Buyers Eye Emerging Role - 2001-02-26

<B>Buyers Eye Emerging Role</B>
<I>Wireless: First In A Three-Part Series</I>

By Megan Hjermstad

Despite the hype over wireless devices, and the suggestion that travel-related applications are a natural fit, the management of wireless devices for business travel still is only conceptual. Industry sources agreed that near-term deployment of managed travel applications would be premature, but savvy travel managers have begun strategizing for the future.

To maximize the value wireless travel applications can offer corporate travelers, corporations soon will need to provide company-sanctioned devices or promote certain vendors to establish consistency in operating platforms. Meanwhile, travel application providers must continue to developing notification and booking services for managed travel. Wireless vendors also have to further develop their networks to provide better coverage and improve the functionality of wireless tools for booking travel.

Nonetheless, the excitement surrounding wireless travel is warranted. According to the Boston-based research firm, IDC, the number of wireless Internet travel services users, will climb from more than 1 million this year to more than 22 million by 2004. Industry visionaries agreed that managed wireless travel is coming but it will take a few years for adoption.

Bob Lichtman, principal of Nevada-based Corporate Solutions Group, said, "this is Version 1.0, the first iteration geared for travel, so utilization is pretty minimal. As people become more comfortable with the concept, they are going to look for applications." Lichtman predicted the next 12-month period would unleash a demand for travel applications.

Danny Hood, president of WorldTravel BTI, agreed. "We are just at the beginning. If you're a corporate travel manager, these are some of the first generation of tools that are approved by IT, approved by security, approved by the corporation." Hood compared the adoption of wireless tools to two times that of self- service reservations, which has had a slow uptake, but is seeing rising adoption rates now that sites are more graphical and user friendly.

In fact, most travel managers view flight notification as the most useful travel application, which is intimately connected to the dynamic profiles hosted on corporate intranets and as part of online booking systems.

"For corporate travel managers who are looking at travel applications, most are more excited about the value of flight notification for travelers. For people to have active itineraries pushed to pocket devices, that's going to be really exciting," said Hood.

Dorian Stonie, Internet travel technology manager for Hewlett-Packard in Palo Alto, Calif., predicted managed wireless travel will take at least two to three years, because not all travelers have these devices.

"Even if they do have them, how long until we fully develop service? The potential is huge, but it does take time to adapt," said Stonie.

Travel managers can play an active role in promoting and encouraging the use of wireless applications to speed adoption.

"Travel managers realize that they have to be proactive about it," said John Heilner, a consultant with Management Alternatives/MSIG in Princeton, N.J. "Wireless seems natural for the travel manager to tackle because road warriors always need the latest and greatest technology. It also would help travel managers define their responsibilities and value within the company."

But many travel managers feel it is premature to dedicate energy to marketing travel products for wireless, when Web-enabled wireless devices are not yet pervasive. Jim Lennon, director of travel management for New York-based PricewaterhouseCoopers, said, "You communicate and push for it, but what is the value and to how many people? Lots of employees have Palms but how many are connected to the Web? As pricing goes down and applications improve, it will be there."

Corporations could help deploy the devices themselves, but they for the most part are not extending wireless devices to employees because it is an expensive undertaking for something that is viewed as a luxury, rather than a necessity. John Klem, president and CEO of Gelco Information Network, said, "You don't see companies buying phones or personal digital assistants for employees, it's not an enterprise application. It's pretty much an individual productivity tool that you may or may not be able to expense and it's the department heads who decide whether to pay for these devices."

Stonie said H-P does not provide devices internally, but there is penetration to the traveler base of individually purchased Palm OS, Windows and WAP-enabled cell phones.

But while individual consumers based on their own needs can select and purchase products--and possibly even be reimbursed--that policy does not result in companywide consistency. Declan Boland, principal of IBM business innovation services, said, "Until now, there was very little deployment of PDAs by IS departments. You don't see IS departments saying, 'let's give 100,000 IBMers the PalmVII.' They tend to be individual purchases, so there is no standard within the company. Still, the de facto standard seems to be Palm."

