Globalization combined with being more technologically interconnected to each other may lead us to believe that travel for work, certainly work and travel in the USA, are seriously rising trends. Well an interesting statistic published by Robert Half International in July 2005 revealed that 48% of employees polled said they travel for work less frequently compared to five years ago. Another study published by Harris Interactive for the same time frame indicated that 43% of workers polled said they use their laptops on vacation for work-related e-mails. Although not specifically travelling for work, these vacationers clearly stay connected while on holiday. The US Travel Industry estimated a 1.5% increase in Business Travel for 2006.

International Data Corporation put the global market for info-tech products and services for 2005 at approximately $2.1 Trillion. Another fascinating 2005 figure was spending for Information technology as it topped out at nearly $416 Billion. Business productivity tools essential for the business traveller are the must have gadgets of our time. Something as simple as having remote access to your home or work pc from anywhere in the world can turn the nightmare of "I forgot that file!" to the dream of "oh, not to worry, I left that the file on my work PC, but I can access it from here".

Working and travelling is no longer the jammed packed briefcase experience it use to be. The employee can be seen totting briefcases with wireless laptops, cables and cords just in case, Ipods, microphones, and multiple USB memory cards, along with a lot of other gadgets.

Where is business travel headed? Perhaps it doesn't take a statistician to see that technological simplicity could become the wave to ride. For those who haven't taken the work and travel technology plunge the market can lure these reluctant souls in with, "don't worry, sign up for 'this service' and let us do the technical". No matter how savvy we are with technology, keeping it simple is the ultimate in productivity thus allowing travelling business people to focus on their business trip goals, rather than a hook up to a meeting, or a forgotten file, or chasing down a fax machine.

Barbara Cipak, My-Telework-Tools