
difficult to distinguish technological effects from other statistical
trends. Even after web-conferencing does take hold on a mass basis,
becoming as commonplace, if not more, than the telephone conference
today, it will take some time for industry observers to compile and
analyze the numbers.
Nonetheless, it is clear that the mere availability of high-quality web
conferencing, not merely as vaporware but as a hardware-software package
that can be installed, licensed, and deployed immediately, has changed
the way corporate travel planners think and the way corporate travel is
to be budgeted. Routine inter-personnel meetings are subject to greater
scrutiny than ever before. If face-to-face contact truly is necessary
in a matter where spontaneous oral communication and body language are
paramount considerations, why not do it through the web? Habituation to
the traditional forms of travel is no excuse.
The attractions of web conferencing become all the greater if one
considers that the price of a flight ticket is multiplied by all the
secondary and invisible costs of travel. When a corporate traveler takes
flight, the corporation is shelling out not just for an air ticket but
for hotel accommodations, meal expenses, per diem payments, car rentals,
and sundry reimbursements. Furthermore, an employee who is traveling
is one who is not sitting at a desk. There is a limited extent to which
mobile computing can make up for the productivity loss of travel, given
the distractions and logistical delays inherent in the process.
3. airline alliances increase travel efficiency but may inflate cost
When today's corporate traveler buys an air ticket, he or she is
likely to be entering the embrace of several airlines joined by an
alliance. The first of these, called Star Alliance, formed in 1997
as a union of United, Lufthansa, SAS, Air Canada, Thai Airways, and
Varig. Nine more airlines joined Star Alliance in the succeeding years,
while two competing alliances formed. The major players in OneWorld are
American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, and Qantas, while
SkyTeam boasts in its front rank Delta, Continental, KLM, Air France,
and Northwest. Together, the three alliances control a solid majority
of the air-travel market. SkyTeam has a narrow edge with its 24% market
share as opposed to the 23% held by Star Alliance, while OneWorld accounts
for 17%. All in all, the alliances control 64% of the marketplace for
air travel.
The air alliances realize economies of scale that they can pass on to
the consumer in the form of savings on individual flights. Although
each alliance began as a code-sharing agreement, their members quickly
saw the benefits of eliminating redundant operations at the airport
and in service-and-supply departments. Just as great a benefit to the
corporate travel planner is that the reach of each airline is extended
by that of its fellow members in an alliance. By sharing code numbers on
routes and opening communication to each other at terminals, they can
transfer passengers with ease. Thus, rather than the travel planner's
having to set about the costly and complicated business of arranging
transfers from one airline to another, the alliance does the job itself,
making it possible to order a single ticket with which the traveler make
seamless transitions throughout the journey.
On the other hand, the merging trend holds anticompetitive prospects
for the corporate traveler. It has never been easier, it is true, to
accumulate frequent-flyer miles, but consolidation also means unwelcome
changes. For instance, routes on which several airlines once competed,
to the profit of a traveler who could choose from many flights per day,
are now simplified by virtue of cooperation between the airlines, from
whose perspective it is better to serve fewer and more tightly packed
flights on the same day. Freed from the constraints of competition,
airlines within an alliance can also jointly raise prices on routes that
they alone control.
4. on-demand booking accelerates the planning process
One of the few unequivocally positive changes in the travel industry
as far as private consumers are concerned has been the application of
large-scale database technology and b2b internet communication to the
air-ticket marketplace. The travel industry once offered a great deal
of friction to prospective purchasers, since airlines did not have the
sales resources to supply tickets inexpensively, while neighborhood travel
agents were not strongly motivated to compete on price alone. The choice,
then, was between rushing to an airline counter at the last minute and
paying a double or triple premium on a flight, or booking many months
in advance through an agency that could offer significant discounts only
on long-prepared, thoroughly filled flights.
Today, on the contrary, it is the last-minute flights that offer the
greatest savings, as airlines seek to cash in their last few remaining
seats through the internet marketplace. Since multiple airlines are
striving to unload seats at the same time, the impromptu traveler stands
a fairly good chance of finding a convenient booking mere hours or days
before a flight. On the other hand, a corporate travel planner is often
not afforded the same degree of flexibility in flight purchases as a
private consumer. Since the cost of failure is greater in corporate
affairs, the planner must book farther ahead.
Inevitably, the huge savings enjoyed by fortunate last-minute seat
purchasers, and the concomitant losses of the airlines unloading heavily
discounted tickets, are passed on to the advance buyers. This is the
paradox of the wired marketplace. At the same time that it reduces
friction for spontaneous and short-term purchasers, it shifts the price
burden to long-term purchasers, thereby putting pressure on them to
shorten their planning horizons. A corporate travel planner who must book
well in advance is advised to consider alternate purchasing channels,
such as charter flights and, where feasible, rapid-rail transit.
