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Business Travel Agencies continue to adapt to meet the changing expectations of business travelers. With a focus on value, they are working to offer customized, bespoke itineraries which fulfill specific needs, creating journeys aligned with the ambitions, policy and restrictions of a corporate travel booker.
Drawing on experience to ensure that a trip runs smoothly, effective Business Travel Agencies are working to ensure they utilize the latest solutions to support travelers throughout a trip. Effectively deployed, these tools can act as a valuable differentiator in a competitive market.
To realize these ambitions, Business Travel Agencies are expecting a range of technologies to have an impact over the coming year, all with relatively equal weighting.
Which technology areas do Business Travel Agencies consider the most important in the next 12 months?
%
Machine learning
%
Data analytics
%
Generative AI
%
Digital payments
%
Cloud computing
Looking over a five-year horizon, the picture remains largely consistent, with machine learning and Generative Artificial Intelligence (Generative AI) continuing to top the charts. However, cloud computing and data analytics are replaced in the top five by extended reality (39%) and API driven innovation (38%).
Which technology areas do Business Travel Agencies consider the most important beyond the five-year horizon?
%
Machine learning
%
Generative AI
%
Extended reality
%
API driven innovation
%
Digital payments
More specifically, improving the customer experience and productivity are short-term technology objectives.
Business Travel Agencies have the following technology and distribution priorities over the coming 12 months:
49%
Enhance the customer experience
41%
Improve
productivity
37%
Traffic acquisition
36%
Source more relevant content from suppliers
31%
Improve search functionality
25%
Personalize
the offer
“When it comes to investment in technology, Business Travel Agencies have a variety of competing technology investment objectives.”
Renaud Nicolle
SVP, Travel Sellers – North Asia and
Pacific, Global Business Agents APAC,
Amadeus
Looking further ahead, extended reality will increasingly be on the agenda for Business Travel Agencies.
The new technology will supplement existing booking channels, giving prospective business travelers a taste of what they can experience before they arrive.
For example, it will be possible to let travelers inspect hotel rooms, airline seats and other spaces before booking, even allowing them to try the check-in process.
Investment in these new technologies will allow Business Travel Agencies to meet commercial priorities, including enhancing the customer experience (49%), improving productivity (41%) and driving traffic acquisition (37%).
Of course, as the technology landscape continues to evolve, Business Travel Agencies have been investing to unleash new capabilities, with traffic acquisition a key objective of recent investment.
The most mature ‘already implemented’ capabilities for Business Travel Agencies are:
%
First-party
data management
(traffic acquisition)
%
Front-office end-to-end trip
management and servicing
%
Cross-sell capabilities
(e.g. car, hotel and insurance)
%
Merchandising
(e.g. rich content, ancillaries
and fare families)
%
APIs to connect to
multiple data sources
Looking ahead, around a third of Business Travel Agencies are seeking to implement new capabilities, including API aggregation and low-cost carrier (LCC) search and book, as well as robotic process automation. Over the longer-term, the capabilities sought are more varied, with nearly a quarter of Business Travel Agencies looking to deploy conversational search.
Business Travel Agencies are focused on implementing the following capabilities in the next 12 months:
%
API aggregation
%
LCC search and book
%
Robotics
%
Mid- and back-office system improvement
%
NDC – search, book, service in a single place
%
Self-service ticket change
Business Travel Agencies are focused on implementing the following capabilities in the longer-term:
%
Conversational search
%
Robotics for back-office efficiency
%
NDC – search, book, service in a single place
%
LCC search and book
%
Self-service ticket change
When successfully deployed, conversational search has the potential to equip Business Travel Agencies with innovative capabilities to address top of the funnel inspiration use cases.
With only 47% of Business Travel Agencies saying they have implemented conversational search right now, there is plenty of room for growth. Similarly, only 43% of Business Travel Agencies say they have a solution in place for LCC search and book at present, 44% have implemented New Distribution Capability (NDC) and 49% allow for self-serve ticket changes. This means there are great opportunities to deploy new technology through effective investment. Indeed, over 90% of Business Travel Agencies already have, or say they will at some point in the future, implement every technology area specified.
“Conversational search is an area with great potential.”
Bénédicte Isnardon
Associate Director, Search & Inspire Product Marketing Management, Amadeus
