Research says that the market size of the business travel industry in India crossed $31.7 billion in the year of 2021. Further, nearly half of those employees do not inform their companies about the travel details, such as where they will stay or the flights they have booked. The huge business travel volume and non-compliance with norms is the primary reason for such cost translations. Therefore, it becomes essential to know how to save money on business travel.
In the absence of a clear business travel policy, employees can overspend against the assigned budget. For corporations, the unnecessary expenditure on regular trips can become an excessively high-costing issue. However, with the right management strategies and leveraging the best technologies, businesses can simplify, systemize, and save on their corporate travel programs.
5 ways how to save money on business travel
1. Systemize business travel program
A corporate travel program must be systemized and automated for best results. Organizations can achieve better control over employees’ travel with streamlined business approval and a well-defined expense and risk management process. Systemization will provide travel managers with a coherent vision of travel policy performance. The reiteration and analysis of data can be used to better the overall process and significantly reduce the expenses.
A systemized travel program will also ensure high compliance with obligations. It must include a detailed risk management strategy to safeguard the company from financial and legal damages. A few leading travel management platforms provide automation technologies that alert travel managers about out-of-policy bookings and travel requests to destinations regarded as high-risk.
2. Invest in travel-specific technology
Leading businesses use travel management platforms like Paxes to ensure premium services are synced with effective cost-control measures. There are a few things to look for while investing in these technologies.
- The travel management platform must be holistic and designed to take care of the entire travel management process.
- It must be integrated with industry leaders in expense management to make expense control flexible and practical.
- There should always be room for persistent improvement.
Senior management must take into account that the comfort and convenience of their traveling team can directly affect the success of their business trip. An intuitive and friendly travel management platform is crucial for employees to get the most out of corporate travel.
Employees must also be responsible for adhering to the company’s business travel policy. To help them achieve this, the travel management platform must offer an effective messaging system that allows traveling staff to communicate with the base office quickly and effortlessly as and when needed.
Thus, the employees can get a quick resolution to any doubts they may have in adhering to stated travel policies. With easy visibility into policies and expenses, any misunderstanding and non-compliance can be easily detected and corrected before they get lost in data stacks.
3. Ensure involvement in travel management
Most businesses report poor involvement of their CFOs in business travel processes. Travel managers alone cannot make improvements to corporate travel policy due to authorization issues. Businesses looking for an effective travel management policy must have a clear association between the top management and business travel planning departments. They must play an active role in their business travel management program through collaborative analysis of policy performance or by collecting feedback directly from traveling employees.
4. Address the need of young corporate travelers
Nearly half of all business travel spending is accounted to millennial travelers. This percentage is expected to shoot up in the coming years. Senior managers must understand and address the preferences of the young travelers of their organization and capitalize on their strengths. They can reduce travel spending by striking a balance between expense input and tour output.
The senior management must work closely with travel managers, analyze the habits, and preferences of millennial corporate travelers, and account for these habits in their strategic travel policies.
5. Keep updating your travel policy
Experts suggest that the best corporate travel policies are those that are constantly evolving and work on how to save money while traveling for work. Managers can find new ways of connecting and conducting business with foreign partners and associates. Senior management must ensure new and cost-effective technologies and strategies are incorporated into existing travel policies for maximum ROI. They can save significantly on business travel-related costs by responding to market changes and embracing cost-saving methods.
These are a few of the many ideas that you can use to reduce business travel costs. The revenue saved from detecting cost leaks and optimizing the travel budget can be useful in funding other core business processes.
Many types of travel and expense management software systems are designed to manage your business travel costs effectively. Choose the best to accomplish near total policy compliance. You can also consider rewarding your employees for choosing hotels and flight bookings within the stated budget.
Factual data must support these business travel policy improvements. That is why it is essential to have a corporate travel management program backed by analytics and reporting capabilities.
Suggested Read: How Can Organization Manage Business Travel Budget
Conclusion
Different companies may have different goals when choosing options for how to save money on business travel. There are various platforms like Paxes that allow employees and travel managers to understand where their spending is going wrong and how it can be corrected. This enables companies to save costs and plan their business travel budget better.
Some corporate travelers may have to adapt quickly to the changes in business travel. Others may have the luxury and the convenience of easing themselves into the policy over a longer period. However, one thing’s sure that smartly leveraging the technologies and processes at disposal can save vast sums of money while traveling for work.
How To Save Money On Business Travel FAQs
How does systemizing make business travel efficient?
Systematization will give travel managers a clear picture of the effectiveness of their travel policies. Data analysis can be used to improve the whole procedure and lower costs. A systematized travel program will also guarantee high-obligation compliance.
Why investing in travel-specific technology is important for business travel?
It can help in the smooth functioning of the business trip. The employees can get a quick solution by contacting the origin in a short time whenever needed.
What are the things to be considered while opting for travel-specific technology?
It must be comprehensive and planned to handle the entire travel management process. It should make expense control flexible and useful as well as it needs to be integrated with leaders in the industry of finance management.
Why having an updated travel policy is a crucial part of business trips?
An updated travel policy will help the business trip to be cost-effective as the trends in the market keep on changing.
