Travel is important for small and medium-sized businesses. Meeting clients in person can be the final push that turns a prospect into a customer. Larger companies usually have an upfront budget set for business travel, allowing them to confidently book a certain number of trips each year and have flexibility during those trips. They also likely have established travel procedures.
For smaller businesses, creating a travel plan, budget, and policies from scratch can feel overwhelming. This might make video calls seem like a simpler option than meeting in person, but that doesn’t have to be the case. Business travel helps SMEs build strong client relationships, as face-to-face meetings foster credibility and lasting rapport that is harder to achieve virtually.
This guide will cover what small businesses need to consider when administering business travel. Without the right policies and planning, travel can become expensive. That’s why it’s important to have a clear budget and plan to make your business travel cost-effective.
Role of a Travel Manager
A travel manager oversees all aspects of business travel within a company. He/she typically creates travel policies aligned to company’s interests, arrange bookings, monitor travel expenses, and ensure that employees are both comfortable and productive during their trips.
In large companies with significant travel needs, this role is crucial. However, in smaller companies (SMEs), the role may not exist, and responsibilities are often taken on by an office manager, HR, or the employees themselves. When there’s no dedicated travel manager, leveraging a travel management platform is an excellent solution. It allows automation of travel policies, enable employees to book their own trips, and help tracking travel expenses efficiently. This is especially helpful when one person is handling multiple tasks, including travel management. If the manager is away for a few days, it’s important to make it easy for someone to temporarily step into their role and seamlessly access all the relevant travel information.
Simplifying Business Travel for SMEs
Many companies do not have a dedicated person for booking travel, so it is important to find a way that saves time, money, and resources. Although there’s no one-size-fits-all solution for small businesses to manage travel, excellent options are available, such as corporate travel software, travel management companies (TMCs), or consumer travel websites.
Corporate Travel Management Software
Corporate travel management software simplifies travel planning by centralizing everything in one place. You can easily book flights, hotels, trains, buses, and rental cars without visiting multiple websites. These tools streamline the booking process and gives access to the best travel options and deals.
The software is typically user-friendly and self-service, ideal for small and medium-sized businesses to search and avail deals or coordinate with travel agents on complex itineraries. Tools like TCat helps you find top deals quickly, and if needed, offline support is available, offering the convenience of both online and offline services.
Consumer Travel Booking Websites
Consumer travel websites, or online travel agencies (OTAs), gather travel deals in one place to help users find the best prices. However, these platforms are designed primarily for leisure travellers, not focused on business professionals. They may lack the flexibility and support that business travel often requires, especially when plans change or issues arise, which can lead to costly penalties and limited assistance.
An open booking policy of such travel sites could result in a lot of paperwork, as each employee submitting their own invoices, often from different providers. These may induce back-office challenges for corporates like consolidating travel costs, re-billing travel costs to other businesses, reconciling tax refunds etc. Additionally, giving employees control over bookings increase the importance of strict policy compliance and cost effective travel management.
Business Travel Management Partner
A Travel Management Partner is essentially a travel agency that caters specifically to business needs. Their role is to assist companies in managing and improving their travel arrangements by offering services like booking flights and hotels, providing access to exclusive rates, tracking travel expenses, and ensuring companies meet their responsibilities regarding employee safety and well-being. These agencies are designed to make business travel smoother, more efficient, and cost-effective for both companies and their employees. However, as business travel volumes increase, manual processes can create bottlenecks, friction in the travel experience and lead to potential cost inefficiencies.
Enhance Your Travel Program: Strategies utilizing Travel Management Software
Crafting Your Corporate Travel Policy
A corporate travel policy serves as the foundation for managing business travel efficiently. It outlines how employees should travel, the accommodations they can use, their daily allowances, and other essential guidelines. Additionally, it plays a crucial role in ensuring the safety of travellers. Utilizing a travel management platform allows you to streamline and automate your travel policy, helping to control costs and achieve your goals effectively.
If you are interested to know more, read the whitepaper – Streamlining Corporate Travel Management Using the Power of Policy Automation.
Streamlining Flight and Hotel Bookings
A self-booking tool primarily involves organizing all the necessary components for a business trip, including flights, trains, rental cars, and hotels; making the booking process quicker and more efficient compared to using separate hotel apps. Since the travel policy is automated, any reservations made through the platform will automatically adhere to company guidelines. Tools like TCat offer small and mid-enterprises, access to a travel marketplace, enabling them to secure exclusive travel deals and fares that would otherwise be out of reach.
Service and Assistance
Business travel can often encounter challenges, which is why round-the-clock support is a crucial aspect of corporate travel management. Receiving live support from real people in challenging situations offers essential reassurance. The chosen tool should also include a support system that provides expert manual assistance when needed.
Traveller Support
Travel support in Travel Management Software essentially functions as an app that sends real-time notifications, such as booking updates or travel alerts. It also stores and manages digital ID cards, ensuring travellers have quick access to important documents and information throughout their trip, and keep travellers informed about the upcoming events in the trip. These features could also provide with personalized and geo centric offers to travellers, along with provisions to track expenses on the fly.
Reporting and Analytics
Reporting and analytics in a travel management platform help businesses track their travel spending and activities. These tools provide clear data on costs, helping companies make travel decisions, save money, improve employee travel experiences, monitor sustainability and refine the travel processes.
Expense Management
Expense management in a travel management platform makes it easy for companies to handle travel costs. Employees can quickly upload their receipts and report expenses using a mobile app or through the platform itself. The platform provides tools to track spending and check if it follows company rules. This helps businesses stay on budget and makes it simpler to approve and reimburse expenses. Overall, it saves time and keeps travel finances organized.
Conclusion
Business travel is a crucial component for SMEs looking to enhance client relationships and pursue growth prospects. However, effective travel management can be difficult without careful preparation and automation. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can reduce travel costs while safeguarding flexibility and control by implementing a comprehensive travel policy, utilizing travel management software, and providing support to employees during trips. Businesses may assure easier, more cost-effective, and smooth travel experiences by utilizing corporate travel software or working with a travel management partner. With the right tools and tactics in place, SMEs can reliably maximize the value of their business trips, resulting in development and success.
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