Karen's 'Eureka moment'
Karen Westdijk, who arranges travel for 150 employees at Analysys Mason, admitted: “When the app first came out I thought ‘not another app’. It was only when I talked to other travel arrangers at an industry event and they showed me some of the things that it could do that I thought ‘wow!’”
The real deal, in real time
Your travellers have a million and one things to think about on a business trip – from finding the best airfares to having an organised itinerary. myCWT keeps travellers and their companies in control – with real-time information, booking services and communication tools conveniently in the palm of your hand.
Key features:
- Travel status alerts – timely flight notifications, including delays, cancellations and gate changes
- Calendar sync – automatic syncing of travel itinerary with travellers’ business calendars, so all trip details are in one place
- Hotel booking services – the ability to search and book hotels from a selection of 450,000 across the world, and access peer reviews
- Mobile check-in – flight check-in services with 250 airlines worldwide.
Having seen first-hand how myCWT could help make Analysys Mason’s corporate travel processes more efficient, Karen set about introducing it to the company. Travellers and travel managers were already using a variety of other apps for everything from weather forecasts to booking taxis and finding hotels.
But Karen knew myCWT was a ‘one stop shop’ where employees of the global consulting and research firm could access all these services and more in a single, convenient place. Also, if Karen’s travellers were using the app, she’d be able to track their locations and manage their schedules – giving her more control and improving efficiency in the business.
“I sent an email to my travellers saying we really ought to do this,” said Karen. “A couple replied that they already had it and it was really good, which encouraged me to take it further.”
Did you know? 85% of US travelers use mobile devices to book travel activities.
Hold the phone! How bosses bought into the app
Getting senior managers on board with myCWT was Karen’s next challenge. An opportunity came after her boss, Chris Standford-Beale, got stuck in an airport. Karen suggested that Chris download the app, and his verdict was: “It’s a rare gem!”
Analysys Mason’s CEO, Bram Moerman, “loved it as soon as he tried it” and soon senior managers were promoting myCWT. Karen quickly started receiving requests for further information from employees across the company.
Analysys Mason was keen to launch the app internally, so Karen needed to work out when and how to roll out myCWT across the business. It turned out to be incredibly straightforward. Employees were due a mobile phone upgrade, so Karen arranged for the app to be pre-installed on their new handsets.
Did you know? Travel apps are the fastest-growing app category, with 137 million people using them every month.
How did the company benefit?
At Analysys Mason, myCWT has:
- Eliminated minor queries from travellers.
Karen used to be inundated with traveller questions about how and when to check in, whether they had missed their flights, and which gate number their flight was departing from. Now, everything they need to know is on their own device.
- Removed the need to manually update traveller diary entries.
Accurately updating each traveller’s diary entries with travel information used to take time when Karen did it manually, due to time zone differences. Now, myCWT, manages these updates automatically.
- Improved traveller confidence at airports where they might not understand announcements.
With the app available in English, Spanish, French, German and Italian, travellers can use their device to access details of any announcements made in an airport – such as final boarding calls, security reminders and gate changes.
Analysys Mason travelers give their take on myCWT:
- “I find it very useful, especially notifying me about a delay, terminal and gate announcements. It can make a difference between catching and missing flights.” – Khoosh Oodhorah, manager.
- “myCWT is the ultimate itinerary app. What makes this app even more special than other itinerary apps is that you have everything you need to get started. It’s an incredibly good travel tool because it scans your emails and collects all the data for your trip including flights, accommodation and more. This is all automatic, giving you more time to focus on more important things. Not only that but it has a lot of other features that might just be handy, such as weather forecasts, currency converter and booking hotels.” – Marc Tatossian, support analyst.
- “The benefits of the tool in allowing us to track changing itineraries, make necessary changes and even easily add in non-company-booked travel makes this a time-saving, safety-enhancing app.” – Chris Nicoll, principal analyst.
