ACTE Quarterly Index | Computer Chaos in the Year 2000 | Preparation...Implementation... And Accurate Measurement: The Basis of Automated Measurement | A Concept Whose Time Has Come | Tech Watch | Hotel Rate-Increase Forecast to Challenge Travel Managers | Regional Forums Calendar | ACTE Awards | DOT's Guidelines Polarize Business Travel Industry | Members in the News | ACTE Membership | ACTE X: A Retrospective Look Forward | Humor-It's Still the Same Old Technology
President's Message
Earl Foster, Acte President
Business travel is a common thread running through every firm in the global marketplace. No matter where you begin, the thread soon becomes the densely-woven fabric of international commerce. Our companies have become more global in the way we conduct business, and it is up to us to provide the technological solutions that increase the productivity and cost-effectiveness of every trip. It is a fact of our times that the thread of business travel management success is spooled on technology.
No other specialty field has gone through as many changes as the business travel management profession has at the instigation of technological advancement. Twenty years ago, some tickets were handwritten in this country. (They still are in other parts of the world). The secret weapon of decisive travel management in 1979 was a written travel policy. A staggering majority of travel departments were primarily commission-oriented and every aspect of the travel process was being routed across the travel manager's desk.
Each of these functions gradually evolved into something else or was eliminated as unnecessary. Today, the increased use of laptops with access to user-friendly reservations programs are allowing the traveler to initiate and complete business travel arrangements more quickly and efficiently (a notion that was inconceivable for most of the last two decades). The vision of end-to-end seamless data transfer, from trip conception to the final expense entries in the corporate ledger, is already a reality for some firms with many others studying the process. While the basic mission of the business travel manager has remained the same, the means to serve new corporate cultures and strategies has changed dramatically. We are virtually unlimited in our alternatives, but these options now require a greater expertise in the electronic manipulation of data and the analysis skills to turn that data into meaningful information.
Though the impetus for any significant change in corporate business culture is generally financial, it's technology that makes the final transition achievable. Never before have business travel management professionals been so challenged to stretch corporate travel dollars. As boardroom expectations rise against shrinking personnel and the dwindling hours in a week, our reliance on automation is guaranteed. Advanced technological development is indivisible from the future of business travel management. The ongoing evolution of our profession will, from this point forward, involve more complex and extensive applications of total-solution automation.
This is neither good news nor bad news.
It isn't news at all to members of the Association of Corporate Travel Executives. ACTE has been evaluating the impact of automation on the business travel management industry for the last two years. Working under the aegis of our Education Committee, ACTE has created an ideal environment in which our membership can familiarize themselves with the current crop of computerized travel management solutions. The first of our Technology Showcases was unveiled in Chicago on July 15. The association will host three more this year.
While these Technology Showcases are designed to fulfill a number of educational objectives, they allow our members a hands-on, side-by-side comparison of existing software and hardware. Business travel managers have been awaiting electronic miracles since the first program designed to pinpoint the lowest possible fares was trundled out for veneration. What many of us got was an introduction to vaporware. I'm pleased to report that ACTE is eliminating the smoke and mirrors. Our Technology Showcases provide business travel managers the opportunity to interact with software company representatives without high-pressure sales hype. This interaction is the first step in establishing a customer-driven market in which automated solutions are developed specifically to our specifications.
At ACTE, we prefer the dog to wag the tail.
ACTE Quarterly Index | Computer Chaos in the Year 2000 | Preparation...Implementation... And Accurate Measurement: The Basis of Automated Measurement | A Concept Whose Time Has Come | Tech Watch | Hotel Rate-Increase Forecast to Challenge Travel Managers | Regional Forums Calendar | ACTE Awards | DOT's Guidelines Polarize Business Travel Industry | Members in the News | ACTE Membership | ACTE X: A Retrospective Look Forward | Humor-It's Still the Same Old Technology
