Gearing Up With Global Phones

A growing, though relatively small, number of companies are integrating sourcing and deployment of global mobile phones under their travel management departments, but corporations have been slower than expected to adopt such other wireless devices as Web-enabled mobile phones and handheld computers.

Travel management companies continue to develop text-based wireless services and remain bullish on adoption rates over the next several quarters, but for now it appears that mobile phones are corporations' favored method of keeping in touch. Buyers' continued emphasis on traveler security and productivity has led to growth in company-procured mobile phones, especially for international travelers.

Most companies do not provide mobile phones for domestic travelers because many employees already have obtained domestic service themselves, said Norm Rose, president of Travel Tech Consulting in Belmont, Calif. However, "renting phones has become a hot international issue since the vast majority of U.S. mobile phones will not work overseas," Rose said, and that "would probably not change anytime soon."

Thom Nulty, president of Denver, Colo.-based mega Navigant International, estimated the percentage of corporate clients who purchase global mobile phones service in bulk as "less than 10 percent, but definitely increasing."

William Niejadlik, senior vice president of Atlanta-basedWorldTravel Interactive, said the number of "clients bringing mobile phones overseas is going up big time. Global mobile phones must have doubled in the past year." He said the cost of renting mobile phones is going down, but still is relatively expensive in Europe, at about 99 cents per minute, compared with a U.S. per minute charge of about 8 cents.

Execs at two large regional agencies, Jay Klein, senior vice president of Coral Gables, Fla.-based TraveLeaders, and Terry McCabe, president of Oakland, N.J.-based Stratton Travel Management, said travel managers' interest in deploying mobile phones for overseas travel is rising, but the number of companies with such deals still is small. "There has been a dramatic increase in the number of companies who are managing their mobile phones under the travel departments," Klein said, "but the portion of our clients doing this is still well under 10 percent."

Robert Rea, vice president of corporate property services for Chicago-based real estate and investment management firm Jones Lang LaSalle, encourages travelers to use mobile phones. "Travelers get the phones in their own names, but we negotiate discounted rates with suppliers." Rea has been able to negotiate discounts of around 20 percent on global mobile phone services, and even better rates on the purchase of phones from his preferred suppliers, Sprint PCS and AT&T Wireless.

"There are so many mobile phone suppliers out there that we don't want our people trying to figure what the best deal is for them," he said. Rea is responsible for between 3,000 and 4,000 travelers and "most have mobile phones with pre-negotiated international deals," he said. Rea also has negotiated an agreement with Palm on the purchase of handheld computers for "any employee who wants one," he said.

Global mobile phone providers said business is booming, although a large part of the market remains untapped. Josh Melhman, president of New York-based mobile phone provider TravelCell, said that between 65 and 70 travel managers from different corporations have signed up for the company's phone rental or purchasing services since Sept. 11, a 50 percent increase in his company's corporate clientele. "Almost 90 percent of the time," Melhman said, "our point of contact at client companies is the travel manager."

Sean Fulda, CEO of Baltimore, Md.-based UniverCell, said his company, which is growing by 200 percent annually, counts Sony among its list of corporate clients. UniverCell also works with several hundred agencies around the nation that rent phones to travelers, he said.

One large agency that partners with a mobile phone supplier is St. Louis-based mega TQ3 Maritz Travel Solutions, which this month announced an alliance with New York-based Cellhire. "We'll use our alliance to leverage our purchasing volume for the benefit of our clients who want to rent or purchase phones," said CIO Richard Spradling. "None of our clients have enough volume to negotiate substantial savings on their own.

"Along with global mobile phones, we strongly encourage the adoption of wireless messaging and booking," Spradling continued. "It has the potential to increase convenience and reduce cost by lowering call center traffic."

In contrast to the sharply rising corporate demand for global mobile phones, travel management companies said adoption of text-based wireless products is lower than expected. Martha Ferguson, product manager of travel applications at Philadelphia-based mega Rosenbluth International, said the agency is rolling out Rosenbluth Mobile, powered by Galileo Wireless, for just a single corporate client with 500 travelers. The service is $5 per user, per month.

Some travel managers have found success in wireless text messaging. Beryl Gibbs Roux, corporate travel manager for New York-based engineering giant Parsons Brinckerhoff, said, "Most of our frequent travelers have mobile phones or PDAs they take on the road. A lot of them have BlackBerry devices, which are pager-like units that send and receive e-mail. We deploy them through our IT department. It's an effective communications channel."

Michael Laughlin, vice president of corporate travel solutions for American Express, said the travel management company on Jan. 1 rolled out wireless text-based messaging and booking. The service, called Air Wireless, is experiencing a "steady ramp up in demand," he said.