14. Green initiatives
Routed promotes sustainability by recommending accommodations and transportation services with strong environmental practices, aligning with corporate social responsibility goals. It also empowers users to make environmentally responsible decisions while supporting corporate social responsibility goals and contributing to global efforts to mitigate climate change and preserve natural resources.
2.2 User Research
I conducted user interviews through exploratory research with 20 users. Finding the issues in travel was impossible without interacting with the user themselves:
Routed
An AI based travel management service to improve the travel experience of Indian corporate travelers
Project Type
Individual project
Duration
8 weeks
Role
Product strategy
Busines pitch
In the modern business landscape, travel has become essential for employees to attend meetings, conferences, and explore international business opportunities. As a result, businesses invest significant resources in managing their employees' travel demands.
The evolving dynamics of Indian business culture, combined with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, emphasize the enduring importance of personal connections and face-to-face interactions in professional settings. Despite technological advancements, physical travel remains integral for building relationships and trust, leading to a heightened demand for tailored travel services.
Realizing the urgency of the situation, I witnessed a gap in the market for comprehensive and innovative travel management solutions that can effectively handle the diverse and evolving needs of businesses. Businesses require a holistic system that can facilitate and navigate their employees' travel requirements efficiently.
Routed
An AI based travel management service to improve the travel experience of Indian corporate travelers
In today's digital era, business travel remains crucial for companies worldwide, facilitating essential meetings and global exploration. To meet the diverse needs of employees, there's a growing demand for a comprehensive travel management system, especially in India where traditional customs emphasize tactile expressions. Despite virtual alternatives, there's an increasing awareness of the unique benefits of physical travel post-COVID. As corporate travelers seek tailored solutions, the need for adaptable and user-centric travel management becomes paramount. Prioritizing seamless integration and user experience is essential in crafting effective travel solutions for modern enterprises.
Team: Individual project
Duration: 8 weeks
Role/contribution: Design & product strategy, UI-UX , Marketing strategy, Business pitch
Research
2. Research methods
🧭 Exploratory
Understand the mindset, goals, behaviors, and pain points of the identified stakeholders in this space.
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One-on-one interviews
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Introductory surveys
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Focus groups
👩🏻💻 Competitive
Capture the offerings available to our target users and identify unique advantages to Routed
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Desk Research
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User interviews
📝 Evaluative
Gain deeper understanding into specific behaviors of users and and produce meaningful concepts.
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Contextual inquiry
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Brainstorming
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Diary studies
🎯 Testing
Identify the strengths and weaknesses of proposed concepts and iterate to the most desirable solution.
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Concept Feedback
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Card sorting
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Preference ranking
2.1 Market Research & Competitors
Learnings:
🔗Growing Market and Increased Spending:
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By 2020, it is expected to become the 7th largest market globally, surpassing Brazil, Italy, and South Korea.
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67% of Indian businesses anticipate a rise in business travel in 2023, with 77% planning to increase their travel budget compared to 2022.
🔗Rising Importance of Business Travel:
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53% of businesses reported that over half of their employees took work trips in H2 2020.
🔗Skill Development and Personal Growth:
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90% of Indian business travelers believe their travel experiences have taught them skills applicable to their personal lives.
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76% of travelers use shortcuts learned during business trips when planning personal vacations.
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Additionally, 95% say business travel helps them communicate successfully with different people.
🔗Challenges and Stressors:
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A survey by SAPconcur revealed that 36% of business travelers find the trip itself to be the most stressful part of a business trip.
🔗Safety Concerns and Adoption Gap:
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There is a notable gap in the adoption of travel safety tools, such as automated safety alerts, among Indian business travelers.
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Most women travelers have changed their travel accommodations due to safety concerns
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98% of Indian business travelers have shared their location while traveling for business.
Doing SWOT analysis of the top travel management applications used in India to understand the strength and weakness.
Later, I made a table to identify the USP's and advantages and features of the competition to understand what already exists in the market and what are the gaps that can be filled.
Grouping goals and pain points
I grouped the insights I received through user interviews into goals and painpoints to understand the root cause of the issues that stress business travelers and management
Project Kickoff
1. How I began the project?
How I began the project?
1.1 Understanding success metrics
1. User acquisition: A successful user acquisition metric for the travel management app could be to acquire 10,000 new users within the first 6 months of launch.
2. User retention: A successful user retention metric for the travel management app could be to retain at least 70% of users after 30 days, and at least 50% of users after 90 days.
3. User engagement: A successful user engagement metric for the travel management desk could be for each active user to use AI feature 10 times every travel, with at least 50% of itineraries being edited or shared.
