Data science key to harnessing business traveller data

Travellers’ data can now be analysed with a great degree of certainty thanks to sophisticated modelling, an expert revealed at the Business Travel Show in London.

Daniel Reeve, Capita Travel and Events chief technology officer, said previous estimates of there being 1.7mb of data collected on every person every second of the day was probably an underestimate.

He said when it came to business travel, management information, business intelligence, data analysis and data science were key.

Reeve, however, said one drawback with management information was its tendency to be “after the fact reporting”, while business intelligence permitted only occasional forecasting.

In contrast, he said data science captured the information it needed and was predictive, via the use of statistical modelling and machine learning. “It works out what information will be most helpful,” said Reeve.