Measure and prove the value of your travel programme
Managed travel programmes are strategic assets that drive growth, retention, and efficiency.
Use these free resources to start conversations internally about how managed travel drives growth, retention, and efficiency.
Why is it important to measure travel programme value?
Travel managers face increasing pressure to justify the cost and effort of a managed travel programme.
According to the Institute of Travel Management (ITM), nearly two-thirds of travel buyers feel the need to prove their value, with favourable views of the travel function dropping from 64% in 2023 to 52%. Moving beyond viewing travel as solely a cost line helps position it as a strategic lever for business growth.
By assessing your current maturity, you can identify gaps, unlock savings, and start the journey of proving the tangible return on investment of your corporate travel programme to your stakeholders in Finance, HR, and Leadership.
Introducing the Travel Impact Index
How does your travel programme measure up? The Travel Impact Index is a diagnostic designed to assess the maturity and effectiveness of your current travel management strategy.
By answering targeted questions, you get a clear picture of where your programme stands today and where it needs to go.
FCM Consulting will analyse the results over time to provide an anonymised benchmark, comparing your performance to industry peers. This data will help you build a strong business case for change.
The six pillars of travel programme value
The Travel Impact Index evaluates your travel programme across six critical areas. Understanding these pillars is key to unlocking the full potential of your travel investment.
1. The fundamentals of travel value | Key metrics for your travel programme include total cost, total value, and strategic purpose. This involves evaluating how you measure ROI, manage demand, and use data to showcase value to the business. |
2. Stakeholder engagement and communication | Demonstrating value requires thoughtful engagement. This section explores collaboration with Finance, HR, Sustainability, and other key partners to highlight travel's strategic impact across the organisation. |
3 . Risk preparedness and disruption management | Disruptions test a programme's resilience. This pillar measures crisis preparedness, response effectiveness, and contribution to business continuity and duty of care |
4. Financial value and strategic alignment | Evaluate strategic positioning, focusing on measuring financial impact and aligning with business goals. It also explores opportunities like AI and virtual collaboration to boost programme value. |
5. Employee experience and wellbeing | Your travellers' experience is at the heart of your programme's success. This section explores how to measure satisfaction and wellbeing to deliver value to both your business and your people. |
6. The travel management team | Is your team set up for success? This section examines how to structure and benchmark your team to ensure you have the right resources to drive efficiency, insight, and strategic impact. |
Opinion: Breaking through the noise
By Jo Lloyd, Global Head of Account Management and Consulting at FCM Travel.
“The Zimbabwean writer Doris Lessing once said: “Think wrongly, if you please, but in all cases think for yourself.” It’s advice that feels relevant to travel managers today.
“The industry is awash with loud voices and strong opinions, about technology, disruption, cost and content. It’s tempting to follow the herd. But to make real progress, you need to think for yourself and have practical understanding of how managed travel drives modern business.
“As we enter, arguably, the most unpredictable era in the history of managed travel, we see certain themes emerging across different markets. The organisations in the strongest position tend to have clarity on the value of their travel programme, communicate that value well, and work closely with their risk and security colleagues.”
How to avoid distractions and demonstrate on-going value in travel management
Innovation is exciting, but distraction is costly. In this webinar, Mike Cox from FCM Consulting breaks down how to identify distractions and turn them into opportunities for genuine travel programme growth.
Watch the webinar to learn:
- 00:40: The 5 critical "Ss" of effective travel management.
- 02:05: Why it’s important to promote your programme internally, and a tactic to quickly build credibility.
- 04:26: Types of shiny things that your CEO might ask you about, and how providing context helps you demonstrate value.
- 07:39: How building a steering committee turns these conversations into opportunities and improves buy-in.
- 10:40: Why proactively positioning your programme as essential to your enterprise is crucial, and how to approach it.
- 12:00: Summary of the session.
You can also download this accompanying toolkit as a quick reference guide.
Driving change management success
When we talk about change management in corporate travel, we usually mean boosting compliance and knowledge among your travellers. But it's just as crucial for driving change with your leadership team.
Resistance from leaders can stifle your travel programme's potential and your professional growth. A solid change management framework - focusing on proactive communication, stakeholder collaboration, and data-backed strategies - ensures smoother transitions and gets everyone on board.
Explore our resources on change management and discover valuable insights here.
Frequently Asked Questions
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How do you measure the ROI of a managed travel programme?
Return on investment (ROI) for business travel is difficult to quantify, some would say almost impossible to determine.
Travel managers can start to build a picture by first aligning travel programme metrics to stakeholder pain points. For example, understand what your HR team wants considered in your travel programme, learn what Security or IT care about. Often it is not financial gain; it could be smoother processes, a better employee retention rate, or an alignment of technical requirements.
Then, you will need to unlock the metrics those stakeholders care about and present them in a strategic manner.
While these steps do not give you an ultimate ROI number or calculation, they will help you to demonstrate the value of a travel programme. -
What are the main challenges in proving travel programme value?
Common challenges include lack of data visibility, difficulty quantifying traveller wellbeing, and resistance from stakeholders who view travel purely as an expense. -
How does stakeholder engagement improve travel programme success?
Engaging stakeholders in Finance, HR, and Security ensures the travel policy aligns with broader business goals. This collaboration increases compliance and ensures the programme supports objectives like sustainability and talent retention.