4.User satisfaction: A successful user satisfaction metric could be to achieve an average user rating of at least 4 stars out of 5 on the app store, with at least 80% positive reviews.
5. AI Assistant Interaction Rate: Number of interactions with the AI-driven virtual assistant per user or per travel request Importance: Indicates user engagement with the conversational AI features.
1.2 Assumptions
1. There is a demand for a comprehensive and flexible travel management system that offers a variety of input options and organizational features.
2. Users are willing to pay for premium features or a subscription to access advanced functionality.
3. The app can be developed and launched within a reasonable timeframe and budget.
4. The app can be marketed effectively to attract and retain users.
1.3 Open ended questions
1. How can artificial intelligence enhance the way we plan experience, and remember our travels?
2. What role does technology play in promoting cultural exchange, understanding, and appreciation among travelers from different backgrounds?
By conducting interviews with business travelers and managers involved in the booking process, I have mapped out the sequence of steps and identified key themes that emerge at different stages.
Define problem
3. Understanding the gaps
Understanding the perspectives and pain points of these stakeholders is critical for developing solutions that address their specific needs and challenges in corporate travel management.
Problems affecting those involved in business travel:
3.1 Defining Target audience
Developing user personas
After conducting customer journey mapping and extensive research, it was discovered that there are two distinct target audiences for our service: travelers and travel managers. To gain a deeper understanding of these audiences, I created detailed personas for each.
3.2 Defining key challenges
The major pain points I aim to address :
Business traveller
Personalized and safe travel Planning
"One recurring issue is feeling unsafe, particularly when I have to catch an evening flight and arrive at my destination by the next morning: thus swaying my confidence in using public transport like cabs at night: I wish there was some sort of support available "
Business traveller
Cultural Adaptability
"One of the most common issues I have wherever I go is language barrier as my native tongues are Tamil, Hindi, and English."
"I wish for a platform that plays a key role in customizing and integrating travel plans to enable a smooth and hassle – free travel"
Business traveller
Reimbursements approval management
"I have sometimes waited 6 weeks for approvals on my reimbursements even though as a consultant I have to travel more so incase of smaller reimbursements I choose not to report them only to prevent going through so many approvals."
Travel manager
Automated Compliance and Policy Adherence
"Digital organization is vital due to the overwhelming amount of business cards, plane passes, and receipts that one will gather. I am constantly losing receipts, bills and don't have time to organise”
Developing strategy
4. Ideating
4.1 Developing Design strategy
1. Building functional, reliable and usable ux
2. Focusing on usable part for employees, travel managers and business
3. Adding delight and make it pleasurable
The design strategy involves a combination of user-centric design principles, advanced technology integration, and understanding the needs of each group.
Features were grouped to understand how they aid in business ROI, efficient cost, travel and policy management for travel managers and admins, and smart planning for travelers.
4.2 Feature Prioritization
Research showed varied app usage among users. After interviewing users and analyzing data, I prioritized product features and developed solutions using the Kano model.
Customer Journey Mapping
Traveller: Manav, 36 year old software executive working for mid-level company
Goal: To able to travel for 3-day buisness trip to Indonesia and have some time to enjoy the place as well.
4.4 Information architecture
Final Design
5. Routed
Solution :
Routed is a versatile B2B SAAS application and mobile app which provides an innovative, personalised AI-driven corporate travel management app tailored for Indian enterprises. It brings together cutting-edge AI technologies to streamline and enhance the business travel experience. It main feature is to act as a virtual travel desk to make travel affordable and suitable across small, medium and large scale companies and it stands out by integrating AI technologies to deliver personalized recommendations and streamline travel operations.
A revolutionary AI-based travel management system designed exclusively for Indian corporates.
The name "ROUTED" derives from the fusion of "ROOTED" and "ROUTE," embodying its strong foundation within Indian corporate culture. It serves as a comprehensive solution, designed to guide travel planning and streamline operations for corporate businesses.
It simplifies business travel by analyzing large amounts of data from variety of sources and taking into account the employees preferences to add personalised taste to business travel and can automate tasks, including travel planning, customer service, data processing and quality control as a virtual business concierge, thus empowering employees to navigate the complexities of
business travel with ease and confidence.
4.3 Design Sprints for testing features
A structured process was implemented to address crucial business questions swiftly by designing, prototyping, and testing ideas with users. Each sprint was centered around testing, validating, and iteratively refining a specific design feature.