5. post-9/11 security introduces longer delays and greater carry-on scrutiny
No matter how virtuous their motives or how innocuous their objectives,
corporate travelers in the era of global terrorism must pay a security
premium in the form of time, money, and inconvenience. The one-hour
preflight arrival of yore has turned into today's two- or even three-hour
ordeal of submitting to interviews, passing physical inspection, and
biding time while other passengers as well as the plane's personnel and
cargo are subjected to similar treatment. For mid-range travel in the
most heavily trafficked corridors, such as the Boston-New York axis,
the railway has become an attractive alternative.
In addition to the financial and chronological costs of stringent
security, corporate missions are endangered by the tightening of
regulations across the board. Thus, pieces of luggage that exceeded the
posted limits in number or dimensions, yet were nonetheless permitted
aboard in the pre-9/11 era, are ruled out without hesitation by more
alert and better trained airport employees today. The inconvenience
can become a true hazard when electronic devices containing sensitive
information are confiscated at boarding time and pass through unknown
hands before being relayed to a distant holding point, if at all.
The corporate travel planner must consider the precise airline regulations
governing the transport and use of mobile data devices, which may vary
among airlines and from airport to airport. The most cautious course is to
plan well within the regulations, since overzealous airport and airline
employees will often, at their own discretion and from fear of equally
paranoid superiors, exceed even the formal security requirements. One
must consider the possible consequences due to the confiscation of
any device. What files does it contain? How accessible are they to
unauthorized users? What happens if they are exposed to regulators or
to competitors, or if they are permanently lost to the traveler? Such
are the novel and unwelcome corporate-travel considerations of our age.
I hope you find my analysis interesting and useful to your project.
Regards,
leapinglizard |
Clarification of Answer by
leapinglizard-ga
on
14 Oct 2004 20:12 PDT
1. mobility devices increase productivity but introduce new risks
"In recent years, pilots have used laptop computers with wireless modem
connections to get up-to-date information about storms, clearances
and the like while sitting in their cockpits on the ground before
takeoff. But some pilots weren't happy with the heavy laptops and
began purchasing Hewlett-Packard Co.'s iPaq Pocket PC handhelds as
replacements. [...] Protecting security was vital, so Air Routing runs
Triple Data Encryption Standard at 128 bits."
Computerworld: Field Report: PDAs Take Off
http://www.computerworld.com/mobiletopics/mobile/handhelds/story/0,10801,73003,00.html?from=story_package
"The threat that mobile devices pose to enterprises is significant,
yet a significant majority of organizations haven't deployed systems
to manage those devices, according to a study released this week by
Forrester Research.
""Unmanaged mobile devices represent one of the most serious and often
overlooked security threats to the enterprise," the report said. "The
risk of information loss or theft from laptops, PDAs, phones, converged
devices, and tablets is increasing rapidly."
"However, a survey of enterprises included in the report found only nine
percent had deployed mobile client management tools and only 20 percent
either were planning to do so or were piloting such a deployment.
"The threat posed by mobile devices comes from several directions,
the report said. While the most-discussed security threat is unsecured
communications, another serious threat is loss or theft of devices and the
information they carry, the report noted. In fact, many companies budget
for a 20 percent or higher loss or failure rate for handheld devices,
according to the report."
SafeBoot: Mobile Data Security: Mobile Devices Are Enterprise Security Risk
http://www.safeboot.com/safeboot.asp?page=news&area=securitydetails&id=91
"CIO Mary Odson says there were some provider problems at the very
beginning, but RIM has 'mastered the functionality.' BlackBerry aided
e-mail security with required passwords, which mean a user who puts in
the wrong password seven times will see the device shut down. A new
feature allows encrypted e-mails and time bombs to allow IT to wipe
clean a device's data."
Computerworld: Field Report: Field Report: Lawyers Like Their PDAs Berry Much
http://www.computerworld.com/mobiletopics/mobile/handhelds/story/0,10801,72982,00.html?from=story_package
2. web conferences obviate many categories of in-person meeting
"The success of Web-casting technology is leading to a change in
marketing strategies. Traditional marketing plans called for reaching
large audiences through several media venues. Web conferencing was
primarily used for sales team collaboration. Web casting was used to
address very large audiences, said Bethke.
"Frost & Sullivan's David Alexander sees Web casting developing
into more of a collaborative meeting environment for all sizes of
audience. Web conferencing is more collaborative than just making
one-sided presentations, he said. It is changing the way people are
working and is bridging the gap of distance."
eCommerce Times: Trends: Web Conferencing Comes of Age
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/36507.html
"Nobody disputes that in-person meetings are still crucial. Many say
that virtual meetings make it hard to build personal relationships,
let alone gauge audience interest in a presentation.
