Leadership Series Fireside Chat Edition 4 with Mr. Ashish Kishore, Managing Director - India , American Express Global Business Travel

The unprecedented scale and nature of COVID-19 has affected and altered our understanding and response framework of how to deal with unplanned disruptions affecting business. With lock-down measures in place across the globe, the art of conducting business underwent a massive overhaul from relying heavily on in person interactions to being connected via technology across the globe. However, as parts across the world move beyond the pandemic and look towards recovering and restoring economics corporate travel segment is expected to be the first to recover and spring back in action. While customers and prospects have become accustomed to e-interaction the power of human discussion is neither diminished nor undervalued.

With the above in mind, I along with Ashish Kishore, MD - India American Express Global Business Travel discussed, deliberated and attempted to decode the future of corporate travel and what can TMC's do as they plan to resume operations in the new normal. Here are some key takeaways from the discussion.

1.      Domestic Corporate Travel will recover fastest: The extreme lock-down measures have led to a pent-up demand in the system which will lead to corporate domestic travel kicking off as soon as countries relax policies and permit travel. The undeniable “power of presence” to meet customers, prospects and partners will be a driving force to boost both domestic and later international travel.

2.      Market’s dependent on international travel will witness slower recovery: Volume of business and leisure travel in markets that are reliant on an influx of international travelers will continue to see low demand volumes for a sustained period of time. In the post COVID era, India along with a lot of countries stand to benefit from the opportunities for in-sourcing being created.

3.      Confidence re-creation will drive demand: International travel will be heavily dependent on alliances and understanding between countries, destination location and the confidence of the traveler. This rebuilding will need to be a collaborative effort of the travel ecosystem. In absence of the traveler confidence, there will be limited travel regardless of other variables being ideal.

4.      New policies to support the new normal: Organizations would need to revisit the travel policies and include flexibility to support travel in the new business reality. The priority of the policy should revolve around safety and security of the employee viz a viz savings and eligibility of travel and accommodation category by employee band and seniority. The travel policy of each organization can no longer follow a cookie cutter approach but would need to be agile, flexible and unique in context to the business challenge and desired outcome for that particular organization.

5.      Travel triggers will be heavily scrutinized before approvals: Corporate travel will now be viewed as a revenue function rather than a cost function as it will be an essential expense to generate more business. In the pre-COVID world, companies realized $12.50 in incremental revenue for every dollar spent and this RoI will continue to be monitored extremely closely by senior management from the time a request for travel comes for approval till a justifiable RoI is produced to substantiate the investment made. 

6.      Rate Audit Framework is due for an upgrade: While savings will stay a crucial parameter while conducting audits for rates, safety and hygiene of both mode of transportation and location of accommodation will be the central to the decision making process. This framework evolution will happen across a period of time when RoI analysis patterns emerge from post-COVID travels.

7.      "Duty of Care" will regain prominence: Deliverance of "duty of care" will continue to be a priority, it will now occupy the mind-share of a larger piece of management as travel will resume in the current scenario. Employee compliance to travel policies will witness heavy enforcement to ensure that employees on travel abide by these rules and continue to remain safe and deliver on the expectations of the business

8.      New trends will emerge: Commuting by car either self-driven or chauffeur driven will become popular with people now trying to avoid mass transport options like planes and trains to keep themselves safe and infection free. The expectation on hygiene levels at all touch points will be higher for the business travelers in the normal. Travel managers too will see a shift of role from being focused on cost and delivery of service to a holistic manager who is worried about the safety and well-being of the corporate traveler. Facilities management will also get a seat at the table as employee safety will become priority. Technology and content will dominate business and revenue in the post COVID era.  

9.      BLEISURE is here to stay: With international leisure travel expected to recover slowest, corporate travelers will try to benefit and maximize on their experiences during corporate travels to international destinations. Millennials and Gen Z will be a driving force behind the trend and will act as influencers to re-create inspire and boost travel confidence about a location being safe by harnessing the power of social media.

10.  Upgrade to remain upto-date: In order to remain relevant for the millennial traveler a TMC's should look at investment in technology to streamline operations and make the processes agile in order to deliver a seamless end to end experience. Content (both preventive and aspirational ) will also play an important role in building traveler trust. AMEX GBT’s mobile app is aligned to meet all needs that a corporate traveler will requires and acts as another channel to be able to deliver anything-anywhere-anytime

11.  Mistakes to avoid in the new normal :

a.      Break the cycle of cash flow based approach for corporate travel needs for a #BetterTomorrow

b.     Create conviction about the brand, product and service in your customers to boost confidence

c.      Collaboration is Central: Your vendors are partners in your journey to success. Change approach of partnership with Airlines and Hotels to a long-term approach to develop relationships and co-create value.

To hear the complete session visit: https://bit.ly/CorporateTravelpostCOVID