5.1 Main Features ( Developing MVP)
1. Personalised Home Dashboard
A comprehensive display of an employee home dashboard, where they are given an option of either creating a perfect itinerary using AI and click on " Your Route" or can manually select their options to book a flight and add fellow travelers to understand and book for themselves.
5. TravelTally: a key metric
TravelTally serves as a crucial metric for optimizing the travel experience at Routed, incentivizing compliance with travel policies and fostering accountability among employees. Through TravelTally:
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Compliance with Travel Policy results in higher ratings and more stars on profile bands.
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Loyalty points earned facilitate easier approval processes and faster reimbursements.
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Optimized profile bands reflect TravelTally performance.
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Participation in green initiatives during travels earns additional tally points.
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transparent tracking system enables employees to monitor their tally points effectively.
6. Profile bands
The employee profile streamlines business travel management by collecting key information, offering different dashboards for travelers and managers.
They contain specific profile bands which gather:
1. Frequency of Employee Travel
2. Designation
3. Work Structure: The employee profile includes data on the structure of the employee's work arrangements.
4. Travel tally score
5. Green card: Those with optimum travel tally can earn green cards on their profile bands which unlocks more discounts, faster approval system, and other benefits depending on employee credit score: a metric devised by Route , employees with great Traveltally get green cards.
2.Personalised preference slider
Clicking on "Manage Profile" directs users to a dedicated section within the application or platform.
Here, users encounter toggles or checkboxes representing various travel preferences and settings. This feature allows users to conveniently adjust their preferences, enabling AI algorithms to deliver personalized guidance. Users can choose to filter and select personal preferences or follow templates adjusted by travel managers to receive their itinerary.
3. ✨Your Route : AI Itinerary planner
Route.AI serves as your ultimate travel companion, leveraging smart recommendations to streamline and enrich your journey. Here's how it works:
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Proactive Prediction: Advanced algorithms anticipate your preferences, behaviors, and travel needs based on past interactions and patterns.
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Time and Effort Savings: The app handles the heavy lifting, freeing you to focus on what truly matters.
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Business-Centric Approach: Our methods prioritize efficiency to optimize your travel experience.
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Three Tailored Options: Choose from three distinct options tailored to match your preferences seamlessly.
4. Custom planning with
AI assistance
Routed provides users who prefer hands-on travel arrangements with the flexibility of manual trip planning, offering the following features:
1. User Control: Users have complete control over every aspect of their travel arrangements.
2. Freedom to Explore: Manual trip planning enables users to explore diverse options and uncover hidden gems.
3. AI Assistance: While users maintain control, Route's AI engine offers assistance throughout the process, enhancing the planning experience.
7. Bliss AI- 24/7 Chatbot
BlissAi employs NLP to create a user-friendly travel assistant, facilitating tasks like trip booking and invoice checks through voice commands and chat. It uses:
1. Voice Commands and Chat: Users can interact with the app effortlessly
2. Conversational Experience
3. Instant Responses: Can be used for simple tasks like booking a trip or checking the trip invoice
4. Personalized Assistance: It provides personalized recommendations and assistance tailored to individual needs.
All these itineraries are within travel and company policy and can even be viewed by the travel manager to pre-approve these in advance.
8. Employee blogs
Employee blogs serve as a valuable resource for travelers within the Routed's platform, enabling them to connect, share experiences, and glean insights from their peers. The users can directly message people to ask queries who have visited the place.
They can directly view through AI algorithms , the blogs of people in office who have already visited there before and write their own experience.This improves community engagement , peer learning and provides practical tips and recommendations .
9. Travel Management
10. Mixing business + leisure = Bleisure plans
Routed is committed to meeting the evolving needs of modern corporate travelers, including the growing trend of "bleisure" travel – a seamless blend of business and leisure experiences. With Routed, travelers can enjoy a seamless blend of business and leisure activities, creating unforgettable memories during their travels. They get personalised recommendation,
seamless integration, and cultural immersion. Just by adding their point of interests in the beginning, the AI engine remembers that data and provides recommendations on those basis.
11. Dynamic vendor negotiations
NLP algorithms analyze hotel websites for reviews and, combined with search data, offer customized travel deals from platforms like Airbnb and Expedia. Users can make reservations for flights, hotels, and more in one place, streamlining the process and saving time. The system grants access to a wide range of travel options, ensuring users find the best transportation and accommodation choices available online.
12. Team Collaboration
Travel managers get full control in accessing their teams travel charts where they can know where their team members are at all time through the help of calendar, they can also schedule their calls and notify other organization members directly on how many people are going away for business travels using calendar.
