The Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE) announced the second keynote presenter for the first-ever ACTE Australasia Education Conference; an education and networking event focused on advancing the industry by identifying new and innovative approaches to the procurement and management of business travel, taking place 5-6 December 2012 at the Shangri-La Hotel Sydney.

Following the announcement of keynote presenter Peter Harbison, Executive Chairman and Founder- Centre for Aviation (CAPA), ACTE is pleased to announce Harry Bowcott, Partner at McKinsey & Company.   Oxford and Cambridge University educated and previous senior brand experience at Proctor & Gamble, Bowcott now focuses on questions of commercial strategy in travel and leisure businesses at one of the world’s leading management consulting firms.

Bowcott’s session, entitled “Big Data – The Next Frontier for Innovation, Competition and Productivity,” will take an in-depth look at the role of data in the industry overall. Every day, over 2.5 quintillion bytes of data is created – so much that 90% of the data in the world today has been created in the last two years alone.  Many researchers predict that the most successful companies of the next decade will be those who embrace the evolution of data-driven decision making, i.e. harnessing vast quantities of data and transforming it into instantaneous, predictive business insight.  Bowcott will reveal ways in which to use Big Data, the world’s newest economic asset, to create value within your own organisation.

“Our first ACTE Education Conference in our Australasia region is going to bring together our proven conference elements with high-impact and useful educational content,” said Georgie Farmer, Australasia Board Member, ACTE.  “Attendees will walk away with a greater understanding of how data driven decisions can open your organization to new opportunities and assist you in achieving your business travel objectives.”

This day and a half long educational conference will bring together the region’s business travel community to review the past year, preview the year ahead and provide assistance to those striving to achieve a reliable, streamlined and cost effective travel program that is well matched to their organisation’s culture, requirements and legislative responsibilities.