Technologies that make business travel easier

The world of travel is a constantly evolving place, which is a good thing considering more people are travelling across the planet than at any other point in time. The industry cannot afford to stand still as business travellers and leisure travellers expect more and more efficiency in their journeys.

Technology in travel is something that has evolved beyond recognition in recent years. It’s changed everything from the way we book travel, to the ways we even define travel. We get to places quicker and when we get to our destinations they are invariably full of things to make our life more comfortable and more efficient than ever before.

The internet and our smartphones have totally transformed all of our expectations of service. The travel industry especially has benefited from a number of innovations and advancements in technology.

It’s never been quicker to get what we want and our travel experiences are getting more and more seamless and much more personalised.

Here are some of the things associated with business travel and examples of technologies that have made them easier over the years.

Booking

Booking flights, accommodation, car hire or whatever else you need for your trip used to rely on a travel agent or business travel company. However, you can now book all of these things from your phone on your way to the office.

If you have any issues then you don’t even have to wait for an email answer. You can often get instant replies through social media, messaging apps or through website chatbots.

A global serviced apartment provider such as thesqua.re  is a great example of a company who effectively utilises technology to make your travel experience as efficient as possible through technology.

Ticketing Process

This is something that has improved in leaps and bounds in recent years in terms of efficiency and, as a side benefit, in terms of the environment.

We used to need to print out airline tickets, boarding cards, hotel reservations, car hire confirmations. Now we can have all of these stored on our smartphone. It’s less time consuming as we don’t have to sit in front of a computer and print them out. It means we use less paper and we also have less to carry around with us, which is always a bonus.

Packing

Do you remember having to take the following on a trip away?

- CD Player and CDs (and later on a separate iPod)
- The latest novel (or a separate kindle)
- Translation book
- Camera

Nowadays you can stream music on your phone from anywhere thanks to apps such as Spotify. You can take a kindle but apps on your phone or tablet will also support books too.

There’s no need to take a book for translating as you have apps which can translate for you in a second, there’s even apps that can read text in a foreign language and translate it before your eyes.

If you want to be even more prepared there are even apps where you can learn a foreign language in advance.

Remember how much room all of these things used to take up, when all of them can now fit in your pocket?

Electronic Payments

Bundles of travellers cheques are a thing of the past thanks to things such as Apple Pay or Google Wallet. Cash purchases are quickly becoming obsolete too which increases convenience and improves your safety.

Think of all the things which you no longer have to do on a business trip,

- Wait in line at ATM machines.
- Carry multiple credit cards.
- Stop and think exactly what credit card you should be using.

Expenses Management

How painful did it used to be, remembering to collect a receipt for every transaction you made on a business trip and ensuring you kept them safe until your return?

How similarly painful was it to sort through all of these receipts on your return in order to claim the money back?

Filling out an expenses claim form and stapling bits of paper to it was enough to ruin even the most successful of business trips!

Apps are now available which allow you to keep track of your expenses by scanning in receipts onto your smartphone. A full expense report can then be completed within minutes without going anywhere near a spreadsheet.

Free-time

Any business traveller will tell you that winding down on a business trip is vital, luckily our smartphone has endless opportunities to keep us entertained, including,

- Contacting loved ones
- Games
- Portable home TV packages
- Restaurant bookings
- Meditation apps
- Fitness apps
- Social media

Technology has opened up endless possibilities for your business trips. That little device in our pocket keeps us efficient, environmentally friendly and entertained whilst we are away from home.