The airline industry, a realm often characterized by its intricate web of distribution and a stubborn adherence to legacy systems, is poised for a significant transformation.
At the heart of this impending shift lies the New Distribution Capability (NDC), a standard designed to modernize how airfares and ancillary products are sold.
Yet, for all its promise, NDC’s journey from concept to widespread adoption has been anything but smooth, particularly within the corporate travel sector.
Now, a new collaborative effort emerges, aiming to clear the roadblocks and finally usher in a new era of airline retailing.
Accelya, a prominent technology solutions provider for the airline industry, has joined forces with Temoji, a UK-based corporate travel consultancy, to establish the Business Travel Innovation Group (BIG).
Announced on Wednesday, July 16, 2015, this forum is not just another industry talking shop; it’s a direct response to the growing impatience among corporate travel buyers who have found themselves caught in the frustrating gap between NDC’s potential and its practical implementation.
The genesis of BIG stems from candid conversations between Accelya’s Chief Customer Success Officer, Tye Radcliffe, and Temoji Founder, Paul Tilstone.
Both recognized a critical void: the voice of the global corporate buyer, often drowned out by technical complexities and divergent stakeholder interests, needed a dedicated platform.
“We want to create a safe space for corporate buyers to give anonymised feedback,” Radcliffe explained, emphasizing the crucial role this direct, unvarnished insight will play in shaping airline roadmaps and strategies.
Comprising 20 corporate travel buyers from leading enterprises and mid-market organizations across North America and Europe, BIG wields considerable influence.
This collective represents a purchasing pool with a combined annual travel spend exceeding US$40 million for even the lowest-spending company within the group.
The majority of these members, approximately two-thirds, hail from North America, reflecting a significant segment of the global corporate travel market.
What makes this group particularly insightful is their firsthand experience with NDC.
While roughly 80% have, to varying degrees, successfully implemented NDC in their operations, the remaining 20% have grappled with significant accessibility issues.
This disparity isn’t merely a statistic; it’s a rich vein of real-world “pain points”—whether technical glitches or functional hurdles—that provide invaluable learning for accelerating broader NDC adoption.
The average difficulty level reported by these buyers stands at a daunting 7.1 out of 10, with a telling 39% citing coordination challenges, rather than the technology itself, as the primary stumbling block.
This highlights a fundamental truth: innovation, however brilliant, falters without seamless collaboration.
Tilstone notes that discussions within the forum will transcend mere problem-solving; they will actively foster greater industry collaboration.
This approach is designed to expedite a transition that, by many accounts, has been moving at a glacial pace.
Unlike existing models such as those championed by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) or the Airlines Reporting Corporation (ARC), BIG isn’t looking to supplant established industry standards.
Instead, it aims to work in concert with them, acting as a pragmatic conduit for the buyer’s perspective directly into the ongoing development of capabilities and future strategies.
It’s about bringing the real-world operational needs of the customer to the very table where the future of distribution is being constructed.
In conjunction with the launch of BIG, Accelya and Temoji have released a white paper, drawing insights from industry stalwarts like Accenture, Salesforce, and ZS Associates.
This publication distills the collective wisdom into seven critical “must-haves” for corporate purchasers, deemed essential for NDC’s successful integration into corporate travel.
These imperatives paint a clear picture of what buyers genuinely need: an Omni-Channel Experience ensuring consistency across all booking channels; Verified Savings and Simply Priced fares that offer transparent and trustworthy cost explanations; Seamless Servicing from All Parties, guaranteeing quality support from every stakeholder; Buyer-Dominated Economics, shifting cost and benefit control towards the purchaser; Frictionless Payments & Settlement through integrated systems; Personalization, Not Bundling, delivering tailored products rather than generic packages; and critically, Support for the Goal of Sustainability, aligning corporate travel with broader environmental targets.
These “must-haves” are more than just a wish list; they represent the foundational pillars upon which widespread NDC acceptance will be built.
They speak to the core desires of corporate travel managers: efficiency, transparency, control, and relevance.
The findings from BIG are expected to fuel a new industry-wide initiative, slated for unveiling at the Global Business Travel Association’s annual convention in Denver next week.
This program will directly address the NDC application support gap, enhance stakeholder coordination, and instill the much-needed confidence for scaling NDC use across both airline and corporate travel segments.
NDC, at its core, promises to reshape the very relationship between airlines and their corporate clients.
It offers the potential for unprecedented personalization, increased transparency in pricing and ancillary services, and significant operational efficiencies.
For corporate customers, this translates into the ability to deliver more customized fare and product offerings, potentially yielding tens of thousands of dollars in annual savings and, perhaps more importantly, fostering a more satisfied and productive traveler workforce.
Yet, the path to large-scale adoption has been fraught with the complexities of coordinating a diverse ecosystem of airlines, travel agents, and corporate buyers.
The Business Travel Innovation Group, facilitated by Accelya and Temoji, stands as a beacon of collaborative hope.
By creating an open and collaborative space, it aims to dismantle the barriers that have long hindered progress.
The feedback meticulously collected within this forum will not merely be data; it will be instrumental in charting the future development and deployment of NDC, paving the way for a more effective and efficient future for airline distribution.
This initiative promises to inject much-needed pragmatism and direct user insight into an evolving landscape, ensuring that the skies truly lead us to a more connected and efficient future.
The industry will undoubtedly be watching closely as BIG continues to develop its insights and influences the trajectory of corporate travel.
