ISO 31030 webinar results: what did we learn?

Poll results from our recent webinar ‘ISO 31030: what you need to know’ demonstrate that many travel risk managers are looking to better understand and digest ISO 31030 – the new international standard for travel risk management.

The webinar – hosted by expert panellists from GSA and Continuity Forum/BSI – discussed what the standard means for travel risk managers and how the business travel landscape could change in the near future.

Throughout the webinar, attendees answered questions to gauge their understanding of the new standard and its implementation into their organisations’ travel risk management policies.

More than three quarters of respondents had not yet read the new guidelines when the webinar took place. This is understandable – the standard was only launched officially in October and it is a significant document that will take time to digest.

ISO 31030 will likely become more widely recognised as a requirement rather than guidance as time goes on. We expect with this increase in accountability, the importance of the document will call for fuller comprehension of the guidance.

The majority of respondents (59 percent) already have programmes in place for assessing accommodation selected for travelling employees. Importantly, corporations are beginning to consider accommodation as a high-risk element of business travel and are taking steps to minimise these risks accordingly.

ISO 31030 will become more deeply integrated into companies’ travel risk management (TRM) policies as duty of care responsibilities become stricter. It is likely that adhering to the ISO 31030 guidelines will stand in a court of law, benefitting corporations that can prove due diligence in the unlikely case legal action is required.

Approximately 80 percent of respondents have already considered ISO 31030 in their organisation’s TRM policies or plan to have a strategy in place in the future. Although most respondents had not yet read the standard, it is promising to see that many of them plan to read, understand and implement the guidance into their policies.

Overall, the webinar gave us a more concrete understanding of the level of understanding that travel risk managers have with ISO 31030. As anticipated, corporations are still getting to grips with the new standard. The journey of implementing the guidelines into TRM policies will be gradual but worthwhile.

Find out more about how GSA can help your organisation with ISO 31030 training, assessments or audits.