Welcome to the latest instalment of the ‘The View’. Here we ask Reed & Mackay experts to share their ideas and insights around a topical issue affecting the business travel and event sectors and highlight solutions.
As consumer technology becomes more seamless, and expectations grow for similar experiences in the workplace, we ask our Global Director of Product, Fahim Khan, to explain why a consumer-focused experience should be the ultimate goal for corporate travel technology.
Tech across the B2C landscape has long been driven by user-friendly experiences – is tech in the B2B space now developing at the same pace?
B2B tech is certainly catching up with B2C, as companies are recognising the value of user experience for their clients. Historically, the functionality was there but not matched with a simple, intuitive user experience. That’s changing more broadly now.
With B2C tech, you are only as good as your last interactions and making your users happy and sticky. So I’m really pleased to see that approach being embraced by B2B companies, even from the standpoint of my own working life. I’m using products in the workplace that I actually enjoy using and that’s an approach we’ve always been heavily focused on at Reed & Mackay, from the very beginning of developing our proprietary technology.
Corporate travel is more complex than leisure - so can it really be feasible to expect a similar consumer experience across corporate travel tech?
I think so, yes. Even though corporate travel is more complex than leisure, it’s important to make it simple. It’s our job to try and take the complexity out of it.
For Reed & Mackay clients, they can speak to our business travel consultants for any help they need. But if they’re self-booking, it’s our job to simplify the entire travel process, put the right options they want in front of them.
Reed & Mackay technology series
How are we making it simple for the end user?
We’re bringing the key pieces of information that travellers need to the forefront of our tech, cutting back on the number of steps to find what they want for their business travel. Any users of tech don’t want to have to think about getting to what they want – they want it right there in front of them to make their choices. And that’s the underlying vision of our platforms.
For example, embracing a more sustainable way to travel is really important for many of our clients and their travellers. So we’ve done a lot of work across our entire platform to help people easily figure out what’s the most sustainable way to travel.
And it’s not just for sustainable travel. Similar to a consumer-focused experience, we’ve made all the information our clients need on booking trips more accessible. We’re prioritising putting the right data point in front of the user at the right time, so they can make their decisions instantly throughout the booking process.
What do you think travel tech space is going to look like in the next five to 10 years?
I think corporate travel is going to massively change in the next few years. I believe there’s going to be an increasing focus on replicating the ways we operate our lives in the B2C world with tech on our expectations of tech in the B2B world.
We are also seeing the demographics of travellers changing; those who are digital natives are now using our platform and products and we’re aware they travel in a very different way to the generation above them. So mobile will be one of the most important aspects of how you interact when you travel for business. This is a key area of investment for us, the value of what we can give them via their mobile device.
Overall though, the ultimate goal is to provide that consumer-level experience to the corporate traveller. That goal is absolutely here to stay.
Mail hello@reedmackay.com to discuss all your corporate travel and event management needs.
