Jamie Biesiada
The next generation of wireless technology, known as 5G, is currently available in a limited areas of a few cities in the U.S. But when it becomes widely available, it will likely make working from remote locations even easier for travel advisors.
Karen Yeates, executive vice president of information technologies for Signature Travel Network, spoke about 5G and other technology trends during the consortium's recent Owners' Meeting at the Fairmont Austin Hotel.
The hallmark of a 5G network is enabling large amounts of data to travel at high speeds. The latency, or delay, will be imperceptible on such a network.
According to Yeates, data indicates that by 2024, 40% of the world's population will have access to a 5G network.
For advisors, that means working remotely will get easier.
"A lot of the programs they rely on to do their business, they're trying to do it over a mobile network, and it doesn't deliver for them," Yeates said. "So this introduction of 5G is really going to get rid of some of those concerns."
Yeates also spoke about artificial intelligence (AI). AI could benefit Signature and agencies thanks to augmented analytics, which use facets of AI to analyze data and produce insights.
Before augmented analytics, to get those kinds of deep insights, an agency or consortium would need to hire a data scientist. But now, technology can step in, instead.
Going forward, Yeates predicted that autonomous devices like robot bartenders will proliferate, and as the technology behind such devices grows, experiences with them will become better and more natural.
Augmented reality experiences will also proliferate thanks to 5G networks, she said.
"Because of all these things, all of your experiences with your customers and people that you buy things from are going to be that much more customized and contextualized," Yeates said, "so really, truly giving you what you want, and predicting that, also."