There has been buzz recently in the world of corporate travel
management. Studies show that more employees are “going rogue”. And while
travel managers know this isn’t a good thing, they often lack the data to make
the case for a more managed program. Millennial workers spend more freely and
travel spend is a costly line item. Should you let them spend freely or not?
Adopting a completely ‘unmanaged’ travel policy can be fiscally irresponsible as major
value can be found in managed travel solutions: negotiated rates, duty of care,
customer service, policy enforcement delivering better value, and data
aggregation speeding reimbursement. Before you consider loosening the reigns,
here are seven things to ask:
1.
What is your company culture
on the subject of the procurement of anything? From travel to computers to
office suppliers. Do you let people do whatever they want?
2.
Do your employees already do
a good job managing their travel? Most companies I visit who don’t manage travel well don’t know this
answer. Comparing your results against national averages or other companies
like yours or even comparing the results of those inside and outside your
travel procurement system can help determine the opportunity to make a systemic
change or not.
3.
Does your travel volume
justify preferred supplier agreements that can be leveraged for air, hotel, car
and more? You may be leaving substantial dollars on the table by not having
such a program.
4.
Have you evaluated the risks
of not knowing where all of your people are at all times and not having support
systems in place to ensure a level of “duty of care”? You want to keep all of
your people safe from medical, security, legal, reputational and travel risk.
5.
Do your employees very
clearly understand what the best value means to your company - or just
themselves? Clarifying what the best value means makes a big difference. It may
also vary per project they are working on. The best nonstop, best price out of
their favorite airport, best value on their favorite airline, etc. Defining
these expectations with reasonable thresholds in your travel policy makes a big
difference.
6.
Does booking outside of
a TMC cost your company more time to process expenses, budget, reconcile the
credit card, get reimbursed etc.? Consider all of the costs.
7.
What is the cost of
change? Business trips change often; personal trips do not. When changes
happen, employees may have to spend more time away from their real duties
getting routed or changed, change fees and cancellation costs unnecessarily
appear in your budget, delays and changes make your people less productive at
work as they arrive late for meetings. The right support could improve
productivity of those traveling.
Many times travelers don’t see
the value of your system to manage travel. Defining what it should be and
reporting the opportunities and results can justify such a process
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