Travel and Expense
What Is a Travel Management System?
We know how much juggling travel managers do. One employee might need to get to Mumbai to manage an ongoing project, another needs to get to Boise to attend an industry event. Still others need to book a multi-stop trip, making sales presentations along the way.
The person who manages company travel helps team members get to meetings, sales presentations, and trainings all over the world. They help book flights, reserve hotel rooms, and smooth out all the snags when delays or issues occur. And this recent study finds that travel management is growing more complex for companies of all sizes.
But, the most savvy of them don’t do it alone. They use technology like a travel management system to ensure that nothing gets overlooked and everything runs smoothly.
What is a travel management system? It's a tool that provides a single, seamless interface for booking, tracking, and handling end-to-end management for business travel.
Understanding Travel Management Systems
Travel management systems (TMS) are one-stop software systems where all of a company's travel arrangements can be handled. The platform helps you manage travel budgeting, policy, and reporting, so you can be sure that everything is always running as it should.
Efficient company travel means spending money in a way that’s consistent with your company's goals and values. This means budgets for specific types of travel, and different travel policies that depend on each person's role in a company. The folks up in the C-suites, for instance, may have different needs than those in sales.
But keeping track of everything can be time-consuming. It's a drag when an employee is excited about booking a specific hotel, but then learns it’s outside your company policy. It's also a pain when someone is geared to book a flight but loses out on the seat because they aren't sure whether it's compliant or not.
A good travel management system puts all the data you need in front of you so you can work faster and easier.
Key Features of an Efficient Travel Management System
The right TMS can be customized to work with your unique travel needs. You can set policies so that each employment role has access to exactly what they need. This eliminates travel bookings that fall outside policy, which means less time spent looking for compliant travel options.
The system should be customizable, so it fits your company size and your company's most common travel needs. Does your company use more trains than flights? Do you have specific car rental companies you like to work with? The TMS should be customizable to show just what you like.
The platform should offer a wide array of inventory options. More options means your travelers can find the best prices on flights, hotels, car rentals, and more. It also means you can book the dates you want so everyone is where they need to be.
A system that does not offer enough options might mean spending more than you'd like. More options can mean your travel budget goes farther, and your employees do, too.
And, most of all, a TMS must offer easy travel booking. After all, this is about saving time and effort. Without a good system in place, you may find that someone is spending more time than they should chasing down deals that are compliant with company policy. Not a good use of anyone's time, right?
The right TMS is easy to use so employees can spend less time wrangling with travel and more in the role they were hired for.
How does your T&E process measure up for your business needs? Take this quick Travel and Expense Maturity Model assessment to find out.
Integration with Your Financial Systems
It's no secret: When you lobby for new software and utilities, you need to be able to show how it will save your organization money.
A quality travel management system integrates seamlessly with your company's internal financial system. By putting reports of all travel-related spending in one place, you'll be able to show how much you're spending and where you have been able to save your organization's hard-earned cash.
How much time have you spent getting traveling employees to submit their expenses? Plus, even when they do, mistakes can happen. That $12 sandwich scarfed down at the airport might be hurriedly entered as $120. Or, it might be missed altogether, leaving your traveler with an unreimbursed expense that you have to manually handle later.
With the right TMS, bookings and charges are automatically captured and categorized.
Finding the Best Solution for Your Company
Putting the most knowledgeable and experienced people on the job is just good business—and so is equipping them with the best tools to do their jobs. Finding the right solution for your business can seem overwhelming, but a good place to start is by evaluating your travelers’ needs and the needs of your company.
Savvy travel managers also know that travel management companies can help them save money, work more efficiently, and find the best solutions, such as travel management software, to get their travelers from point A to B.
Want to know more about what a travel management company does and how it can help improve your company’s business travel? Get our free ebook to learn more.
A TMC can do a lot to support your business travel, but pairing it with the right technology partner can be critical to your travel management success. See how solutions like Concur Travel & Expense provide tools for pre-, during, and post-trip, and help make a safe, sustainable, secure travel program possible.