CEO Spotlight: Paul Abbott of American Express Global Business Travel

Technology development was high on the priority list when Paul Abbott joined Amex GBT as CEO four years ago. He felt that while the company was strong in travel management services, he also wanted it to be able to offer software services. Now, he said 77% of its transactions are digital with 66% of those across Amex GBT’s own channels.

A further development over Abbott’s tenure has been addressing the largely unmanaged small- to medium-sized business market. Today, 50% of the company’s revenue and profits come from the SMB market. Abbott doesn’t claim these developments as personal achievements but rather credits the 20,000-strong team he said has “transformed the company.”

In a wide-ranging discussion with senior reporter Linda Fox in the PhocusWire studio at The Phocuswright Conference, Abbott discusses the company’s goals and challenges for the year ahead as well as what the wider travel management industry is facing.

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