Using travel data to build benchmarks and predictive analyses is a top priority for two-thirds of travel managers in North America, according to a new report.
The Travel Management Priorities report from Carlson Wagonlit Travel (CWT) shows 67 percent of managers cite this as a priority. This is compared with 63 percent of respondents across all regions.
Deploying a fare tracking and rebooking solution was chosen by 59 percent of respondents, with 58 percent opting to focus on promoting their mobile apps to increase travelers’ on-the-go efficiency in 2015.
“Travel managers are looking to translate data into insights and promote mobile technology to improve traveler experience. Ultimately it’s about refining travel programs,” explained David Moran, executive vice president with responsibility for global marketing and enterprise strategy at CWT.
Interestingly, North America was the only region where leveraging travel data came out on top. Mobile app promotion won out in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (60 percent) while deploying fare tracking and rebooking solutions were cited by 81 and 64 percent of respondents in Latin America and Asia Pacific respectively.
Other priorities mentioned in the survey included using big data to adapt travel policies, streamlining expense management processes, looking at dynamic pricing opportunities for hotel sourcing and deploying an online door-to-door booking tool.
In December 2014, CWT released other findings from the survey revealing that North American travel managers think mobile technology will have the biggest impact on their operations compared with other regions.
Latin American travel managers cited the economy, while those in Europe, the Middle East and Africa chose corporate social responsibility and Asia Pacific respondents picked low-cost carriers.
“We saw a nine percent increase in responses this year, giving us more insight than ever into the trends that will affect our industry next year,” Mr Moran remarked at the time.