IT solutions to be unveiled at business travel workshop

Presentations on customer relationship management and mobile Internet applications at this year’s Corporate Travel World (CTW) Asia-Pacific will give travel managers cutting-edge advantages in preparing for new technologies impacting the buying and selling of business travel.

The sessions will be held at a pre-CTW workshop for 80 participants at the Singapore International Convention & Exhibition Centre on 6 November.

Mr Paul Bennett, IBM Consulting, Travel & Transport will present the morning workshop on customer relationship management (CRM). It will explore ways in which the supplier can customise services to client requirements and enhance the value in the relationship.

The afternoon session, presented by Ms Carolyn Viens and Ms Lee Farnum, IBM Corporation, will investigate the role of the mobile Internet, what current providers are doing to embrace it, and how business travel managers can use it to enhance their programmes.

CTW project manager, Ms Angeline Lek, said the workshop would provide a forum for travel managers to grapple with two of the industry & suppliers’ most pertinent business travel management issues. These presentations will provide leading-edge information that will directly impact how travel managers can effectively manage their travel and entertainment spends and improve the travel experience of employees of their organisations.

She said: “CRM is critical to the success of travel industry providers and adds a new dimension and level of complexity to the role of the corporate travel manager. Equally vital is for travel managers to understand what to do in preparation for the next wave of Internet adoption.

“Millions of people are buying devices such as Internet-enabled cellphones that allow them to surf the Net and make transactions on the move. The anytime, anywhere Internet is going to revolutionise the travel industry,” noted Ms Lek.

CTW Asia-Pacific was launched as a one-day event in Kuala Lumpur in 1998, attracting 179 delegates and 19 exhibiting companies. The show moved to Singapore last year, and grew into a two-day conference, attracting 356 delegates and 30 exhibiting companies. The expansion of the show has continued this year, evidenced by the introduction of the pre-CTW workshop, an anticipated 500 delegates and additional exhibition space for up to 42 companies.

CTW Asia-Pacific is organised by Miller Freeman Pte Ltd, part of the United News & Media Group. Miller Freeman is one of the largest trade show and exhibition organisers and travel trade publishers worldwide. The conference is endorsed by ACTE, the international professional association supporting the upgrading of travel management skills among corporations.