As more corporations stop issuing phones to employees and
instead adopt a bring-your-own-device strategy, many travel managers
increasingly are recognizing the importance of monitoring and controlling their
travelers' mobile device usage. However, corporations generally are more
concerned with reducing expenses and ensuring traveler safety than developing
mobile policies that dictate permissible applications and usage. The right
policies, though, can accomplish all of those goals.
According to a Business
Travel News survey conducted from December 2013 to February 2014, about 46
percent of respondents indicated their organizations have a policy regarding
the use of mobile devices. That's up from 30 percent in a similar BTN poll of travel managers conducted in
2012. An additional 7 percent of respondents said they plan to create this year
such a policy.
"About 50 percent [of clients] have mobile policies,
but these relate more to equipment," said Carlson Wagonlit Travel executive
vice president of global marketing and enterprise strategy David Moran. "We
[as an industry] are moving more toward bring your own device."
Many travelers would like one app that allows them to do
everything related to their trips: booking and rebooking travel, viewing a
consolidated itinerary, checking in, monitoring travel disruptions and so on.
Similarly, a mobile policy should encompass the tools business travelers need
before, during and after their trips, according to Travel Tech Consulting president
and founder Norm Rose.
If travelers believe other tools will help them more than
those provided by their organizations, then the organization loses control,
according to Rose. "Booking out of policy and channel is becoming a
greater issue due to customer empowerment facilitated by mobile devices,"
he said. "The BYOD trend is exasperating the problem."
A BYOD World
When smartphones first were popularized about seven years
ago, companies weren't sure how to respond. They tended to limit their functionality
by issuing centrally purchased phones—namely BlackBerry phones—in an effort to
control the software loaded onto them, according to Mike Hilton, Concur
executive president and general manager for travel and expense.
Now that nearly all business travelers carry mobile devices,
organizations have "embraced the reality that smartphones are here to
stay," Hilton said. "That idea that [a company] can prevent apps from
being used by business travelers is getting harder to accomplish."
Generally speaking, companies either can provide a phone or
reimburse employees for all or part of their phone bills. IT departments
typically control what goes on the device if it's a company-provided phone, and
"if you reimburse then you can cap it, and you can budget really well,"
said Partnership Travel Consulting founder Andy Menkes.
Semiconductor manufacturer GlobalFoundries at one time
issued company phones to all employees and spent about $100 per user on monthly
phone packages. "People weren't utilizing that at all," said global
travel manager Debbie DeGrendele. "It was money out the window."
The company now provides company phones only to directors,
higher-level executives and some managers, and gradually is switching from
BlackBerry phones to iPhones. DeGrendele described the company's mobile policy
as "loose," but said it is "trying new things." About a
year ago, GlobalFoundries began a bring-your-own-device pilot with some
salespeople. There are no restrictions on the applications employees can
download, and she asks employees traveling abroad to turn their phones off when
not in use to avoid roaming charges.
Duty Of Care
Organizations are concerned with securing their travelers
and their IT systems, both of which protect the organization as a whole. Formal
mobile policies are needed in ways similar to policies governing web usage or
personal computers, said Paul Richer, founding partner of U.K.-based travel
technology consulting company Genesys.
For one, restricting what employees can and can't do on a
mobile device protects an organization's IT network from malware. It also
enforces corporate responsibility to "make sure nothing goes astray,"
such as an employee accessing illegal websites, Richer said. It further aids in
controlling costs while giving executives remote access to information stored
on central servers.
Established in 2008, Texas-based deepwater drilling company
Pacific Drilling has regional offices in Brazil, Nigeria, Singapore and South
Korea, as well as two drill ships and three additional ships under
construction. About 80 percent of the company's 1,100 employees travel. The
company issues BlackBerry smartphones to employees, but like many other
companies, it doesn't have a mobile policy.
Describing the company as "new," travel supervisor
Bobby Scott said Pacific Drilling is "still putting things in place"
as it looks to develop a mobile policy. On Scott's wish list are mobile
functions that would allow the company to keep track of employees in cases of
emergency and send travel alerts, and update personnel records and travel
profiles that can be synched with Pacific Drilling's travel management company
and used for bookings.
"We have a standard website where we have a lot of
information, but it's static information," Scott explained. "We're
looking at technology that will give us visibility on travelers and know when
they're affected and how quickly we can contact them whenever there's an issue."
NC4 senior director of travel risk solutions Eric Hankins
said that knowing where travelers are in real-time is a "critical"
function for organizations. NC4 provides situational awareness and real-time
reporting to provide employees and their managers with information on various
events from water main breaks to acts of terrorism. Traditionally the company
has tracked travelers through travel itineraries, but now is developing a
mobile app to enable employee tracking also via global positioning system
technology.
Developing A Policy
When developing a mobile policy, consultant Rose advised
corporations to begin with the traveler in mind. "You can't go top-down
and dictate use," he said. "You need to find out what applications
travelers are already using and what their needs are to figure out which tools
you can bring in and promote."
While Rose doesn't believe in banning certain applications
or websites, Menkes said there should be some limitations on downloading
third-party applications. Rather than banning applications, Concur's Hilton
champions an open platform where mobile devices, suppliers, applications,
booking and data tools connect and allow travelers to use the tools they need,
while simultaneously capturing the data their employers need.
However, companies like NC4 and travel booking and expense
system provider KDS contend that if a tool is valuable and user-friendly, then
travelers will use it.
"If you build into the app useful functionality,
something that's valuable to the end user, along with something that's valuable
to the corporation from the traveler-track and duty-of-care perspective, then
you have something that people will use regardless of policy," Hankins
said.
As with corporate cards, organizations also need to
determine when mobile devices are being used for business purposes versus
personal reasons, and reimburse accordingly, according to Menkes.
Future Technologies
It's challenging to sort through the hype and recognize the
technologies that will prove useful. Still, technology changes quickly, and
travel managers need to pay close attention to emerging trends.
Systems incorporating artificial intelligence that enable
platforms to learn, predict and automatically adapt to a user's needs and
habits quickly are emerging, according to Rose. In February, Grasp Technologies
announced it would release a new platform incorporating technology that could
learn from data to deliver a more tailored experience to users.
Another technology Rose is watching is iBeacon, Apple's
indoor positioning system using low-powered Bluetooth technology allowing both
iOS and Android users to send messages. Sabre has said it is exploring ways to use iBeacon on planes
to message travelers.
"We wouldn't have such an explosion of third-party apps
that focus on travel if there weren't unfulfilled requirements," Rose
said. "There's a big gap between the general technology and the corporate
travel market."
This report
originally appeared in the March 3, 2014, edition of Business Travel News.