Antonello Simoncini, Ricoh Europe procurement category manager for motor and travel is a Business Travel Show Europe hosted buyer attendee. Business Travel Show Europe caught up with him for a few minutes on his company's travel programme priorities and what his most pressing needs will be when attending Business Travel Show Europe 24-25 June 2026 at Excel London.
___________________________
Register Now: Travel managers can register for free at www.businesstravelshoweurope.com
___________________________
Business Travel Show Europe: What impact is the current geopolitical tension having on your travel programme and planning for the rest of the year?
Antonello Simoncini: RICOH’s travel behaviours are basically local and, for this reason,
the impact was not material considering the great majority of our
transactions. However, due to the instability of the situation, all our travellers
have been asked to avoid any connection/ for any reason with the Arabic
peninsula region and temporarily suspend our activity in this area. Our
office in Dubai remains open with the support of the local team but no travel activity is allowed meanwhile the situation will substantially improve.
BTS Europe: Has your focus on duty of care and traveller risk changed as a result and, if so, how?
Simoncini: Not really. Is not the first crisis we have faced, and our protocol already includes traveller tracking, direct communications with employees, OBT warnings and a specific communication channel with the board and the local travel managers. In this case, we just follow our standard process and reinforce the messages linked with security.
BTS Europe: In what ways are you already applying or planning to apply AI in your programme?
Simoncini: We’re absolutely interested in understanding the potentiality of AI but, for the moment, we can’t see any real development or values. I don’t consider a chatbot an evolution of the travel programme or a real support for travel activities, however, I think AI can be really interesting when it's possible to link agent AI with travellers’ behaviours but I think the TMCs are still far from delivering strong AI solutions for their customers.
BTS Europe: Do you have concerns about AI that might prevent you from integrating it in your programme?
Simoncini: No, we consider AI as any other tool to support/improve the activity of our travellers and give us better control of the programme.
BTS Europe: Why are you looking forward to attending Business Travel Show Europe? What’s your number one priority?
Simoncini: Business Travel Show Europe provides an excellent and consistent network where the most important players have the opportunity to meet in person and connect their customers’ business/service queries with the most powerful suppliers’ end products available in the business travel market. Your priorities could change every year, but Business Travel Show Europe will always give you the opportunity to connect with the right people/suppliers. Once we have completed the full digitalisation of our business travel programme, the priority for RICOH for 2026 will be to connect with the right suppliers to improve the contents available for our users and find the best possible collaborators to help us improve our event management process.
BTS Europe: What are the most critical topics you want to talk more about at Business Travel Show Europe?
Simoncini: Following some of the things I have already mentioned above, I think the main topics for 2026 should be agentic AI, OBT content, duty of care/risk management, and new booking platforms (Atriis, Spotnana, etc.). I’d like to see also some of the big TMCs sharing new ideas or updates on their business models, but I don’t really believe that will happen.