"Sammy Tawil, a marble and granite salesman, tried conferencing for
two months after the attacks. He's now traveling more than ever, with
impressive results.
"Nothing can replace the impact made when seeing clients face to face,"
says Tawil of Port Reading, N.J."
USA Today: Money: Talking heads are catching on as Web meetings take off
http://www.usatoday.com/money/biztravel/2004-09-07-conferencing_x.htm
"In many cases, Web conferencing is a great tool for lead generation
and maintaining business relationships without racking up millions
of frequent flyer miles. Database giant Oracle recently abandoned
hotel-based marketing seminars in favor of a Web-based model. As a
result, the company saved an amazing 94 percent on seminar-related
expenditures over a four-month period, and generated four times the
leads in the process, according to their Web conferencing provider,
the aforementioned Raindance Communications."
Wearables Business: Web conferencing now a valuable tool
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0CXP/is_1_6/ai_84407778
3. airline alliances increase travel efficiency but may inflate cost
"An alliance like the Air France-KLM merger also allows cost cutting,
because the merger allows the airlines to streamline their systems. With
the two airlines operating as one, Air France can grow its business
while reducing the number of planes and people it needs and avoiding
duplication in areas such as maintenance. [...]
"You might think that the more airlines cooperate, the less they would
compete with each other?potentially driving up fares?or that they
would gang up on smaller carriers and block them from entering into
markets where the allied airlines are dominant. You'd have good reason
to be concerned, considering that the Department of Transportation (DOT)
stated that the Continental-Delta-Northwest alliance would "create a
potential for collusion among the three partners;...force unaffiliated
airlines to exit the markets and deter entry by other airlines;...reduce
competition between the partners and preclude effective competition from
unaffiliated airlines;...[and] lead to a 'hoarding' of airport facilities"
if the airlines did not adjust their alliance proposal according to the
DOT's conditions, which the airlines eventually agreed to do."
Smarter Living: "Navigate the murky waters of airline partnerships, part 2"
http://www.smarterliving.com/advice/advfeatures/advice.php?id=5703&ctid=i5703c35p420
"Peter Buecking, Cathay Pacific's director of sales and marketing, grants
that seamless travel is still evolving. "It's fair to say that these links
are only in their infancy. The key to seamlessness rests in infrastructure
and information sharing. We're working on this." Henry Ma, spokesperson
for Star Alliance in Hong Kong, lists some of the other benefits for
consumers: "Global travelers have an easier time making connections,
redeeming reward travel and planning their itineraries." Ma claims
alliances also assure passengers consistent service standards. "You know
what you are going to get when you fly with us or one of our partners,"
he says. Hmmm. Does anybody really believe that Varig and Lufthansa, both
members of the Star Alliance, provide the same level of service? [...]
"Jeff Blyskal, associate editor of Consumer Reports magazine, says
the promotional ballyhoo over alliances is much ado about nothing. "I
don't see much of a gain for consumers: alliances are just a marketing
gimmick. And as far as seamless travel goes, I'll believe it when I see
it. Most airlines can't even get their own connections under control,
let alone coordinate with another airline."
"Blyskal believes alliances will ultimately result in decreased flight
choices and increased costs for consumers. Instead of two airlines
competing and each operating a flight on the same route at 70% capacity,
the allied pair will share the route and run one full flight. Since
fewer seats will be available, passengers will be obliged to pay more
for tickets."
Time Magazine: Money: Up in the Air
http://www.time.com/time/asia/money/1999/three/airline.alliances.html
"SkyTeam members saved $US1.9million in the past year on joint fuel
purchases in Latin America.
"For some airlines, alliances have attractions over mergers, which
have proven difficult to make work, even in the US, where they are at
least possible.
"'A well-run alliance can offer 80 per cent of the benefits of a merger
with only 20 per cent of the hassle,' says Carsten Spohr, vice-president
of alliances at Lufthansa.
"Blunt of oneworld says during the past three years oneworld alliance
membership has conferred benefits of $US2 billion.
"But compared to sales of about $US150billion over that period, alliance
benefits are still relatively small in monetary terms."
Australian Financial Review: Airline merger that could lead to consolidation
http://afr.com/articles/2003/12/11/1071125589807.html
4. on-demand booking accelerates the planning process
"A series of studies by Topaz International, which advises corporate
clients on travel issues, sheds some light on the subject. For the past
three years, Topaz compared the cost of business travel itineraries booked
by a corporate travel agency with those booked on an Internet site. Each
year, travel agencies beat the competition, but by less and less. In 2001,
agencies saved corporate clients an average of $171 on each round-trip
flight. Last year, the difference was $69. Since business travelers tend
to pay higher airfare prices, it's safe to assume that leisure travelers
can't expect the same results."
