Business Travel Executive, February 2020

SR SPECIAL REPORT Lets Chat Artificial intelligence is a major factor in the development of conversational commerce or c commerce using chat tools to communicate with consumers For example Apple Business Chat partners with a range of businesses including a number of travel service providers intuitively directing users to the appropriate business to respond to the inquiry Much of c commerce technology relies on a combination of conversational bots and live chats with a real person And its a growing trend Why c commerce shoppers message with brands In the US 48 of Gen Zers surveyed wish they could message more businesses It gets a little crazy when we start thinking about it Beard says At the same time some current limitations are likely to be overcome in the near future Today AI requires large sets of data in order to find meaningful patterns Walsh says Furthermore the data still needs some level of intervention by people in order to identify what data is important and what data isnt He anticipates the focus over the next five to ten years will likely be to improve in these key areas with advances allowing AI applications and services to run on less powerful devices and make real time decisions with little historical information That should help alleviate growing issues around storing large amounts of personal data It may also open the doors for more advanced self service bots innovative disruption management services and new fraud detection techniques Keying In Its important to realize that AI projects can be costly if not planned out properly Walsh points out Start by understanding what data you have available to your organization and how it could potentially be used to drive additional revenues or lower expenditures he says Perform some experiments using the data you have available so that you can estimate your potential yield should you invest further Working with AI also requires patience and an adjustment in self service Kubasik says However travelers should expect to see continued contextual information delivered to them and not have to 14 Business Travel Executive askBTE com February 2020 It will fade into near invisibility even while making a huge impact Technology will increasingly anticipate your needs Source Source Facebook global study The Evolution of Ecommerce Conversational Commerce by BCG 45 Product or pricing information 35 Instant responses at any time 33 Easy way to shop 31 Personalized advice 30 Ability to negotiate prices or offers dig to see if a hotel has a gym or restaurant or attractions they like are nearby he predicts A solid strategy for the present is pushing partners for greater insights and intelligence Hilgendorf says Challenge them to tie travel data together with your HR data CRM data and other relevant data sources He advises staying aware of consumer travel tools and asking partners how they intend to provide these types of services in the future Take a close look at traveler needs and existing policies and keep these emerging solutions in mind Dont sit on the sidelines waiting Lambert advises Look at how AI can improve your travel program today and at how your peers are using it to their advantage n