AI-powered automated assistants are paving the way toward that goal. They’re helping business travelers plan trips, avoid hazards and even enjoy the travel experience more than before.
Here’s how AI-assisted business travel looks today—and a hint at what it will look like in the near future. In the future, this technology will be even more impressive. Judy will be able to simply tell her voice assistant, “Sandra, I need to see Elsa next Tuesday.” Within seconds, “Sandra” will have prepared a full itinerary that meshes not only with Judy’s preferences and calendar but also with her company’s travel policy and budget.
To celebrate the deal, Judy wants to order Champagne. That makes her a bit nervous—will her managers accept a bottle on her expense report? In the near future she won’t feel that anxiety, since she’ll be able to audibly ask her assistant whether the company expense policy covers Champagne—and get back an immediate answer. That answer won’t necessarily be yes or no, either. The assistant might offer a compromise, telling her to forgo the expensive French stuff and choose a local bubbly instead.
In the past, travelers had to collect sheaves of receipts and painstakingly fill out expense reports after trips. By the time Judy is back home, by contrast, her expense report is ready. Her assistant has combined data from pictures of physical receipts, data from travel suppliers’ electronic receipts, and credit card data to pre-populate the information in her expense reports, so all Judy has to do is review and submit. Dealing with expensing still might not be fun, exactly.
Either way, the AI application’s ability to recognize context and exceptions is a boon for the company.