Travelling has primarily been a matter of business historically, from guiding the caravan to the next desert town to sailing across the oceans on a galley loaded with silk that took off from the Orient. Business traveler is someone with a profession through the ages and that is hardly different in this very digital age.
Corporate traveler of the modern times definitely is more efficient in managing travel-related resources than stockpiling sacks and chests of coins and gold around – she/he has been keeping a wallet of sorts far smaller forms of payment, credit cards, cash, checks and whatnot albeit still being prone to loss and theft. The pace global business requires you to be on could occasionally put you on the wrong foot so even traditional wallets are on the verge of going out of business, literally.
What is a Digital Wallet?
Digital wallet is a term that gained traction with the popularity rise of cryptocurrencies – as they are intangible assets in the first place requiring wallets of the same quality to be kept, cryptocurrency wallets performed a flashy entrance to the audience. Digital wallet is a term that could not be restricted to cryptocurrency though – smartphones which already are standard personal effects have taken on yet another job by keeping hold of digital versions of our assets.
Why Do I Need a Digital Wallet as a Business Traveler?
There are a couple of reasons why you would want to have a digital wallet with you on a business trip:
Representing your company away from headquarters comes with its perks and caveats. Perks could be subjective however caveats definitely are common enough to be regarded as common – your money’s safety. Keeping your cash, checks, tickets, credit cards safe and sound on the go is a hassle especially when you are concentrated on, maybe the next big deal on your business trip and forgetting or losing any or all of these would severely hamper your quest. With all of these being kept in a double-layered secured software on your smartphone, theft and loss become less of a probability as you would have far less to care about and, well, we keep our smartphones closer than our enemies, don’t we? Digital wallets nowadays employ 2FA authentication measures that use biometrics as well and all information saved within are encrypted against any kind of leaks, making it practically impossible to be hacked. While security will always be a concern, we could safely claim that with digital wallets, the magnitude of such worry would be far lower.
Other than the obvious pros such as security and convenience, a corporate traveler might be awed at the opportunity that could come with using a digital wallet. To set an example, Kenya is one of the countries that lead mobile payments – with M-PESA payment method that you could easily use when you call a cab in Nairobi, your digital wallet integrated with M-PESA as an ewallet payment method could easily solve your payment problems where cash or credit cards could not be utilized. As the financial landscape shifts and evolves every other day, keeping a digital wallet with you on your next business trip could only prove useful, if not essential.
All in all, as we close in the halfway through the 21st century, business travelers find themselves even better buddies with smartphones as they harbor your digital wallet as a swiss army knife safekeeping your resources on your trip afar and it is only becoming the norm.
