Corporate and organizational
travel has been evolving for some years, but the advent of digital technology
is accelerating the change multi-fold. The travel assistance industry itself is
not immune to these changes and is undergoing a digital revolution within each
respective assistance companies’ internal operations and the manner via which
the services are offered to customers and clients alike.
The introduction of new
technologies and digital services are making it easier for travelers and
assistance providers to navigate potentially complex emergency incidents and to
get appropriate and timely assistance during a constituent’s respective travel.
For example, a travel assistance company can more readily provide appropriate
care, information, and exchange communications through a common digital
platform shared with a customer in need of immediate aid, instead of having to
resort to more traditional e-mail, phone calls, and one-sided client management
system platforms.
While these developing
technologies have allowed companies to increase efficiency and ability to
perform their duty of care obligations, the question does arise at times if the
travel assistance industry is integrating and adapting rapidly enough within
this space to keep up with realistic expectations by travelling populations?
Digital travel assistance makes
journeys safer, less stressful, and more convenient
Digital travel assistance products
can attest to making journeys safer, less stressful, and more convenient. The
benefits of the digital travel revolution are numerous – you can get immediate
assistance with tasks such as booking a flight, finding the most appropriate
and secure hotels in a city, reserve vetted rental or taxi services during
stays, as well as access any latest travel restrictions or alerts of note
within a designated geolocation – all at one’s fingertips.
Often, digital travel platforms
used by travelers and assistance companies have aggregated varying services and
vendors within a specific location – that are considered safe – for travellers
to utilize. A robust digital travel platform will also have the preferred
hospitals/medicals clinics one can access during their travels, if necessary,
while also providing options of where the recommended places to eat or
entertainment venues one can visit makes it a less stressful experience.
Digital travel platforms can further be customized based on a user’s inputs
prior to a trip, or be aggregated over time, to understand the user’s needs and
personal preferences. Neeraj Verma, Business Head of Across Assist, a core
partner of the IAG in India, indicates that they are leveraging technology to
sift through travel claims data in order to create trends analysis that can improve
product offerings and services rendered to customers.
A comprehensive digital travel
platform should make it convenient for the user to navigate a new locale if
users are travelling to a destination for the first time. Digital travel
assistance is more convenient than traditional methods because it allows a user
to also access information online 24 hours a day, seven days a week, in many
parts of the world. Airlines have introduced new features such as pre-boarding
check-ins and self-service kiosks that allow passengers to print their own
boarding passes before departure. Furthermore, travel platforms are being
developed to allow for overall integration of a person’s needs while traveling,
from having their boarding passes as QR codes on their phones – to imminently –
being able to have all of one’s personal bio-information and visa status within
a digital locker online, doing away with physical passports/tickets/immigration
paperwork.
These types of innovations will
only become more common as technology advances further into our lives and
becomes even more integral to our daily lives – we’ve seen this also happen
with mobile payments such as Google Pay/Apple Pay or varying iterations based
on the domestic markets, which allows users to pay for goods at shops using
their phones rather than using physical cash or credit cards. We’re only going
to see more developments like this occur over time because they make life
simpler for consumers while reducing costs associated with the time and
resources for physical items (e.g., printing out boarding passes, bag tags, receipts,
etc.).
Duty of care considerations
Put simply, duty of care is the
obligation on the business or government agency to ensure employees and
visitors are safe while in their care. This includes ensuring they have access
to appropriate equipment and facilities for equipment maintenance, including
first aid kits, fire extinguishers and first aid training (if required). It
also applies when you arrange transport for your staff as part of their
employment contract with you/your company; this includes arranging suitable
vehicles which fit within your budget constraints while still providing
adequate protection from risk factors such as adverse weather and road
conditions as well as health and security risks.
Are corporate travel policy and
travel assistance technology advancing fast enough to meet evolving traveller
needs?
As part of duty of care
considerations and the leverage of technology solutions towards this end, in an
interview with a regional security manager for a multinational organization with
operations across the Asia Pacific (APAC) region, the following comments were
made.
Within their operational
footprint, at any given time there are more than 6,000 employees in the region
and pre-Covid there could be more than 1,000 employees traveling for work
purposes. There is a wide variety of risks that can impact travelers and
requires a comprehensive mitigation framework to bring the risks down to
tolerable levels.
