Looking forward to 10 more years on tour, on board and on your side
Happy birthday! Centtrip is 10 years old today (August 14th). It’s been an exciting decade, but the next 10 years promise even more as we see technology and our markets evolve.
Looking ahead, here’s what I think we might see.
Evolving markets, loyal customers
Our customers and our markets will continue to grow and evolve.
In all our markets, we’re proud to maintain longstanding relationships with our customers, many of whom have been with us since the earliest days. As those markets evolve we hope and believe that customers will continue to value the seamless, sophisticated service we provide to their dynamic businesses.
People will still want the privacy, luxury and mobility of a private yacht and, with the development of cabin charters and the growth of smaller-yacht charter models, the market itself will continue to expand. That will mean more yachts, more (though sometimes smaller) crews and many more charter clients, where the Centtrip model of sophisticated spend management can help deliver seamless experiences for guests, owners and operators. The maturing of more recent destinations like the Middle East, South America and more domestic destinations such as the west coasts of Ireland and Scotland will also help grow the market.
Musicians will continue to tour as people seek the unique, shared experience of a live concert. For top artists, international tours may consist of fewer – but much bigger – shows, meaning larger crews and more local spend. As the festival model grows larger, longer and more elaborate, we expect to see growing demand for the Centtrip ecosystem and the benefits it provides for in-sector specialists, whether buyers or sellers.
The evolution of artists into brands will continue, generating multi-format revenue streams from global advertising sponsorship rights, starring roles in blockbuster movies, international clothing design and book publishing. Centtrip will be alongside, continuing to support its clients to better navigate the complexities of licensing, rights management and appearance fees – be that on tour, on screen, in store or online – for each of their managed artists.
Similarly, the hunger for great visual storytelling (Barbenheimer, anyone?) will remain unabated, even as delivery channels continue to evolve – just as they did from cinema to broadcast television to VHS, DVD and then streaming. After the impending shakeout of streaming services, the consumer model will become more cost-effective and studios will continue to compete with engaging entertainment: more productions, more film crews and more specialists. As the power of AI reduces the need for more marginal location shoots, we anticipate a growth in international payments to specialist, behind-the-scenes skills – making the global market for talent flatter and more mobile.
Those are our current core markets and over the next few years we’ll be providing a wider range of services to those clients, supporting their existing and evolving business models.
We will also broaden our reach. Already, Centtrip supports sports, private aviation and family offices. Those sectors will continue to grow and we’ll also expand into newer sectors like professional services firms, global NGOS and other multinational organizations that face the same, uniquely complex challenges of managing and empowering multiple, internationally mobile teams and assets.
Wider horizons
In the short term, our geographical focus will be on enhancing Europe and developing the US market.
Our clients are already international, so it will be no surprise as we grow Centtrip’s presence in the rest of North America, the Middle East and Asia. By 2033, we should have a network of offices around the globe to serve our clients wherever they’re based and wherever they’re working.
Smarter tech to simplify complexity
As we celebrate our tenth birthday in 2023, the media is full of hype and horror around artificial intelligence. Like many businesses, Centtrip has already been using AI in the background and this will continue to grow in the coming years.
Advanced AI will become central to our core customer offering of taking the complex and making it simple. AI will enrich our customer support and personal service. It will enable us to anticipate and resolve potential issues before they become problems and handle queries and requests more efficiently.
AI will power our regulatory compliance and be the brains behind future offerings like intelligent service matching,
Since launching in 2013, Centtrip has been at the forefront of technology, pioneering user features like instant lock/unlocking of lost cards. In the early days we recognized the need to replace bags of cash for charter yacht APAs and tour expenses. By 2033, physical cards might be as quaint as a cheque book and we’ll be pioneering the latest, safest, biometric payment systems.
Wherever the world of spend management goes, Centtrip will be there, continuing to seamlessly connect the world’s most glamorous money for the most dynamic businesses.
We hope you’ll be with us on the journey.
10 more years on tour, on board and on your side