Last week I was deep in the heart of (Dallas) Texas and had the incredible honor to take the stage in front of a packed house at GBTA Convention 2023. This year’s conference was incredible! You might even say it was ten-gallon hat BIG! The event drew a massive crowd of over 5200 attendees representing 58 different countries, all eager to unravel the mysteries of where business travel is headed.

Each year I am privileged to collaborate with the wonderful teams at GBTA | Global Business Travel Association and CWT, working together to peer into the future and predict the trajectory of corporate travel pricing over the next 18 months. These recent years have been marked by significant price fluctuations – for instance, corporate airfare took a wild 72% leap just last year. While we don’t foresee quite the same level of volatility ahead, numerous factors are still gently nudging prices in an upward direction. If you’re curious, I invite you to delve into the comprehensive forecast, complete with our projections for air travel, hotel stays, and ground transportation. And if you’re up for it, there’s an array of news coverage waiting for you to explore from sources like Skift, PYMNTS, and the Business Times.

Joining me on stage this year was Richard Johnson, who leads CWT’s global solution group. Rich and his brilliant team possess an uncanny ability to deliver tailor-made value to clients by masterfully navigating the intricate landscape of business travel. Collaborating with these consummate professionals is a true privilege and a joy. My heartfelt gratitude extends to Emma Woodhouse, Amanda Cumine, Siddharth Singh, and the entire team at CWT who steadfastly guide this project year after year.

I want to extend my warmest congratulations to Suzanne Neufang and the entire GBTA team for orchestrating an undeniably successful Convention. A special note of thanks goes out to Chris Ely, Peggy Miller Dolphin, and Debbie Iannaci for their invaluable contributions.

Thanks to all of the sponsors that helped make GBTA Convention 2023 so successful. Choice Hotels International, SkyTeam, United for Business, Amadeus, American Express Global Business Travel, BCD Travel, BWH Hotels, CWT, Travelport, Turkish Airlines, American Express Global Commerical Services, Marriott Bonvoy, Shell International, and Southwest Airlines.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcP-hTAiwNE&list=PLkGxkp3hYZCbs-Dwn6DZUUrvS878Fkfbn&index=10

Technology is transforming logistics and transportation in stunning ways. 

Did you know human reaction time is around 100 milliseconds? And prior to 5G, the best we could hope for from a wireless network was around 200 milliseconds of latency. Fast, but not fast enough for remote operators who are working with millimeters of precision. But a new 5G system powered by Huawei and Vodafone is able to deliver data with just 8 milliseconds of latency. Operators are now able to move hundreds of millions of freight with the simple convenience of dual joysticks in what looks like the world’s most expensive RC toy. 

This is not some distant, theoretical future. This is happening now at Europe’s newest intermodal transport terminal. The East-West Gate (EWG) railway terminal is located in Fényeslitke, a small village near the Hungarian-Ukrainian border. EWG is not only Europe’s newest inland port, it is also one of Europe’s largest, with a capacity to handle millions of shipping containers per year. But what really sets EWG apart from other inland ports is its use of cutting-edge technology including sensors, private 5G networks, artificial intelligence, automation, and digital twins.

Moving shipments between Asia and Europe is challenging because railways in each continent use different size standards. Much of Europe uses the standard gauge, sometimes called the Stephenson gauge, which is 1,435 millimeters wide, while the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union countries like Ukraine is the broad gauge which is 1,520 millimeters wide. The difference between the two is only about three inches but it is enough to make the rail networks incompatible with each other. Any freight moving between the two continents has to be offloaded and reloaded, or put onto trucks to continue the journey further into Europe. 

The process of transloading cargo between trains has historically been a time consuming, labor-intensive process. But technology being used at the EWG terminal is enabling new processes and workflows that are introducing significant improvements to the world of logistics and transportation. On a recent trip to Hungary, I got to see this future firsthand. 

Digitization and ‘Data’fication play a pivotal role from the moment trains arrive at the facility. As trains enter and exit the railyard, they pass through an OCR (Optical Character Recognition) gate which produces a 3D scan of each and every railcar. The system can identify and read relevant information on containers and generate and store photos for effective damage claims management. These data are also used to create real-time digital twins of each and every train. The digital twin data enhances throughput efficiency by identifying the exact position of every container and correcting possible operational or input mistakes made earlier in the train’s journey. 

The real magic of the facility starts to unfold when cargo transloading begins. Massive orange cranes move containers between trains sitting on parallel tracks – one standard gauge and one broad gauge. But these cranes are unlike ones in other inland ports that require operators to physically sit high up in the crane. These cranes are operated by remote operators working in the friendly confines of a nearby office. Each of the cranes is equipped with 20+ high-resolution cameras and 5G connectivity that together provide the remote operators with a real-time view. The cranes also use AI, sensors, and advanced technology to operate with a high degree of accuracy and speed. 

Operating a crane remotely requires large bandwidth to move high-res images to the operators. It also requires low latency and low network jitter, or the change in latency, to accurately control the crane’s movements in real-time. While everyday consumers are most concerned with downlink bandwidth, for industrial applications like this one, uplink bandwidth is what really matters. All of this functionality is made possible through the private 5G network that enables wireless real-time control across the entire terminal. 

