Mobile technology already has such an impact on business travel that most travelers say Wi-Fi is the most precious piece of mobile tech that aids in productivity while traveling. In fact, a majority of corporate travelers from many countries say it’s absolutely vital during every business trip.
That’s just one of the trends uncovered by the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) when it dug deep into ways mobile technology is impacting the industry.
Wi-Fi Reigns High
Wi-Fi’s popularity varied a bit among countries, although most travelers put it at the top of the list of travel necessities.
- 90 percent: Mexico
- 87 percent: Brazil
- 83 percent: Canada
- 81 percent: US
- 80 percent: United Kingdom
- 75 percent: Australia
- 70 percent: Germany
- 52 percent: Japan
Mobile Apps Are Where It’s At
Mobile apps are another business travel necessity for many, with apps provided by event organizers, travel suppliers or the travel destinations themselves. The majority of travelers from a number of countries either agrees or strongly agrees that apps can enhance the overall corporate travel experience.
- 57 percent: Australia
- 55 percent: US
- 55 percent: UK
- 53 percent: Canada
Travel Expense Management
Mobile technology in the expense reporting realm has helped many travelers streamline the expense management process, with the option of taking photos of receipts and submitting through a mobile device.
Submitting paper receipts still remains the most common method of validating expenses, although the US leads the pack when it comes to going paperless. Brazil and Japan are the most reliant on paper receipts; they also happen to be the two countries with the lowest satisfaction ratings for their expense management systems.
- 52 percent: Reliance on paper receipts in the US
- 78 percent: Reliance on paper receipts in Brazil
- 88 percent: Reliance on paper receipts in Japan
Other Mobile Tech Stats
Travelers are becoming increasingly open to new technologies, like digital wallets, which help them track expenses and payments on mobile devices. Mexican and Brazilian travelers are showing the most interest in this technology when compared to traveling employees from other countries.
Social media is part of the business travel experience for select groups of business travelers. The most interested group is travelers aged 18 to 34, with more women than men using social media during corporate trips.
Even though there is a lot of chatter about the sharing economy, few corporate travelers are embracing it. Only 20 percent of corporate travelers noted any interest in increasing their use of such services, with the younger set more likely than older travelers to engage.
Join the paperless expense management movement with Chrome River expense report software.
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Our choice of Chrome River EXPENSE was made in part due to the very user-friendly interface, easy configurability, and the clear commitment to impactful customer service – all aspects in which Chrome River was the clear winner. While Chrome River is not as large as some of the other vendors we considered, we found that to be a benefit and our due diligence showed that it could support us as well as any large players in the space, along with a personalized level of customer care.
We are excited to be able to enforce much more stringent compliance to our expense guidelines and significantly enhance our expense reporting and analytics. By automating these processes, we will be able to free up AP time formerly spent on manual administrative tasks, and enhance the role by being much more strategic.