By Terri Buscemi
In the last year, we’ve seen a surge in corporate travel among small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Especially when you’re competing against larger, more well-known companies, face-to-face meetings are vital – where trust is formed, relationships blossom, and business deals are solidified. These moments of connecting in real life and fostering a rapport that cannot be felt through a computer screen can go far in demonstrating to customers your loyalty and that you’re willing to go the extra mile.
While many small businesses understand the value of corporate travel, managing these programs can sometimes be challenging, especially for those that let their employees make their own travel arrangements with minimal company oversight – what’s known as an unmanaged or self-booking program. The lack of oversight associated with such programs can be problematic, often leading to increased costs and undermining a company’s duty of care.
After the travel restrictions of the pandemic left many employees stranded, numerous small businesses realised that the unmanaged route was not the path they wanted to be on. Since then, we’ve seen an increasing number of SMEs switching to a managed travel program structure by partnering with a company that provides travel management software and services.
When working with a corporate travel company, you will have an array of tools built around your small business travel needs to efficiently operate your program, instantly giving you greater visibility into your travellers’ whereabouts and how the company’s travel dollars are being spent. Let’s explore further the advantages of collaborating with a corporate travel management company.
Streamline the travel booking process
In an unmanaged program, employees generally can book business trips through whichever booking platform they wish. This approach, however, can lead to a lot of wasted time and effort, with travellers navigating multiple websites to piece together and manage the various components of their itinerary. What’s more, this fragmented booking experience can hinder a company’s cost-saving and duty of care efforts.
On the flip side, a business travel partner’s user-friendly online booking tool (OBT) can streamline the booking process. Whether travellers prefer using their desktop, phone, or mobile app, all the functionalities they need to book, organise, and manage their business trips are readily accessible and contained within a single booking platform. With the ability to compare prices, schedules, and amenities across different suppliers visible within the same display, travellers can book an end-to-end trip in minutes. In addition, all the travel data your business needs to aid with cost reductions and duty of care is automatically captured.
Generate more cost-savings
Travel expenses can be a constant source of stress for small businesses, who often face higher costs compared to larger companies. This is because small businesses typically do not have the negotiating muscle their bigger counterparts have, so they’re unable to meet the travel spending volumes required for preferred corporate discounts with providers.
That all changes when you have a corporate travel provider by your side. Because of the longstanding relationships it has built with air, hotel, and car suppliers, it can offer your company some of the best pricing available anywhere. With access to its negotiated rates, you can save substantially on travel costs – sometimes up to 25% to 50%, depending on the rates your travellers book.
On top of that, a corporate travel company may offer re-shopping tools that automatically search for and rebook more cost-effective hotel rates and airfares, enabling you to cut trip expenses further – all without travellers having to lift a finger.
Create an effective corporate travel policy
Small businesses often exceed their travel budget when they lack a formal travel policy and don’t set spending limits around employees’ purchasing decisions. A managed travel partner can help implement a travel policy based on industry best practices, giving employees clear guidance on spending limits and what type of airfares, hotels, and car rentals they can and cannot book. This can translate into significant cost savings for small businesses.
In addition to policy development, a company providing travel services can help with change management initiatives and drive awareness around new guidelines. The online booking tool can be configured to help drive policy compliance, automatically steering travellers toward the company’s preferred suppliers.
Support your travellers in times of need
Providing adequate duty of care to travelling employees can be challenging for small businesses, who often don’t have the travel risk management teams their larger counterparts have. If they have an unmanaged program as well, they may be missing essential travel data necessary to assist impacted travellers. After all, how can you help if you don’t know which flights travellers are on or the hotels they stay in?
A corporate travel provider’s travel risk management solution can be a vital asset for small businesses to fulfill their duty of care obligations in an emergency. Advanced risk management software seamlessly integrates itinerary information, GPS technology, real-time flight status updates, and credit card swipe data to pinpoint travellers’ locations quickly. From there, you can connect and provide support to potentially impacted employees via text, email, or push notifications on the travel app.
A business travel partner can also help when travel plans unravel due to a last-minute flight delay or cancellation with a disruption management service that automatically contacts affected travellers and offers rebooking assistance. If they need help, its 24/7 customer support team can provide live assistance to get their trip back on track.
Access data that can transform your program
When travellers book business trips directly with a supplier or through an online travel agency, it’s difficult to know if they secured the best deal and to optimize the travel budget.
Real-time visibility into travel spend can help you better manage your expenses and identify cost efficiencies. When you understand the patterns of your program – from destination trends and total trip costs to policy compliance – you can begin to make refinements and unlock additional savings. Data analytics tools can also deliver actionable insights, illustrating potential savings opportunities when travellers follow best practices, such as booking with preferred suppliers in advance.
Automate the expense management process
According to research, nearly a third of businesses use manual employee expense management processes, draining company resources. Fortunately, a corporate travel online booking tool can integrate with expense management systems to capture data automatically, streamline processes, and minimise the risk of data entry errors.
When accessing the OBT through their mobile phones, travellers can quickly scan and submit the receipts necessary to complete expense reports, expediting the reimbursement process. With real-time expense tracking, both travellers and finance teams can stay on top of transactions as they occur and quickly respond to unauthorised activities.
A tool that links booking and spend management capabilities gives travellers and other teams everything they need to manage all facets of a trip on a single unified platform, saving time and money.
Business travel management crafted to suit your needs
Some small businesses may believe a large, multinational company doesn’t understand their world, but that is far from the truth. Amex GBT has one of the most extensive databases of clients to draw and learn from. So, when we provide small businesses with travel best practices, it’s not just based on our extensive experience as a leading software and services company for travel, expense, and meetings & events. It’s also backed by robust data from other smaller businesses with the same type of needs. And that data is growing by the day.
In 2023, we experienced a surge of partnerships with smaller companies, amounting to $2.2 billion in new SME client acquisitions. During those 12 months, we achieved a 96% client retention rate within this segment.
As a company committed to the success of small businesses, we understand you aren’t merely looking for a scaled-down version of a big-company solution. You require a suite of management tools and travel services that can cater to your specific business travel needs, both now and as your company evolves and expands. Learn more about our travel management solutions and how we can support your company’s growth.
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