Great Expectations For Mobile Payment
by Fred Gebhart /Are you ready for mobile payment in your travel program?
If you’re not clear that mobile payment means using a smartphone instead of a credit card to pay for purchases, you’re in good company. Knowledge about mobile payment among travel buyers is very low, according to a recent AirPlus International survey of Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE) members.
Detailed knowledge about phone-based purchases may be low, but expectations are high.
The move from plastic to mobile payment will be a plus for business travelers and travel managers, buyers told AirPlus, a provider of business travel payment solutions.
Real time
One reason: Mobile payment reporting happens in real time. That lets travelers and their managers deal with expenses—and questions about expenses—immediately. Current automated expense reporting systems take 24 to 48 hours to post purchases.
More than half of ACTE respondents, 54%, said convenience was the primary advantage of mobile payment. Other pluses included less work to complete expense reports (38%) and easier compliance with travel policy guidelines (11%).
The potential upside for travel managers is clear. Greater transparency in travel payment and reporting should lead travelers into more compliant buying decisions without even mentioning travel policy.
Providers’ dilemma
That leaves AirPlus and other payment providers in a quandary. They know that mobile payment is taking off in the markets where it’s available. But there are multiple mobile technologies in play and no clear winner.
“Our phones are turning into payment devices whether travel managers like it, whether AirPlus is involved or not,” said Patrick Diemer, AirPlus chairman and co-managing director.
“There are too many interests involved, hardware vendors, IT companies, banks, payment companies,” he said. “And consumers, in markets where mobile payment is available, absolutely love it.”
Easy to use
Diemer said mobile payment is so easy that consumers adopt it almost without thinking. Business travelers will adopt mobile payment whether or not it is part of managed travel, he added.
That doesn’t mean traditional plastic cards are about to disappear. ACTE members expect to be using mobile payment (61%), corporate plastic (89%), personal plastic (36%), cash (26%) and vendor invoicing (15%) in five years.
“It will be years before plastic cards disappear completely from road warriors’ wallets and purses,” Diemer said.
Next time: Mobile payment products for business travel will hit the U.S. market in 2014.