I have a new found appreciation for the effort it takes for both suppliers and buyers to figure out the mess we live in called corporate travel. Buyers are looking to create the best travel program for their company, by putting together a group of suppliers that meet their needs. They want good airlines, hotel, car rental companies and others. Then they want the infrastructure to ensure it gets pulled off.
Then there are the suppliers - all of which have something good (or maybe not so good) to sell and make these travel buyers the best they can be. And then there is the value - the value achieved by buying whatever it may be. And I make a very minor point here - value is not cost. Value is the perceived benefit to the corporation for the products and services they are buying.
The mess is the over complication of the products and services. What should one be looking at? What are the values that mean something to you or mean something to the company that you work for? Do you care about what something costs?
The life of travel is evolving right before our eyes. Where we buy and how we buy seems to be changing, and the words of pundits and pontificators flood the web, but it really does not matter. In the end, the customers will determine value and they will determine the fate of our industry. And hold on, because I think it will be a very interesting ride.
