From best practice to tools, how can you improve your business travel management?
Long gone are the days when most business was conducted within a restricted geographical area. In this age of globalisation, companies are opening up more and more. Employees, particularly sales staff, are required to travel, sometimes abroad, to meet with customers, potential partners and so on.
While the Covid pandemic has reshuffled the deck, with the widespread use of video-conferencing for meetings, business travel is far from having disappeared. On the other hand, the rise of digital transformation is prompting organisations to look at ways of improving their business travel management. Today, it is important to save time and money on these processes, without compromising the well-being and safety of employees.
That's why it's a good idea to use a specialist platform, whether it handles business travel in part or in its entirety.
How can you manage your business travel effectively, and with what tools? What criteria should you use to choose the most appropriate solution?
Fasten your seatbelt and let's get started ✈️.
Definition of business travel and business travel management
To begin with, here's a quick definition to help you understand what we'll be talking about in this article: what do we mean by business travel (synonymous with professional travel) and business travel management?
What is a business trip?
A business trip is a journey made by an employee or entrepreneur in the course of his or her duties. It may involve :
- meetings ;
- conferences
- negotiations
- visits to customers or partners.
☝️ However, it is customary to differentiate between business travel and business trips, as the latter generally involve longer journeys over greater distances, giving rise to additional considerations (regarding accommodation, for example).
What about business travel management?
Business travel management defines the process of organising, planning and supervising these trips. It covers various tasks, such as
- comparing the various offers ;
- booking flights, hotels and transport ;
- processing expenses
- applying internal travel policies.
A legal perspective on business travel
💡 Please note: business travel is governed by the Labour Code. Don't hesitate to consult the official texts to make sure you stay within the law.
You can also take a look at our article summarising the rules to be observed when travelling on business.
How to organise a business trip effectively in 5 steps?
1- Establish a business travel policy
To begin with, draw up a detailed travel policy, specifying all the guidelines, from the selection of suppliers to spending limits and approval procedures.
To do this, ask yourself the right questions, such as:
- What criteria should you use to select airlines and hotels? Should you prioritise certain suppliers with whom you have company agreements?
- What is the maximum budget authorised for accommodation, transport and meals in different destinations?
- Who has to approve travel, and what types of travel require special authorisation?
- What security measures should be taken when travelling to destinations considered to be at risk? How can employee safety be monitored in real time?
- What deadlines and documents are required for submitting and approving expense claims?
☝️ Of course, communicate this policy to all employees and make sure it is easily accessible.
2- Decide who plans business trips
In other words, do you have someone in-house for these tasks or do you prefer to delegate them to external service providers?
Today, some organisations entrust the management of their business travel to a specialist agency. In this case, the agency takes charge of the entire organisational process (comparison of different service providers, reservations, etc.), as well as all the invoicing. This is the case with Egencia, TravelPerk and Selectour Affaires.
However, for budgetary reasons, this approach remains the preserve of medium-sized and large companies. In smaller companies, these tasks are assigned to a specific member of staff, be it
- an executive assistant
- an office manager
- or even a travel manager if they have the resources to create this type of post.
3- Use the appropriate technological tools
But for employees whose main job is not managing business travel, such as managers, beware of the amount of bandwidth they have to devote to it!
That's why a new type of technological solution has developed over the last few years, 100% dedicated to business travel management.
These platforms are the perfect answer to the material and support needs of companies on these issues, saving them precious time. In particular, they make it possible to
- automate processes such as booking flights and hotels ;
- control expenditure in real time
- control itinerary management.
We'll come back to these tools a little later in the article ⤵️.
4- Organise the business trip itself
With or without a platform, organising a business trip involves a number of different tasks:
- defining the objectives of the trip in order to determine your priorities ;
- establishing the budget, in line with internal policy
- choosing the means of transport and accommodation, comparing the various offers on the market;
- organising the employee's schedule, taking into account time constraints such as appointments;
- prepare the necessary documents, in particular tickets, vouchers, passports and visas;
- plan solutions in the event of transport cancellation or change of programme.
☝️ Don't forget to pay particular attention to the safety of your travellers, your absolute priority. For example, establish safety protocols to ensure a rapid response in the event of an emergency, and find out about the geopolitical situation in the country to which the employee is travelling, as well as its customs and traditions.
5- Monitor and adjust
Finally, we recommend that you carry out regular audits to identify gaps and opportunities for improvement in the management of your resources.
Periodically reviewing your travel policy also enables you to assess its effectiveness and make any necessary adjustments in line with your company's changing needs or the external environment.
What are the 3 advantages of business travel platforms?
As we've just mentioned, given all the factors to be taken into account when managing business travel, it makes sense to rely on dedicated software.
- The main advantage lies in saving time. And with good reason: with its many automated functions, the tool does some of the work for you, in line with your budget and your internal travel policy. This includes, for example, the validation and processing of expense claims.
- What's more, thanks to the supplier relationships maintained by the publishers, you benefit from negotiated rates, without compromising the efficiency of your business travel. These platforms also help you avoid overspending. In short, you can make serious savings!
