Corporate traveling is on the rise, especially after the pandemic slowed down. The number of increasing, most of them being the employees of various companies around the globe.
However, one thing that does not fit into all this. The efficiency and cost-saving capability of the companies on their employees’ business traveling. Yes, that’s right. Businesses are finding it hard to keep things efficient when it comes to the management of their travel expenses.
And, due to this mismanagement and in some cases, complete ignorance, the costs of corporate traveling are becoming high, which reflect only when expense analysis is done before the new financial year kicks in.
But how can these costs be reduced? Is there a solution? Yes, it very well might lie in creating a comprehensive corporate travel system, and here’s how.
What Exactly is Corporate Travel Management?
The way big corporations, companies, or businesses manage their business trips is what we refer to as corporate travel management. This management might include managing various aspects such as booking flights, and hotels, looking for accommodations, approving business trips to certain locations, checking on travel expenses, making sure travel policies are adhered to, and reimbursing the travel expenses.
The biggest goal behind corporate travel system is to make sure that every aspect related to business travel is efficient and cost-effective for companies. At the same time, they also must ensure the comfort, safety, and productivity of employees no matter where they are traveling for business purposes. That actually is done with the help of travel policies and using tech tools such as travel expense management platforms or travel booking tools.
How Exactly Do Systems Related to Corporate Travel Management Work?
Their work is simple. Meant to revolutionize the entire corporate travel process, the corporate travel management systems organize business trips, supervise business meetings, plan corporate tours, and even coordinate the entire structure of multiple business trips, whether overseas or in-country.
Travel management systems, especially those that handle corporate trips mainly include travel management companies, in-house travel managers or planners, self-booking travel tools, and the best ones, travel management platforms or software.
Travel Management Companies
They come into play only when big corporations out there outsource their travel planning to them. The companies who work in this field have their own teams of travel agents, travel managers, customer service reps, etc., that make it possible for them to handle and manage the travel systems of bigger corporations. These travel management companies get you great flight deals, and cheap hotel bookings, and simplify the planning process of corporate traveling.
In-House Travel Planners
They are a thing of small businesses or starter companies. In-house travel admins or managers are employed who oversee the travel arrangements and plan the business trips of the employees in the companies. At times, these admins also fulfill the roles of expense tracking, employee safety while traveling, and reimbursements.
Self-Booking Travelling Tools
These tools provide much more freedom to employees. Large businesses use them for their employees so that they can do their own travel planning. With them at their disposal, there is no need for any supervisor or a team to handle travel processes. But there’s a drawback to this approach too. Employees sometimes are ignorant and do not remember to do important travel-related things such as flight booking or even submission of reimbursement receipts.
Corporate Travel Systems
These systems are the best thing forward if you want your business to have an efficient and smooth travel management workflow. Starting from flight bookings to hotel bookings to reimbursing travel expenses, these software systems have a knack for performing it all. Also, advanced features like employee location tracking and travel policy compliance make this software must have for companies who abundantly send out employees for business-related trips.
What are the Benefits of Corporate Travel Management Software?
It Helps with Financial Efficiency and Accuracy
Software that manages business travel planning simplifies tasks and makes it easier to file and get reimbursed for many expenses, which is done using automation that also cuts down on mistakes by reducing the need for human input. It also saves hundreds of hours of work each month for employees. Therefore, automation also helps standardize data and keeps financial data related to trips from getting messed up.
Pre-spend Controls is Something that it Offers
With business travel management software, you can set spending limits for workers based on their pay grade. This feature is known as the pre-spend feature that helps companies get their workers to spend money in a way that follows the rules. Therefore, it allows you to pre-pick out the types of flights, seats, perks, and hotels that can be booked.
Customizable Approval Process in Action
In every company, the steps for approving trip costs are different. Some approvals need to be signed off on by more than one person, even within the same company. If you get the right trip management software, you can change how approvals work for different types of travel.
It Easily Integrates with Existing Systems and Travel Policies
It can be hard to switch to a new system when there are already a lot of management systems in place. Therefore, it is very important to make sure that the travel management software you choose can work with the company’s current ERP software. In the case of travel management software, most of them integrate easily.
It Sends Out Customizable Reports
Software for managing business travel planning has certain tools that make it easy to make graphics and generate reports quickly. These reports make it easy to look at data about travel costs and give the finance team enough information to make budgeting choices.
Final Thoughts on Choosing the Right System for Corporate Travel System
It’s not easy. But it’s important to choose the right one because if you don’t, then the seamless functioning of your business travel planning might be in jeopardy. A business travel management system, if selected wisely can impact the efficiency of many aspects of your business, especially those that are closely related to on-field workflows.
ITILITE, a powerful platform, which is best known for its travel and expense management capabilities is what you might want to have a look into. Its integrations are next-level and the system in which it operates is robust. With this system at your disposal, you are destined to spend low on business travel expenses, increase travel policy compliance, and ensure every aspect of the company’s travel part is managed appropriately. No loose ends, just straight business, that’s what ITILITE is all about.