The global community will see significant changes in nearly every sector, but new ideas that can benefit the future are likely, according to SAP Concur predictions for 2021.
Here are the predictions:
1. Business travel will resume, responsibly
2021 will usher in the era of responsible travel. A coalition of players across the industry will increase work to regain the trust of customers, showing that travel can indeed be safe. They will begin to restart business travel in earnest in 2021. Those who must travel—members of the C-suite, salespeople, and essential workers—will remain as early adopters. Travel providers, including hotels, airlines, rail providers, ridesharing, and car rental services, may require travelers to disclose their COVID-19 health status until a vaccine is available and widely adopted. Mid-to-late in the year, the experiences of early adopters, measured by low infection rates, will then influence the broader base of travelers.
Businesses will raise the bar on health precautions. As border policies change with the rise and fall of regional COVID-19 case numbers, companies will require employees to comply with government guidelines, such as quarantine requirements before and after trips. More mainstream mask requirements are also a possibility, with travellers proving compliance through documentation throughout the trip that they have complied with mask mandates. These protocols will address what an SAP Concur study identified as global employees’ top concerns: infecting their families (55%) and getting sick themselves (53%) during a business trip.
Sustainability will be the table stakes. New environmental research compels companies to use the temporary pause in travel to add new environmentally sustainable practices to their corporate travel programs. For example, Microsoft’s purchase of sustainable aviation fuel to reduce pollution from commercial flights most frequented by its employees. These efforts will inspire the 69% of travelers who rank sustainability as important to them feel more comfortable and encouraged about returning to travel.
– Mike Koetting, Chief Product Strategy Officer, SAP Concur
2. AI at work will accelerate
The pace of digital change in business and society will sharply increase. Many companies were in the early and mid-stages of digital transformation when the pandemic struck. They pivoted and sped up that transformation to address unprecedented global disruption and customer needs, and now they will be expected to continue operating within this new context.
Automation will become essential, not extra. As businesses maintain hybrid remote-working models and anticipate other potential disruptions in 2021 and beyond, the role of automation and AI use cases in the workplace will grow.
– Andy Watson, SVP & General Manager for Asia Pacific Japan and Greater China, SAP Concur
3. Diversity, equity, and inclusion progress will take a village
It’s been a whirlwind for workplace culture in 2020. The pandemic has led to a decline in employees’ mental health and increased worldwide unemployment—including a great number of women leaving the workforce.
2021 will bring a new wave of policy makeovers beyond HR. More representatives across the organisation will get involved. Finance leaders will do their part to inform the business case for diverse hires and avoid the financial repercussions of turnover. These companywide cultural shifts will also include travel departments that are under more pressure than ever to ensure the health and safety of traveling employees. SAP Concur research identified safety and harassment issues for women and LGBTQ travellers, and the potential for travellers of Asian descent to face discrimination as business travel resumes. We can expect some legacy travel policies, like prioritising lowest logical fares, will shift to address more safety and employee-centric measures in 2021 and beyond.
– Amy Padgett, Sr. Director, Product Strategy Communications, SAP Concur
4. Consumer travel will look different
Longer stays are here to stay. From changing quarantine policies to a newly-expanded meaning of WFvH (work from vacation home), quick trips are no longer accessible to consumer travellers in the way they were pre-COVID. TripIt data show an increase in trip duration—spanning flight, lodging, and car rentals— indicating that travellers are planning trips with intention.
Sustainable sustainability. The pandemic has effectively hit the pause button on emissions, which are projected to be eight percent less in 2020 than they were in 2019. Travellers are increasingly demanding any recovery in travel to be rebuilt sustainably, from more effective seating layouts to low-carbon sustainable aviation fuel. In 2021, look for consumer travellers to spend more time at their destinations; utilise paperless boarding pass and itinerary solutions; dine at restaurants that offer locally sourced food; and stay in hotels that are more eco-friendly.
Digital health passports and travel corridors will become mainstream. Travel corridors will become more prevalent in 2021, especially in the spring. Vaccines are coming, which will increase traveller, travel supplier, and government confidence globally, although it is unclear how long disbursement will take and it is likely there will be global inequities in the speed in which the vaccine is rolled out. Travelling from highly-vaccinated countries to less-vaccinated countries could therefore be problematic. Rapid testing is expected to become more accurate and prevalent, allowing travel and the hospitality industry to continue to reopen. Digital health passports, displaying a traveller’s vaccine or negative test status, along with travel corridors, will emerge as we transition to a new normal in global travel.
– Fiona Ashley, VP, Travel Marketing, SAP Concur
Featured image credit: Getty Images
