Business Travel: On The Rebound

I offer no prescient predictions about business travel in the downturn. Or in the upturn, because travel will rebound, as it always does. Like economic forecasters, I can only react to events with sapient hindsight and reflect on the past mistakes of others.

But it’s an ill wind, as they say… And, indeed, the economic downturn has been good for business, according to an American Express survey of senior UK finance executives, over half (58 per cent) reveal that decisions made during the downturn have improved their firms’ long-term prospects.

‘Business travel spending increases are planned in those areas of travel that are linked to revenue growth,’ the survey quotes. And I am betting that these increases are focused on such areas as winning new business; protecting and developing client/customer or partner relationships; and networking at industry conferences and events.

My credo has always been… ‘What is bad for the travel trade is good for the traveller; and vice versa’. Although I’m happy to discuss caveats and corollaries.

Road warriors have always made travel decisions on a shifting equation of cost, convenience and comfort, depending on where they are headed and the purpose of the trip.

But tighter budgets and the sheer hassle of travel today have thrown into sharper focus the need to assess the ‘productivity’ of a business trip, taking into account the cost of management time rather than the cost of travel alone.

So, whenever a business interaction is needed, instead of automatically thinking of a trip, even inveterate road warriors now consider other alternatives first, such as videoconferencing in every form – from state-of-the-art virtual reality to an old-fashioned telephone call.

Travel is no longer the first resort if a business meeting is required. Videoconferencing can be an essential complement to travel. Fly to New York and hold a videoconference with the troops in various cities instead of traipsing around the country to visit them.

‘Travel management’ has evolved from being essentially a bookkeeping function to ‘management’ in the purer sense. ‘Why are we making this trip? What are we going to achieve? Can we do business some other way?’

Companies are reshaping the pattern of their travel. Management productivity has become the new byword for business travel.

Consider a spectrum from what you might call ‘hard-core’ business travel (a sales trip, or clinching a deal) and internal meetings with associates and partners, to ‘soft-core’ travel (association conferences, exhibitions, seminars and incentive trips). Videoconferencing has substituted some internal company travel, such as visiting other plants and offices. Not everyone needs to travel to the same place for a monthly update. There is a need to build relationships, but not to meet every time.

Videoconferencing is best used for getting things done rather than building relationships.

It can help to accelerate decision-making by letting people interact more often and move things along. It allows for informal and impromptu meetings that would not happen otherwise.

There is also the ‘opportunity cost’ of travelling somewhere when it might be more productive going somewhere else, or having somebody fly in to meet you in the office, where you can call other people if you need them to contribute to the discussion.

It is fairly easy to quantify travel productivity for sales people and line managers; harder for other staff. But that’s another challenge.

The ‘bottom-line’ in management productivity, of course, is getting other people to visit you.