Serve Up Safe and Memorable Travel Experiences with Technology
Love it or hate it, travel is often a big part of our professional lives today. In fact, travel (for any reason) represented more than 10% of all global economic activity in 2018 and that number continues to rise. The global travel and tourism sector grew 3.9% last year to a record $8.8 trillion. That’s faster than the world GDP growth rate – for the eighth year in a row.
Technology plays a significant role in travel experiences and often, can make or break them. As our recent survey of 3,000 global workers reflects, technology can support the mobile workforce for the better, or worse. Our study’s resulting data demonstrates that if your organization is in the travel business, it’s more essential than ever to effectively manage and maintain your technology footprint – from your infrastructure to delivering premier customer experiences.
Technology Can Make Travel-Related Pursuits Faster and Easier
According to Snow’s survey, technologies that most enhance respondents travel experiences include:
- Apps and websites for booking travel (44%)
- Mobile apps for airline check-in and boarding passes (41%)
- In-flight Wi-Fi (40%)
- Mobile apps for hotel and rental car reservations (36%)
- SMS, text and push notifications for travel information and updates (34%)
Forty-six percent of survey respondents said such technology helped them be more organized in their travel plans. Forty-five percent said it allowed them to be more informed, and forty-two percent said they saved money as a result of technology.
Time savings is the top reason survey participants said they book travel online however. Sixty-seven percent of the group said that’s why they make travel plans on their computers or via an app. More than half (54%) said booking travel online gives them more options, while nearly as many (53%) said they do it in an effort to save money.
Thirty-five percent of those surveyed indicated that booking travel online allows them to avoid having to speak to someone on the phone. Nearly a third (32%) went so far as to say said that booking travel online enables them to enjoy a better customer experience.
Don’t Let Technology Be a Barrier for Travelers
But not everything works all of the time – or is always on time. Just consider these statistics from the Bureau of Transportation.
In June, more than seventy-three percent of airline flights arrived on time. But security delays, system problems, weather and other often-uncontrollable factors resulted in twenty-seven percent of flights being late on arrival, diverted to other locations, or canceled completely.
Our data reveals that more than half (59%) of global workers said technology has adversely impacted their travel experiences. For those who have had a technology-related issue with travel, twenty-six percent said it was while they were attempting to book travel and the website crashed or the app wasn’t working. Unfortunately, fourteen percent said they were impacted by a travel company’s data breach.
When asked about the pain points to online travel booking, forty-five percent of respondents said that prices fluctuated, and forty percent reported online travel sites were confusing or slow. Other issues included limited options (27%), incorrect bookings (23%) and not enough flexibility (22%).
It isn’t all bleak however. The good news is forty-one percent of survey respondents said technology has never gotten in the way of a good travel experience.
Bring Complex IT Ecosystems Together to Ensure Positive Experiences
As our research illustrates, travelers rely on technology to get organized, be more informed, save money, and enjoy safe and seamless travel experiences. For the companies to enable those kinds of experiences, technology must be a key company pillar. Using it effectively means you can deliver efficient, secure, well-priced experiences that delight your customers throughout their journey with you.
While your customers want seamless experiences, that doesn’t always mean they are easy to deliver, particularly when large, legacy systems and processes weigh you down. IT ecosystems can seem overwhelmingly complex for even the most seasoned IT team. Start by addressing the fundamentals and fain a clear line of visibility into your technology estate. Strong IT asset management will help you optimize, manage and further transform your organization into one that delivers premier experiences.
If you’re looking to build a case for IT asset management, download our free three-step guide today.