The company utilizes a travel
assistance app for employees, but it also essentially serves as an information
portal where travelers can improve their awareness on the health risks and
security environment of their designated locations. However, the technology is
there to make it a lot more versatile and automated. Every traveler should have
a personal profile that they complete before their first trip with any health
conditions and vaccination status. The app should also be linked to the
company’s travel booking system, so any upcoming travel should automatically
flag if any extra vaccinations are required or if for example if the area is
prone to infectious diseases, and extra precautions are required.
Similarly with security risks,
many providers have some areas of India rated as LOW risk, others as MODERATE
and some as HIGH. It is one of the few countries that have the full risk
spectrum. Again, the app should be automated so if an upcoming trip is going to
a HIGH-risk zone, it is flagged. Even better, with GPS capabilities the app
could send a push notification if in close proximity to a designated HIGH-risk
zone.
The travel assistance industry
could go further and provide safety managers with ways to track travel of
employees and cross reference this with real-time incidents. While this is the
need of the current times, there is currently a mismatch between capabilities
and costs across most travel assistance platforms. An enablement in this regard
would allow companies to account for personnel and dedicate resources to those
that are in need of assistance. Again, this could be
automated so the if there is a
significant event, it sends out a notification to all in the proximity and the
travelers can either mark themselves as safe or needing assistance. The app can
also generate a notification to all the right parties in a company on employees
who are unaccounted and possibly need assistance. Overall therefore, while on
the right path, corporates still need to ensure that they are continually
aiming to enhance and integrate new travel assistance tech solutions for their
constituents and the services offered to employees via these programs.
Room for improvement
Travel assistance is an essential
service that has been around for decades, but it’s now being further
revolutionized by technology. Though the service has come a long way, there is
ample room for further innovations and improvements. Assistance providers that
can provide the technology that can reduce the bureaucracy of internal travel
approvals with more automated services will certainly be in high demand with
companies that have high volumes of travelers and take their duty of care
responsibility for travelers seriously.
There are also still practical
issues that need to be address in order to see the potential of technology
leverage in the travel assistance space. Even in developed countries, there are
still several areas that are underserved by internet connectivity. This could
hinder the process by which travel technology solutions can be of benefit to
even constituents in such countries. Connectivity matters becomes more of an
issue as companies have constituents who regularly travel to countries that
might have drastically reduced communication infrastructure. Organizations
could become overly complacent with using new travel tech systems in connected
areas, they forget that in times of crisis (either man made or natural) –
communication and technology could be one of the first segments to be adversely
impacted. Contingency measures and training should be thought about,
particularly for corporate travelling employees where duty of care
considerations are to be considered.
Travel Assistance companies that
leverage technology solution need to ensure their vendors are capable and data
storage of clients information is secure. With so many options out in the
market, constituents need the right travel assistance tools and employers must
provide the right technology to meet Duty of Care considerations. A due
diligence and practical run-through of travel assistance solutions should be
carried out continually to ensure that the products and services not only match
what is being advertised but can also perform under their intended use case. If
a travel tracking app and emergency button is being offered for traveling
employee, the organization and assistance provider must ensure or give
reasonable expectations to employee on how said emergency button will perform
in-country or while traveling. Several companies are now touting software and
risk management systems able of identifying and notifying real-time incidents
of matter as they occur, however it still falls upon respective travel
assistance companies to ensure that the use case of such solutions actually is
practical for their traveling clients and destinations.
Despite the challenges thrown upon
the travel industry over the Covid-19 pandemic, the future of corporate travel
and the travel assistance industry remains sound. We’ve seen technology change
the way we work, and how it’s quickly changing the way we travel and the wide
capabilities travelers have to interact with their destination offerings. The
key for the travel assistance sector is to stay ahead of the curve, keep up
with new developments in digitalisation, compliance and automation.
Neeraj Verma of Across Assist
concludes this piece well by commenting on the opportunities for travel
assistance companies, through evolving travel technologies, particularly in a
geographic area like South Asia. Post Covid that has been a surge in travel
across places like South Asia and in India alone domestic travel insurance
companies are already forecasting over $200 million USD in written premiums
alone for the upcoming fiscal year, depicting the bright future for travel
assistance services. Thereby in order to provide a seamless experience for the
consumer, assistance companies need to ensure they consider technology
solutions that provide end-to-end integration of insurance partners, products
offered, and services rendered. This is still the biggest challenge to most
travel assistance partners, but a worthwhile endeavour to pursue and account
for in order to stay relevant in the evolving digital travel assistance sector.
Ray Lyngdoh
Regional Consultant – India & South Asia
International Assistance Group