EWG is the first terminal in Europe to control cranes remotely through 5G technology. 5G connectivity at the terminal also enables real-time tracking and management of cargo. This helps deliver more accurate forecasting of processing time and reinforces supply chain stability. 

EWG also incorporates various sustainable attributes and will help achieve some of the EU’s climate objectives. The terminal relies on renewable energy sources like solar panels for power generation, while also implementing a rainwater harvesting system to minimize water consumption. Further, all vehicles operating within the facility are electrically powered. By transloading freight arriving from Asia from broad gauge trains to standard gauge, cargo can continue further into Europe via train instead of being loaded onto roadways. EWG can also load full trucks and conventional road semi-trailers onto rail which enables shifting freight traffic arriving at the EU border to rail, consistent with the EU’s climate objectives.  

EWG points to a new future for logistics and highlights how 5G unlocks new forms of productivity and efficiency. The promise of EWG is found in the new infrastructure. But that new infrastructure is only unlocked through the power of 5G. For example, it is the change of the track layout that enables 5G to be valuable but the change in the track layout is only able to be valuable when combined with 5G. 

Real transformation comes when technology and process change come together in new ways. It is system-level changes that unlock massive growth and in this case, a variety of technologies coming together in unique ways to create entirely new processes.  

You can see more of the site in this video.

This week, I took the stage in Neenah, Wisconsin, joining nearly 200 leaders of SECURA Insurance. In my keynote, I discussed the ongoing shift from digitization to ‘data’fication, what that means for the future of the insurance industry, and how this shift is creating new opportunities for insurers to better serve their customers.

In addition to the keynote, I delivered a separate workshop for the leadership team. We explored the leadership characteristics that make big technical migrations successful. SECURA, like many companies, is working hard to build the future. We discussed what leaders can learn from Amazon’s Day 1 mentality and how we can avoid the trap of Day 2. Leaders need to maintain a long-term focus, obsess over customers and their needs, and boldly innovate to meet those needs. We also ran through a pre-mortem exercise to identify and prioritize risks and build and implement preemptive mitigation strategies.

It is no longer enough to have the best people or the best technology. In order to thrive in the decade ahead, organizations need strong leaders, creative employees, and the newest technology. These three things need to work together to unleash an organization’s full potential. Technology alone will not drive growth. Most great transformations require new workflows.

The strategic use of data is no longer a luxury, but a necessity for businesses looking to stay competitive in today’s rapidly evolving market. By leveraging the power of data in new ways, businesses can develop innovative solutions that truly meet the needs of their customers, resulting in greater customer satisfaction and ultimately, increased profits.

It’s an exciting time for the insurance industry, and I was thrilled to be part of the conversation at SECURA’s event. SECURA has a rich 123-year history, and the leadership team is doing an artful job of embracing this history while also building the future.

Trust is the lifeblood of well-functioning teams, but a lack of trust might be inhibiting teams from truly excelling within hybrid work environments.

Additional layoffs at Facebook parent Meta recently filled the headlines, but in the memo to employees, Mark Zuckerberg revealed new insights on the future of work, the importance of relationships, and how teams need trust to thrive.

Here’s what Mark wrote:

Our early analysis of performance data suggests that engineers who either joined Meta in-person and then transferred to remote or remained in-person performed better on average than people who joined remotely. This analysis also shows that engineers earlier in their career perform better on average when they work in-person with teammates at least three days a week. This requires further study, but our hypothesis is that it is still easier to build trust in person and that those relationships help us work more effectively.

While hybrid work environments might be giving employees the flexibility they want, it might not be delivering the trust teams need. In his seminal research on the neuroscience of trust, Paul Zak shared eight behaviors leaders can follow to stimulate and sustain a culture of trust. Zak’s research stresses the importance of intentionally building social ties at work. These social ties strengthen trust, which in turn improves employees’ self-reported energy levels, satisfaction with their lives, and engagement at work.

What is your organization doing to build trust among team members and coworkers?

Earlier this week I joined US Bank’s Elavon for their latest masterclass. I discussed the disruptive trends impacting businesses and what it means for the future of payments and finance. These are some of the trends we explored:

#1 shift from digitization to ‘data’fication

#2 new faces of commerce that are emerging

#3 new paths to purchase

#4 blurring lines between our physical and digital worlds

The implications for the payments industry, and for the financial sector more broadly, are pronounced. We are already seeing some of these materialize in the following ways:

1. Cryptocurrencies and the tokenization of the internet. As Mark Twain wrote, “the reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.” While it might feel like a crypto winter, and the collapse of FTX feels like a blizzard, viable use-cases continue to emerge. For example, earlier this month the Federal Reserve Bank of New York issued results on the Phase I results of Project Cedar, its inaugural project to develop a technical framework for a theoretical wholesale central bank digital currency (wCBDC). Currently, it takes two days for most FX spot trades to settle. In the test environment, transactions on the blockchain settled in under 15 seconds on average.
2. Embedded everything. Platforms and marketplaces are leading a revolution in embedding payments, instant payouts, and other embedded finance tools. Delivery Hero, Postmates and Uber are just some of the examples. Shopify offers embedded finance products to its customers and half of their revenue comes from their ability to offer loans to their customers. In 2021 they loaned over $3B.
3. Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) is here to stay. Consumers can get large ticket items right away while paying for them in several smaller installments over just a few weeks or months and merchants love it because they can increase their basket values and move more expensive items.