Travel Megatrends 2018: Back-End Travel Tech Gets a Design Renaissance
Photo Credit: Professionals increasingly expect the tools that they use for their jobs to be as intuitive and helpful as the consumer apps they use on their mobile devices. Several companies, such as Concur, Sabre, and Expedia, are bringing such improved tech to professionals this year. Skift / Bing Qing Ye
Skift Take
The travel industry urgently needs operational software that normal people find intuitive, flexible, and powerful. Otherwise it will lose efficient early-career workers to other sectors that have superior tools.
Skift Megatrends 2018
In January 2018 released our annual travel industry trends forecast, Skift Megatrends 2018. You can read about each of the trends on Skift, or download a copy of our magazine here.Easier-to-use business software has begun to spread in the travel industry, promising to make workers more efficient.
Technology vendors such as Sabre, Expedia, and Duetto are responding to a demand by travel companies. “Business buyers are demanding the same type of experience that they enjoy as consumers using sites like Amazon,” said Ellen Keszler, a technology consultant who sits on the board of many travel companies.
While workplace tools will never be as easy to use as a mobile app to order a pizza, they are becoming more intuitive to work with.
A few years ago, enterprise applications drew twice as many complaints on average as consumer applications did, according to a study by research firm MeasuringU. But a change in the way businesses are buying software is driving improvements.
Until recently, companies sold enterprise software to airlines, travel agencies, hotel chains, and others in the following way: The vendor cut a one-time deal with someone in the C-suite (often after many free ticket