- Finally (and this is a big plus!), teams are on hand to assist you, usually 24/7, if you have an urgent problem to solve. Delayed or cancelled flights, problems with hotel reservations... employees can contact a dedicated service at any time and any place to deal with these unforeseen events.
How do you choose your business travel management solution?
The main functionalities
The first thing to look at when choosing a business travel management solution is, of course, its functional coverage. In other words, ask yourself what you really need.
👉 As a general rule, the expected functions are as follows:
- centralisation of bookings. Note, however, that there are generic platforms that take care of all aspects of travel, while others focus on a specific component (car transport, for example);
- centralisation of data, which is useful if you don't want to have to re-enter information each time you make a booking (passport number, for example);
- integration of your internal business travel policy;
- dashboards and other reports for analysing data;
- automated management of expense claims;
- Expense tracking and control;
- authorisation management, using validation workflows;
- real-time tracking of travellers, with a tracking system that locates employees on the move to ensure their safety, among other things;
- integration with other tools, such as accounting software, human resources management software, etc.
💡 Good to know: we recommend that you carry out this project in conjunction with the various stakeholders:
- employees who travel ;
- financial teams who want to keep an eye on the budget ;
- employees in charge of booking and approving.
In this way, you will be able to grasp everyone's precise expectations, as well as any bottlenecks.
Other criteria to take into account
Quality of customer service
This is undoubtedly the number 1 criterion, for the simple reason that business travel has its share of unforeseen and urgent situations to deal with at the last minute. It is therefore important to be able to count on customer service that is available (24/7) and responsive.
💡 Good to know: also opt for a service provider with real expertise in your sector, whether in understanding your requirements and constraints, but also in mastering the destinations to which you are travelling.
Ease of use
Ease of use is always one of the main criteria to look for when choosing software. At the same time, how can it be any other way if you want to guarantee that it will be fully and quickly adopted by users, and therefore benefit from its time-saving promises?
What's more, a simple solution minimises the risk of employees making mistakes when booking or tracking expenses.
An exhaustive catalogue
In the same way that private individuals make their reservations on sites such as Expedia or Booking, professionals want to have a choice, whether in terms of the type of accommodation or transport.
Software with a vast catalogue then allows employees to choose options tailored to their specific needs (flight times, hotel preferences, means of transport, etc.). This flexibility is more than welcome!
What's more, a diversified catalogue promises advantages in terms of rates! It includes suppliers available at different price levels (often negotiated!), so you can turn to the most economical solutions, while respecting your travel policy.
The price
Speaking of price, we also recommend that you look at the price of the solution itself, paying particular attention to any hidden costs.
The aim? To select the software that guarantees the best possible return on investment.
💡 Don't hesitate to ask for quotes from different publishers!
Customisation
Each organisation has its own specific characteristics. In this sense, the platform chosen must be able to adapt to all your requirements and singularities, to support you effectively in achieving your business travel management objectives.
What's more, the software needs to incorporate configuration options so that it can be linked to your internal business travel policy.
Reducing traveller risk
Reducing risk is your absolute priority!
So the ideal business travel management solution should include the ability to track and assist employees quickly and easily, particularly in the event of a crisis (natural disasters, political unrest, security incidents, etc.).
At the same time, it is important to ensure that the company complies fully with regulations when travelling. Some platforms take care of managing visas, vaccinations and travel insurance.
Mobility
Finally, it goes without saying that travellers must be able to use the software on the move, to manage their trip or resolve an emergency while already on the move.
In addition, a mobile application can be used to receive useful notifications in real time, such as information about a flight delay.
Which business travel management solution should you choose?
Well, the one that perfectly meets your needs, quite simply 😉.
Some platforms are more generalist, and take care of all aspects of your business trip, from flights to hotels to chauffeur-driven car hire.
Others are more specialised (and therefore very effective in their field), like Bolt Business, designed to manage business trips for SMEs flexibly and cost-effectively.
With Bolt Business, you :
- efficiently manage the booking and coordination of business trips from a single platform ;
- control transport expenditure, thanks to centralised invoicing, flexible payment options and detailed reporting;
- Enhance the traveller's experience, with fast and reliable transport options available in a variety of cities;
- promote sustainability with greener mobility alternatives.
New trends in business travel management
Business travel is on the move!
The business travel sector, like any other, is having to deal with new consumer and employee concerns. These include eco-responsibility and the willingness of some companies to implement sustainability policies. From now on, platforms will have to incorporate the following parameters:
- environmentally-friendly modes of transport (trains rather than short flights, car-sharing, etc.) ;
- a selection of greener hotels and service providers;
- emission calculation tools to better assess the impact of travel.
At the same time, technological advances are leading to greater optimisation and automation. Artificial intelligence, for example, is perfectly capable of perfecting itineraries, finding the best deals and managing unforeseen events in real time.
Finally, at a time when talent retention is becoming a major issue for many companies, employee well-being and safety must remain one of travel managers' main concerns. Employees deserve the best possible experience, even if you have to deal with your own budgetary and organisational constraints.
But the good news is that most solutions are up-to-date. They have kept up with the times, making business travel a real driver for efficiency!
Article translated from French