Accelya has joined forces with travel consultancy temoji to launch the Business Travel Innovation Group (BIG).
The group aims to give corporate travel buyers a stronger voice in shaping the future of airline retailing and distribution by “fostering open discussion, spotlighting best practices, and supporting cross-industry collaboration as modern retailing becomes a reality”.
While the group has been created by Accelya, temoji consulting is playing a lead role in shaping and managing the initiative.
The BIG initiative brings together 20 enterprise and mid-market travel buyers from across the corporate travel landscape.
The first phase of the initiative is the release of a new guide ‘Making Modern Airline Retailing a Reality for Corporate Travel’, which outlines seven key enablers buyers say are critical for mainstream NDC (New Distribution Capability) adoption in corporate travel programmes and three case studies of buyer implementations of NDC.
Findings from the guide show half of the members report full NDC implementation within their managed travel programs, 22% are actively rolling it out, and just 11% have yet to engage.
Participants rated the overall difficulty of implementation at 7.1 out of 10 (where 10 indicates high complexity), reflecting the real challenges still faced across the ecosystem.
Just over three quarters (76%) cited coordination, not technology, as the primary barrier to scaling adoption.
Paul Tilstone, Founder of temoji and co-lead of the BIG initiative, said: “Many buyers are already moving towards modern retailing – piloting NDC, integrating with trusted partners, and rethinking how content and servicing are delivered.
“BIG was created to bring those voices together, identify what’s working, and define what’s needed. Coordination is the biggest challenge, and it’s one we can only solve together. This is a great example of action needed in our industry and I applaud Accelya for leading this effort with us.”
Tye Radcliffe, Chief Customer Success Officer at Accelya, added: “Corporate travel buyers are proving every day that NDC can deliver real value but the industry still needs alignment to scale that success. Through BIG, we’re listening closely to buyer feedback and using it to collaborate with our airline customers to shape a more consistent, connected, and modern retailing experience.”
Insights from the BIG group will help shape a new industry-wide effort launching at the GBTA Convention in Denver this week.
