Business travel can help bottom line and economy

Despite the increased use of video conferencing and other web based communications tools the need for in-person meetings remains high as this study suggests. Some interesting numbers mentioned.

in reference to: Study: Business travel can help bottom line - Business travel- msnbc.com (view on Google Sidewiki)

TV Shapes Up as Web Battleground

The development of TV sets as better web access tools could have an impact on the travel industry, especially for trip planning. Reviewing sites, watching videos and being able to interact on a large screen could make the whole experience better than on a computer screen.

in reference to: TV Shapes Up as Web Battleground - WSJ.com (view on Google Sidewiki)

Social Media Revolution - It's happening right now!

If you still think this doesn't matter for your business, think again.

Everyone's personal web page a must?

might be a future reality according to this Real Time column in WSJ.com by Jason Fry. He raises a number of interesting points that will indeed make this a general reality as it is already for a fast increasing number of people who can easily be found on the web today. In the networked world we live in today, where radical transparency is another fact of life I can imagine this scenario.

I found this quote by Curt Monash particularly poignant: "The Internet WILL tell stories about you, true or otherwise. Make sure your own version is out there too." It's a necessity for companies today and might become one for everybody in future, who knows.

One thing seems obvious to me, this new reality will have a profound impact on how to market products and services effectively.

Are you ready?

The Hyperconnected: Here They Come! is the name of a new IDC study of global communications habits commissioned by Nortel. They interviewed 2400 working adults in 17 countries. This will have implications on how business is being conducted as this group expands at a rapid pace and travel will certainly be affected. Their demands on the user experience will be higher than those of the less connected. They will also very likely be more willing to post their comments and reviews, good or bad, to their social network and beyond.

The study can be downloaded from the article page. Better get ready!

Technorati Tags: IDC, Nortel, communications, hyperconnected

“Making Sense of the Semantic Web”

This is a great video by Nova Spivack of Radar Networks on this topic still often misunderstood. I agree with his definition of the terms web 1.0 / 2.0 / 3.0 being about time periods in the development of the web. We're now just about at the end of the second decade (2.0) and will enter the next (3.0) around 2010.

There will be definite implications on travel and the customer experience of researching, planning and purchasing travel. Before there will be dramatic changes, however, the pendulum will have to swing back to the front end or user experience focus, which he predicts will be the case in web 4.0 or more than ten years out, as web 3.0 deals more with the back end or the data.

In the meantime there will be new initiatives that will introduce semantic web tools into travel as we have seen with Uptake and TripIt. The latter is actually shown in one of his slides.

One of his comments I liked a lot is that we should talk about "artificial stupidity" rather than "artificial intelligence" that is required to eliminate humans from having to deal with the mundane, or stupid tasks, and let us focus on the intelligent ones. Couldn't agree more.

Nova Spivack at The Next Web Conference 2008 from Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten on Vimeo.

Predicting flight delays

is what Delaycast does as explained in the latest issue of Springwise the trend newsletter. Should become a welcome and useful tool for travelers as we head into the summer season.