BTC Launches Y2K Info Effort For Business Travelers
<B> BTC Launches Y2K Info Effort For Business Travelers</B>
By David Jonas
The Business Travel Coalition has formed a Y2K Working Group to provide business travelers with accurate information and advice regarding the potential ill effects of the Year 2000 bug. The brainstorming group is comprised of corporate travel, human resource and information technology managers from more than 50 companies.
"The narrow focus is to address, based on what we expect to know in October, the concerns and needs of the business traveler from an internal corporate standpoint," said BTC chairman Kevin Mitchell.
BTC's Y2K Working Group, formed in the spring, will hold meetings about every six weeks throughout the summer and into the fall months.
In a preliminary report, BTC outlined traveler concerns, potential solutions for corporate support systems and communication strategies. Concerns include emergency contacts, inconvenience at the airport, the degree to which portable electronic devices will work, the ability to change travel plans from the road, and communication with family and the home office.
"A lot of corporations are just now getting to all this since the emphasis thus far has been on supplier compliance," said Mitchell, "but companies are starting to recognize the inevitable traveler communications issues."
Among issues that Black & Decker travel manager Pete Buchheit had not considered before formation of the BTC group are larger hotel chains leaving Y2K problem solving to franchisees, thus requiring meeting planners to contact individual properties, and the function of onsite agents if travel is slashed or eliminated. "I have 13 agents. What would they do for a month?" he asked.
The BTC report also suggests potential proactive remedies to the slew of problems that could surface, including prohibiting e-ticketing, restricting travel to certain regions, requiring pre-trip contingency planning, revamping international hotel selection criteria and modifying cash advance policies.
Additionally, corporations should consider developing support systems, ranging from contingency plans with credit card companies and 24-hour travel and security help desks to a Y2K intranet site and emergency training for international travelers.