13. Language translator & cultural immersion: Democratising travel
The "Language Guide" feature in Routed enhances user satisfaction and promotes cultural inclusivity by providing access to over 1000 Indian languages for travelers to communicate in their local dialects.
Routed serves as a cultural concierge, offering insights into local customs and etiquette, enabling travelers to engage more deeply with their destinations. The accessibility of Route's language support ensures inclusivity for travelers from diverse linguistic backgrounds, including those not fluent in widely spoken languages like English.
15. Virtual credit card and purchase card
This feature offers a specialized expense management solution. It generates unique prepaid and virtual credit cards for each transaction, eliminating the risk of fraud from shared card details across platforms. These cards are dynamically created for flight or accommodation bookings, bypassing traditional payment methods. Employees can swiftly make online reservations without the hassle of expense reports or card reimbursements. Administrators gain enhanced control with the ability to set spending limits and monitor transactions in real-time.
16. Automated Receipt scanner
Routed automates receipt scanning, categorization, and populating of expense reports, reducing manual data entry efforts. It provides an efficient way for travel managers to have autonomy as well as they no longer have to place by the travelers go through endless receipts. Centralized invoicing allows all the receipts from all vendors to culminate and uploaded in one place by the travelers so that managers can go through it at once. Also employees don't have to manually enter receipt information or safe every one.
17. Detailed reporting and tracking
The detailed reporting feature in Routed empowers businesses to effectively track and monitor their spending across various aspects of travel management. It allows for comprehensive expense tracking, customizable reporting, real-time visibility and expense analysis and insights
18. Policy Management
Routed's platform delivers personalized details of the travel policy to users based on their specific trips. This includes information such as permissible travel expenses, booking procedures, preferred vendors, and reimbursement guidelines. Users receive guidance and instructions that are directly applicable to their upcoming trips.
19. Automated Compliance Navigator
Real-time automated compliance checks . It ensures strict adherence to corporate travel policies by automating compliance checks during the booking process, minimizing the risk of policy violations.
User Testing
6. Validation criteria
When conducting user testing for Routed to improve experience and usability, the validation criteria should focus on assessing various aspects of the product to ensure it meets user needs and expectations effectively.
Business Pitch
7. The Pitch
In my business model development class, I gave a presentation of my product to esteemed instructors.The eight-minute presentation was followed by a seven-minute Q&A period, during which I got some really insightful and useful criticism. Even if it was idealistic, my business model canvas was based on cost structure spreadsheets, with a one-year plan that was subject to change, and a revenue model that would perfectly match the current solution.
Click here to view my Business Plan
Learnings
8. Reflecting on the lessons
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Product Management : This project taught me how to take a product from research to concept to launch while adhering to technical, business, and design goals and restrictions. By combining quantitative research and qualitative synthesis, I was able to generate a variety of deliverables that demonstrated the market viability of our special product.
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User Experience: With the intention of providing an authentic, captivating, reliable, approachable, and unique experience to pique users' interests from the first interaction, I put extra effort to the design of the app's and website's interface through cooperative wireframing, prototyping, and iterating in response to input gathered from ongoing user research.
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Compelling Storytelling: I improved my storytelling abilities as I pitched my product's idea at different project stages. I did this by using interactive presentations, visual aids, and persuasive speech to draw in our audience. I used anecdotal and statistical facts to convey a story that many people could relate to.
Challenge :
How can Indian businesses empower their corporate employees to make strategic business travel decisions that optimize return on investment (ROI) while enhancing the quality and efficiency of their travel experiences?
Before crafting the problem statement, I identified the following key points:
Challenges faced by Indian enterprises in corporate travel management:
Inefficiencies in Existing Processes:
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Current corporate travel management processes within Indian enterprises suffer from inefficiencies and manual workflows.
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These inefficiencies result in increased administrative burden, decreased productivity, and higher costs associated with travel arrangements.
Lack of Personalization and Automation:
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Traditional solutions lack the capability to personalize travel experiences for employees and automate critical tasks.
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As a consequence, there's a standardized approach to travel management that overlooks individual preferences and needs, relying heavily on error-prone manual processes
Fragmented Data and Limited Insights:
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The fragmented nature of data and limited insights available from existing solutions hinder effective decision-making and policy enforcement.
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Businesses struggle to optimize travel expenses and ensure compliance with corporate policies due to the absence of comprehensive data analytics and reporting capabilities.
Objectives :
🚀 Mission for Routed
Building a travel management solution that not only helps in saving time, and cost efficient but really in creating a system which is trustworthy, provides safety and support, and transparent in approach.
Reduce stress = Trustable + Innovative + Personalised