Why Your Business Needs Business Travel Software

Business travel is big and growing. The Business Travel Market size expected to reach $1,657 billion by 2023. This is one of the largest global markets and stands to be completely disrupted by advancements in new technologies, specifically corporate travel management software. These developments are revolutionizing business travel management by simplifying and automating corporate travel arrangements.

What is corporate travel management software?

Corporate travel management (CTM) software is a computer program or set of programs designed to oversee, regulate, and coordinate the travel activities and expenses of a company's employees. Effective CTM software can conduct many of the tasks traditionally done by human travel managers.

Forward-looking corporations are increasingly investing in business travel software and it’s easy to understand why.

Corporate travel management up to now

Traditionally a company’s business travel needs were handled by a travel agency, legacy corporate tools or an in-house travel manager.

Traditional vs. Modern Corporate Travel Management

Travel agencies – Travel agencies are also being disrupted. They simply don’t have the tools to deal with the demands of modern-day business travelers. Today’s business travelers expect to be able to do their own bookings and demand access to extensive flight inventory. As it is, corporate travel agencies will go out of business if they don’t adopt new business practices, including investing in travel management software such as Betravelo.

Legacy corporate tools – Corporate travel has benefitted from legacy business travel software for years now. These tools were built to help large corporations manage their travel needs and track their travel expenditure. However, these tools are notoriously troublesome to set up and expensive to run. They have lost their usefulness - they were designed and developed decades ago and do not easily integrate with the suite of tools and software used by modern companies. They were designed with the needs of finance and HR in mind with the main aim of curbing spend and providing controls rather than providing business travelers with a great experience.

In-house travel manager – Planning and managing corporate travel is difficult. The more employees go on business trips, the more complicated it becomes for a company to keep track of the different trips, expenses and people who travel. When it becomes too much for one person to handle and every employee is trusted to do their own travel arrangement, chaos ensues.

It becomes a nightmare to keep track of how much is being spent on travel when employees don’t follow the same procedures when paying for travel expenses. Some can pay with their corporate cards, while others are reimbursed sometime after their return. It gets more problematic if, as invariably happens, employees don’t follow the company’s travel policy.

Travel management software

With the advent of modern, digital travel tools for consumers also business travelers’ expectations have increased drastically. They now expect to be able to book and manage their trips effortlessly using online and mobile tools that offer the same features as the apps they use in their day to day lives. This has given rise to a new breed of startups that offer modern business travel solutions using the latest technology.

The right travel management software simplifies business travel arrangements. Corporate travel management software is an online booking engine that provides a complete travel management solution for companies, handling the booking of flights and accommodation, monitoring travel expenses and improving data collection. The software is not exclusive to corporations and business travel and can be used by private travelers, travel agencies, tour operators and corporate travel managers.

How does business travel software make business travel easier?

1. Faster booking

Usually making travel arrangements for colleagues involves endless emails to check and recheck travel details, documents, dates, and everything involved with a business trip. It all wastes precious company time especially when booking trips for groups. The whole process is inefficient and affects the company bottom line negatively.

Business travel software streamlines the whole process by simplifying the booking process. Corporate travel management systems let you compare flights and accommodation faster. For instance, Betravelo has a wide inventory of flights and hotels to help you book your trip in just a few minutes. The software saves your traveler profile, preferences and payment details which also speeds up matters.

2. Business Traveler Centric

All successful corporate travel management solutions have as their starting point the interest of the traveler – they put the needs of on-demand smartphone-toting travelers first. Traveler-centric solutions are crucial because modern consumers are fickle and they switch their interest and dollars instantly if they don’t get the service they have come to expect.

3. Easy implementation of the company travel policy

Corporate travel management software automatically incorporates the businesses’ travel policy including preferred suppliers and rate parameters. This streamlines compliance with the travel policy and saves significant time on manager approval processes. Employees can see at a glance which travel choices the policy supports and which not. They can book flights, hotels, and rental cars knowing that they are not contravening the company policy. If they do, the system will immediately flag the transgression.

