Fixing the Top 4 Travel Management Pains

 

More than just a commercial requirement, business travel has a large and increasing impact on employees’ health, productivity and job satisfaction.

In fact, 79% of business travellers say their business travel experience contributes significantly to their job satisfaction, while 59% claim that travel policy is an important factor when evaluating a new job offer.

However many organisations and business travellers readily admit their business travel program isn’t optimal or serve their best interests.

We highlight the top 4 travel management pains and suggest the fixes here:

 

1. Not having the right flight, hotel and transport connections

You’re all set for your overseas client meeting when you realise the nearest in-policy hotel to the client’s office is an hour and a half’s drive away.

Unfortunately this isn’t an anomaly. Up to 40% of business travelers in the U.S. book outside policy, attributed largely to an in-policy hotel in a wrong or inconvenient location. To bridge the compliance gap, 45% of travel managers allow employees to use any travel app, website or resource they wish, and this results in lower compliance and often higher costs.

Having the right products to meet a company’s business goals should be a top priority for both travel managers and business travellers; whether that’s the right hotels, airlines or rental cars.

A travel management company with a global footprint and inventory resolves this compliance issue. At FCM, our network spans across more than 95 countries, giving our customers access to a wide global selection of flights, hotels and transportation at the most competitive rates, ensuring variety for the traveller and significant cost savings on travel budgets.

 

2. Trouble getting your travellers in and out of transit smoothly

While 91% of travel managers cite duty of care as mission-critical, business travellers simply want less hassle – ease and convenience of transit, shorter waiting times and minimising stress and inconveniences.

Technology is the key enabler with almost all travellers using technology to check trip details (94%); research trip options (82%), and check in for flights and hotels (81%). 

However most business travellers surveyed also say they want human consultants in order to resolve problems in case of unforeseen circumstances.

The key then, is having the right balance of technology and available customer service in one traveller tool. 

This was one of our priorities at FCM when we developed our mobile app / chatbot app Sam, which has since won several awards. Sam ensures business travellers are kept on track with real-time travel alerts, flight and boarding gate alerts and destination tips. In the event that a traveller needs more than AI to understand his/her concerns, a human consultant is just a button’s tap away, wherever they are in the world.

 

3. Incumbent TMC doesn't understand your unique travel requirements

Every country and region has its own set of legal and technical frameworks today, and a one-size-fits-all approach simply isn't sustainable for the organisation of today.

Therein results in-compatibility issues in resource, framework and technology. This is especially seen in corporate travel management, being one of the modern organisation's highest expense.

Sourcing for a corporate travel management company today must incorporate your organisation's tailored requirements. This ensures your key markets across the world are served effectively and the needs of every travel stakeholder are met.

At FCM we pride ourselves on being globally and locally connected - immense scale from being present in more than 95 countries, and dedicated local teams of account managers and customer service consultants who are right there with you - literally and figuratively.

This means you have a dedicated account and strategy team in your country that knows your language, business customs and culture. They are your one-stop resource to consult, manage and monitor your travel program's performance and most importantly are reachable from a local or regional office in just a call or message.

 

4. Your travel reports and dashboards sitting in silos

Travel managers want easy access to view their travel program's performance at any time, and who can blame them?  A study found integrated reporting results in $2.78 million in financial benefits over three years.

It is insufficient then to just have corporate travel reports sitting in silos, but have it "speak" to and integrate with common expense and HR management reporting platforms. This would bring unparalleled convenience to procurement and travel management teams for monthly, quarterly or annual reporting requirements.

Our technology team at FCM understands this requirement. That is why we set out to develop FCM Hub and ClientBank. FCM ClientBank is a proprietary reporting and analytics tool, which not only enables corporates to create highly- customised dashboards and reports, but also gives them unique access to third-party travel and non-travel expense data for cross-platform analytics.

It enables clients to slice and dice data to build their own reports and dashboards as required, Clientbank’s data connectors mean corporates can analyse everything from taxis, meals, credit card transactions and traveller behavior – essentially any third party data that relates to travel – in order to look at the big picture and scrutinize this intelligence in even more depth.