AI Can Transform Business Travel For Small Businesses

As technology continues to advance and companies incorporate artificial technology into their workspaces, the tools used to plan a business trip or claim an expense can be entirely automated


The proportion of SMEs or small businesses travelling to engage in overseas business has risen to an all-time high of 83 per cent based on the findings of the Singapore Business Federation's 2017/2018 National Business Survey. 

For aspiring CEOs looking to succeed in the Asia Pacific region's relationship-centric economy, establishing business partnerships and alliances through physical networking and face-to-face discussion is vital, and business travel will play a huge role in maintaining business momentum and relationships. However, small business travel can pose a challenge for SMEs in terms of limited resources for productivity and budgeting. Thus, the challenge for many SMEs will be to manage business travel and expenses as a strategic driver of growth.

Tech Answers

Artificial intelligence (AI), as technology, has undergone many disruptive iterations, many businesses in today's economy are looking to the future to imagine how AI could transform business travel by solving two of the most significant issues on the minds of travel and HR managers: compliance and process. In the long term, AI adoption by the travel industry will revolutionise business travel management in a variety of ways, such as reducing compliance monitoring efforts and automating traditionally analogue tasks, including expense claim oversight and trip arrangements.

Here are three ways the use of AI can help SMEs as they look to grow their companies internationally.

Data-Driven Personalisation

Business travellers are usually on the go and appreciate efficiency, especially when travelling. With thousands of potential travel offerings available online, much time would be wasted sifting through options to find an ideal airline or hotel.

Through machine learning, AI can track and study user searches online to customise and recommend travel solutions based on past searches or location-based parameters. This could enable companies and travellers to improve the speed and accuracy with which they personalise their travel offerings and itineraries, such as airline preferences, hotels and car rental companies, based on parameters set by users. Instead of using a company agent, booking and planning could be accomplished quickly via an app or site, cutting the cost and time needed to plan the trip.

Workflow Automation

In the past, to book a work trip, one had to get in touch with a travel agent who then checked for available flights before replying with a listing and availability. In the ever-changing technological ecosystem, booking flights and accommodations have become increasingly more accessible and seamless. Today, one does not even need to deal with a travel representative from the start of a trip to the end.

As technology continues to advance and companies incorporate AI into their workspaces, the tools used to plan a business trip or claim an expense can be entirely automated. Why waste precious time scanning receipts and following a detailed expense reimbursement procedure when you could directly capture the receipt with your smartphone, upload it to an app and get it approved within minutes?

Insights

As larger companies invest heavily in AI, SMEs who use AI have an advantage in that they can process vast amounts of information in the blink of an eye. This means that data mined by your company and similar companies, such as travel details, can be used to provide insights that help SMEs make cost-saving decisions.

From finding the best flights and accommodations based on a specific budget and time frame to automatically scanning and extracting data for reimbursements or automatically importing data into the company's accounting software, incorporating AI into the workplace leaves less margin for error and ensures that everything moves as smoothly as possible from pre-trip to post-trip. It also helps SMEs cut costs and manpower requirements.

The use of AI is becoming increasingly mainstream and will soon—if it has not already—become the standard across business travellers, especially for SMEs looking to expand their businesses outside their country. By leveraging travel personalisation via data insights, AI will become a game-changer for all business sectors by providing smart applications and automated efficiency in the business process through optimal utilisation of organisational data.

Applying AI to business travel will open up a myriad of opportunities to improve and enhance the business travel experience. The technology as a whole is still in development, but it is the future. As it matures and scales, AI will expedite complex travel decisions, streamline the booking process and deliver more personalised recommendations for business travellers. With the advantage of automation, AI will free up more resources for SMEs to add value to their businesses and scale to achieve valuation and profit.




.

.

.

.

.

Info shared from https://businesstravel.postach.io/post/ai-can-transform-business-travel-for-small-businesses

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

10 Tips for Planning a Corporate Incentive Travel Program

Image
This article was originally written by Linda Bustos, provided courtesy of Human Services Directory (www.hrdirectory.org). Corporate incentive travel, is a great way to motivate and reward your valuable employees. Incentive travel can be group or individual, and the destination can be local or international. But every successful incentive travel program begins with careful planning. The following are tips to help you plan a corporate group travel program that fits your company’s culture, size and available budget: Determine your corporate incentive program goals. In specific terms, establish what the incentive program should accomplish. This could be an increase in sales, increase in production output or profits, or a reduction in defective products, sales returns or lost contracts. Be sure to assign a value to the improvement or reduction - a percentage, absolute number of units or contracts, or a dollar figure. Select the target group for the program. This could be mana
Read more

New Research Says It’s Time We Rethink Our Business Travel Programs

Ground transportation, sustainability, bleisure travel and meal options are just a few of the considerations, according to a new study from Uber for Business and GBTA Business travellers are taking to the roads and the skies again, but are corporate travel programs and policies keeping up with the way business travel happens now? With corporate travel and in-person meetings increasingly returning, businesses need to be thoughtful about how they’re implementing – or re-implementing – their travel programs, especially when it comes to their ground transportation. That’s the premise behind a first-ever ground transportation report – “The Corporate Travel Comeback: The Evolution of Ground Transportation and Other Trending Business Travel Topics” – which is based on a quantitative survey of corporate travel managers across the U.S. and Canada. From Uber for Business, Uber’s enterprise arm, and the Global Business Travel Association, the world’s largest association representing the pre-pande
Read more

The Expert-Approved Guide to Sleeping on a Plane

Image
We regularly work with corporate travel agencies and one of the things their client’s regularly complain about, is how they struggle to sleep on a plane and then have to be fresh and ready for that early morning business meeting. We found this great blog with a few super-easy tips to help you nod off at a few thousand miles in the air. While a few lucky folks can pass out easily upon takeoff, for most of us, quality in-flight sleep is a struggle. And that can lead to exhaustion and several nights of playing catch-up when you arrive at your final destination. Beyond the tips you likely already know—invest in earplugs, an eyemask, and a pillow; wear comfy clothing; and book a first class ticket with a lie-flat seat (#lifegoals)—here are more ways you can rest en route. 10 Secrets for In-Flight Sleep 1. Score a window seat. If you can reserve a window seat, lean against and rest your head on the side of the plane. (It's a lot easier than trying to fall asleep on a nec
Read more