4. Better insight into travel spend

With business travel software all travel expenses are in one place. These solutions can provide automated invoices after booking and travel reports featuring dates, traveler name, flights, accommodation and more. They can also be integrated with expense reporting apps.

Business travel software handles travel processes effectively, including travel reporting. This helps companies to see where their travel money goes. Since all travel-related data is captured in real time, financial analysis becomes much easier and more accurate.

Because companies can see in real time what their travel expenditure is, they can continually monitor the relationship between their travel budget and their travel spend and take timely steps to stay in budget if necessary.

5. Easier expensing

Each expense report filed by an employee manually takes about 30 minutes to complete and costs the company $58 to process.

With corporate travel software, all your company’s travel expenses are in one place and can be expensed automatically. For instance, these solutions feature automated digital capturing of invoices after booking as well as detailed digital travel booking reports. For this purpose, the business travel software is integrated with expense reporting apps like Expensify so accounting staff no longer have to waste time tracing and deciphering receipts.

6. Lower travel expenses

Corporate travel management software helps companies to save time and money on business travel.

Automated and accurate capturing of travel-related data in real time gives companies real-time insight into travel spend and waste. Companies can take timely action to curb unnecessary expenditure.

The more data a company gathers about its travel history, the better position it’s in to negotiate better rates with hotels and airlines that are used regularly by company employees.

With a company’s travel policy built into the business travel software, employees are guided to follow the booking policy and avoid unnecessary mistakes and expenses.

What to look for in a travel management solution

An end-to-end travel management platform that can take care of the entire process from travel request and travel data analytics to travel policy compliance, bookings and automated expensing is what you should consider for your business.

There are many different travel management solutions with varying features on the market. You will choose one that suits your business requirements, but there are basic features you should be aware of when you decide to invest in one.

• Easy for travelers to book a trip

• Easy for administrators to book trips for company employees

• Access to a vast inventory of flights and hotels online

• Automatic travel policy compliance

• Automated travel and expense reporting

• 24/7 travel support

• A platform that will scale quickly and adapt to growing travel needs or future developments in business travel

• Mobile support and access so travelers can check their flight and itinerary details.

• Storage of traveler profiles and preferences

What you need is corporate travel management software that is easy and clean to use. It must be easy to onboard everyone in the company and get them making travel bookings immediately. The platform must get employees up and running quickly. What you want is a software platform that employees will like to use.

Also, look out for a platform that provides basic tech support as well as traveler support. You don’t want any travelers stranded on airports or at the wrong hotel. You need customer support that solves problems in your preferred language and 24/7. Make sure the support is from actual travel agents, not robots.

Corporate travel management software your company can count on

What any company wants from corporate travel management software is that it would simplify travel bookings and remove the frustration factor associated with business travel arrangements. The corporate travel management company, Betravelo, does that.

With Betravelo making business travel arrangements is a breeze. You have access to a wide inventory that stems from Betravelo’s partnership with more than 600 airlines and over 400,000 hotels. This partnership also guarantees the best possible rates for Betravelo clients, which significantly reduces travel expenses.

The whole booking process is so user-friendly that instead of an hour or so, employees spend only a few minutes to book flights and accommodation. With Betravelo, you can book hotels and flights via messaging platforms that you are already using, including Slack, WhatsApp, LINE, and WeChat.

Betravelo captures a trove of traveler and travel data, providing heaps of travel insights and bringing transparency to your travel spend. You can use this information to adjust your travel budget or travel policy.

With your travel policy built into the Betravelo software, you can ensure compliance and reduce your travel expenses by up to 35%.

And don’t worry about tedious and time-consuming accounting and expense reporting – all expenses are automated and integrated.

Conclusion

Travel management companies are revolutionizing business travel, outperforming traditional corporate travel agents. These software solutions offer easy and fast booking, automatic travel policy compliance, trouble-free expensing and financial transparency. Betravelo is foremost amongst these.