Corporations that deploy a single device companywide can benefit from having a consistent operating system that IT departments can build on. Some corporations, such as Thomson Corp., have made strides toward standardizing platforms merely by influencing employees' purchasing decisions. "We don't have a policy per se around wireless devices. We absolutely encourage exploiting them. Instead, we try to put standards around what wireless devices are used so we can force some consistency in platforms to make it much easier from a support perspective," said director of corporate travel Christopher Staal. "It allows us to say, 'we're only using Blackberry and Palm OS, so what can we do now with various areas, including travel, that can help us to take advantage of having those devices?' "

Thomson is looking at wireless booking, and encouraging travelers through Web-based booking products to use the flight notification services that get sent to wireless devices.

Thomson has partnered with a cell provider on Web-enabled phones, as has Intel's Sacramento Campus, said travel manager Bill Amaral. But travel buyers play little to no role at this time in selecting the wireless devices. Amaral said his only involvement with the decision was linking the service charges to the American Express corporate card for billing.

Mike Kabo, director of global travel programs for El Segundo, Calif.-based Computer Sciences Corp., said his travel department works with the telecommunications department, which has contracts with specific suppliers on mobile phones. "We feed them information and bounce things back and forth," said Kabo. "It is a team effort because you almost need to develop a corporate standard, but that's way beyond what most travel managers' charter is, though it doesn't mean they don't play a role."

Kabo said it's a little early in the United States for widespread wireless adoption. "My European colleagues are using mobiles more effectively and have better technology than we have here, so we're watching to see how that plays out," said Kabo. "It's a case-by-case basis on how they get things justified. We will probably take our lessons from that."

While the general perception is that Europe and Asia/Pacific are ahead of the curve, it isn't clear that European travel managers have found a use for travel applications yet either.

Cathrine Wickerts, travel manager for Skanska in Sweden, said her role is basically just to keep track of what's available, so she can answer questions from travelers. She said the technology is not user- friendly enough and does not save travelers time. "If I were shopping for technology, wireless would be low on my priority list," said Wickerts.

Indeed, many travel managers put wireless at the bottom of their priority lists, and certainly as secondary to Internet-related technology. "We are really looking at technology with a higher ROI in areas of Web-based bookings and cost savings that can be delivered," said Stonie. "Web-based is established technology, it's just a matter of using it with respect to corporations."

Many people still are skeptical about the use of wireless applications, beyond flight notification and schedule information, for changing and booking flights. Nick Athanasiou, CEO of Interride, said, "My sense is this is a lot of hype, focused around a value proposition for the consumer that I'm still scratching my head on. The ability to complete a transaction has so far not been very good."

Val Cordell, director of corporate travel for Redwood Shores, Calif.-based Oracle, said, "My strong opinion is that we never will see it used for booking or changing flights. I have rarely talked to a traveler willing to type in information on a cell phone. People really want it for information, which the airlines have done a very good job with."

One of the problems is that while the booking technology is there, it doesn't have the functionality required for managed travelers. For example, the GetThere/Sabre BTS application doesn't provide responses to the user in synch with corporate policy the way the desktop version does. Other products being developed by vendors such as Galileo and OAG can't account for charges as a result of changes unless the user is plugged into an online booking system.

"What happens if you have a high percentage of non-refundable tickets? The problem is, if you have highly restrictive tickets, how do you factor in the penalty. Most applications are built now to deal with refundable changeable tickets," said H-P's Stonie.

In the meantime, travel managers are testing wireless applications, though on a relatively small scale.

"Companies I've spoken with are only interested in rolling it out initially to really frequent travelers, to test and get feedback for the rest of the organization," said John Dabek, CIO of Rosenbluth, which is piloting wireless notification, cancelation and rebooking with more than 20 corporations.

Betty Moilanen, worldwide commodity manager of travel and conference services for J.D. Edwards, said WorldTravel BTI and GetThere are promoting it, and an IS person participates in a program with WorldTravel. Cordell said Oracle has been beta testing E-travel's wireless product, but it hasn't been rolled out internally. Neither buyer, however, is doing any internal marketing of the products.

While wireless may be a distant speck on the radar screen, travel managers can be vocal and proactive even now.

Said Lichtman, "travel managers need to contact developers of travel components, because at some point in the near future they're going to be looking at it. They should be asking, 'what can you do to meet my needs?' It has got to be driven by the corporate customer."

<I>For wireless offerings today and tomorrow, see parts two and three on March 12 and 26.