MSNBC: Travel Agents, with reservations
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6115375/
"Get out your magnifying glass and read the "Rules and Restrictions"
and "Terms and Conditions" sections on the online booking sites.
"Priceline.com states that in "most cases," vacation packages can't be
changed, cancelled, refunded or transferred.
"Site59, owned by Travelocity, stipulates that all purchases are final.
"Expedia's policy is more liberal packages can be cancelled according to
the rules of the individual airlines and hotels. You can, for instance,
for a fee, cancel the hotel without canceling your flight or, change
(but not cancel) your flight.
"Keep in mind that the more last-minute the trip, the better the value
a package deal usually is.
""These packages, as prettily as they're dressed up, are basically
distressed inventory," says McGee. "It means 'we've got rooms and the
weekend's coming up. Sell, sell sell.' ""
Seattle Times: How to be simultaneously spontaneous, savvy
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/travel/2002056020_pucci10.html
"Generally, though, it's usually only tightwads at the smallest of
companies that resort to Priceline and Hotwire for business travel.
"Hotwire, for instance, estimates that no more than 8% of its hotel
bookings are made by business travelers. Priceline doesn't even take
a guess.
""Hotwire was not designed for business travelers," says Hotwire
spokeswoman Amy Bohutinsky.
"Priceline is even more blunt. "We do not in any way cater to or market
to business travelers," says spokesman Brian Ek.
"The discounters fear that hotel companies would be reluctant to offer
deeply discounted rooms if droves of business customers were snapping
them up. The hotels want to sell more expensive rooms to those customers,
who are generally less resistant to paying higher prices.
"To make their rooms less desirable to business travelers, Priceline
and Hotwire make all sales non-refundable. That restriction penalizes
business travelers, notorious for making last-minute itinerary changes
or canceling trips altogether. And many don't have the nerve to buy a
stay without knowing the name of the hotel in advance, with no refunds
allowed if they don't like it."
USA Today: Business travelers turn to Priceline, Hotwire
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2003/07/08-cheap-rooms.htm
5. post-9/11 security introduces longer delays and greater carry-on scrutiny
"Conventional wisdom suggests that the attacks inflicted massive damage
on corporate travel, grounding frequent fliers such as Brooks Hurd.
""If you fly on short business trips, your travel time is sometimes
doubled by security checks," says Hurd, a consultant for the San Luis
Obispo, Calif., semiconductor industry. "Why bother?" [...]
"Business travelers changed, too.
"How so? They stopped behaving like business travelers. The trend started
before the terrorist attacks, but 9/11 was a breaking point. Before
the tragedy, corporate travel managers had been aggressively trying to
cut travel costs; afterward, they just cut travel. More than half of
all travel managers surveyed after Sept. 11 said they would reduce the
number of trips taken by employees, according to the NBTA."
Elliott: 9/11 Saved Business Travel
http://elliott.org/vault/oped/2002/911.htm
"But tense times, changing rules and procedures, unpredictable metal
detectors (will this one bleat or not?) and the uncertainty of whether
you'll sail through the checkpoint or be singled out for a search fill
many fliers with dread.
"To improve their odds, the savvy have overhauled what they wear
or carry. ''If I could approach security wearing Jockey briefs and
flip-flops (sandals), I'd probably do it,'' says Ross Markwardt of La
Quinta, Calif. ''I try to anticipate everything that will make me less
of a potential bottleneck at the security gate.''
"He and other seasoned travelers share their tips:
"Examine your sole. With metal detectors set to be more sensitive than
ever, ''my dress shoes set off the alarms as I walk through, which means
an extensive search and delay,'' says frequent flier David Govaker
of Arlington, Va. ''I see more and more business travelers wearing
old running shoes with their Armani suits to get through security
undeterred. Is this a new fashion trend?''"
Travel Gallery: USA Today reprint: Navigate Through That New Airport Security
http://www.travelgallery.com/AgencySpecials/Security_tips_for_travel.htm.shtml
"Because of heightened airport security, the number of laptop and notebook
computers lost, misplaced, stolen or forgotten at airports has increased
more than 80 percent in the past 12 months. [...]
"Today, an organization?s most current customer data is in the field,
not in the office, and the cost of manual recovery is prohibitive. While
insurance can be purchased for the replacement of notebook or laptop
hardware, there is no insurance that can replace the data."
Enterprise Networking Magazine: Anywhere Computing Opens Endless
Possibilities ? of Data Loss
http://www.enterprisenetworkingmagazine.com/monthly/2003/02/anywhere.shtml
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