Business travel is an essential aspect of most companies, including large organizations, startups, and other businesses. However, corporate travel is a complex activity involving multiple factors and uncertainties. Further, managing business trip for a large number of employees can be a challenging task in the absence of efficient travel management app.
Streamlining corporate travel is essential to improve employee experience and save valuable time while booking travel and accommodation, getting approvals from line managers, and submitting expenses. Corporate travel managers and TMCs face many hurdles in implementing a company’s travel policy and controlling traveling expenses. Hence, automation becomes the key to effective travel management.
What is a travel management app
A travel management app streamlines business travel in a corporate setup. It is part of a centralized travel management platform for smoothly managing a broad spectrum of business travel activities. The platforms like Paxes helps TMCs, corporate travel managers, accounts staff, and the HR department to improve compliance with the company’s travel policy.
Travel managers and top corporate TMCs leverage travel management apps for ticketing, booking accommodation, tracking employee locations, and analyzing business travel to gain helpful insights and trends. The travel management app allows easy access to a vast inventory to facilitate bookings at the employee level.
Freedom to book travel improves employee satisfaction and reduces the involvement of travel managers. Incorporating the travel policy into the travel management app ensures strict compliance.
What to look for in travel management apps
Corporate travel managers and TMCs should look for attributes that enhance travel policy compliance with the assurance of employee satisfaction while considering a travel management app. The travel management app must reduce the workload at the travel manager’s level and provide granular insights into all travel-related activities, including employee tracking. Consider the following features in a travel management app to ensure maximum benefits for employees, corporate travel managers, and the organization.
1. Integration of travel policy
Implementing a travel policy without proper system in-place is a nightmare. An ideal travel management platform allows corporate travel managers to incorporate travel policies and set rules to achieve total compliance. Reputed SaaS-based travel management apps enable customization and change of travel policies at any stage.
2. Enabling approval workflows
There is a tremendous loss of time in getting approvals for business trips or changes in itineraries. App-based travel management solutions reduce back-and-forth email communications by automating approval workflows.
3. Seamless access to travel inventory
Established corporate travel management solution providers allow employees and corporate travel managers round-the-clock access to thousands of hotels and transportation services with direct access to all global and regional LCCs and SOTO airlines besides all GDS and NDC airlines.
4. Efficient support
Employees deserve the assurance of instant care while on a business trip. These apps have travel management system reputed for tech and employee support through multiple communication channels like chat, call, and email.
5. Expense reporting
There are several travel management platforms facilitating the instant submission of expense reports for faster reimbursement. The unified travel management platform captures all expense data, reporting instant travel spending. Most of these platforms also have a travel budget app that helps in streamlining and efficient analysis of travel expenditures.
6. Duty of care features
A moral obligation of Duty of Care toward employee safety is also an organization’s legal responsibility. The travel management app enables swift alerts to help employees take action. The facility of continuous global threat monitoring within the platform sends out messages to employees that may travel to the affected areas.
Benefits of trip management apps for, employees, businesses and TMCs
Corporate organizations and businesses can explore several benefits of travel management apps. The platform is a centralized service repository that enables bookings at budget-friendly prices. It also allows easy access to historical and real-time expense data and other details of business trips.
1. One-stop platform for centralized travel management
The app-based travel management platform enables access to all travel and expense-related activities. It is a unified portal with all crucial data in one place.
2. Quick and easy approval process
The travel management app expedites the approval process, saving valuable time and eliminating the need for email communications. The availability of pre-approved vendors reduces approvals and provides autonomy to employees for booking travel and accommodation as per their choice.
3. Prompt generation of reports
Companies can improve their audit readiness by using established travel management apps, promising faster reports. Finance department staff can generate real-time reports to gain insights into travel expense trends.
4. Effective employee risk management
The app-based travel management platform offers continuous employee tracking with location, travel dates, and employee names. Corporate travel managers and TMCs can contact employees if there is a threat perception. The app can send out bulk messages to employees by monitoring global events.
Must Read: Top Benefits Of Using Travel And Expense Management Software
Conclusion
Most organizations are embracing travel management apps and platforms to improve employee satisfaction and productivity during business trips. These platforms improve spend analysis and audit readiness by maintaining historical data with receipts. Companies can improve their duty of care compliance by using real-time tracking and instant messaging features of the travel management app for small businesses and large enterprises.
Paxes is a helpful and versatile solution to facilitate travel management through the SaaS-based platform. Travel management companies and corporate prefer using Paxes for end-to-end travel management. The platform incorporates the company’s travel policy and ensures cost control besides supporting the duty of care for employee safety and well-being.
Travel Management Apps FAQs
What is a travel management app?
A travel management app is a platform or SAAS-based program that helps to organize and manage business travel for corporations and business organizations. The travel management app helps schedule and keep track of all the travel requirements and processes that an employee needs for traveling for business or the company.
How does a travel management app help TMCs?
A travel management app helps ease the process of managing all travel requirements and services on one platform. It also provides visibility and access to all the stakeholders of the organization.
What features does a travel management application include?
A travel management application consists of an easily accessible flight, hotel, and transportation inventory that accommodates custom travel policies of the organization. It also includes integration of the approval process, budget control, and a designated dashboard with all the travel information for the employee.
What are the advantages of a travel management app?
The major advantages of a travel management app are that it helps ease the approval process of any travel requirement, budgets the costs, and provides round-the-clock support services for corporates on business travel.
