Great reporting is the hallmark of smart business travel programs
Companies not armed with clean, tailored business travel reporting compromise their ability to make long-term, strategic decisions that can lead to meaningful improvements, not just temporary fixes.
But what are the hallmarks of great business travel reporting? And importantly, how can travel managers improve their reporting process for big-picture change while staying agile and celebrating quick wins along the way?
Real-time data
Access to real-time travel data is a game changer for any business with a workforce constantly on the move, particularly those with employees travelling to remote, unique, or high-risk destinations.
Imagine making important booking, travel policy, or budget decisions using outdated information? Not having access to real-time travel data means you’re drawing on old numbers and potentially making decisions that can be a detriment rather than a positive. Live data is also important for always-on visibility of your business travellers. Should you need to contact staff in an emergency or progressively track travel expenses, a fail-safe reporting dashboard with all your travel data in one place can give you what you need in a click.
Central travel account (CTA)
Businesses can use a centralised payment method to make all travel-related payments. A CTA is a single corporate account managed by your travel management company (TMC) that is then linked back to the company's credit card. It can be used to book all travel-related expenses, including hotels, flights, ground transport, meals, etc.
This approach offers upfront payments, consolidated billing, reconciliation, expense tracking, and reporting a breeze since all the payments are made through the one account. That said, the card linked to the central travel account has one static card number and doesn't really come with many features. In case of a security breach, loss of card, or potential fraud, businesses can lose sensitive data, face financial burden and unnecessary bills, and lose money or leave your traveller abroad without a payment solution.
Benchmarking
Are your competitors flying business class on negotiated airline rates while you’re stuck in the back? Or are they booking a whole aircraft for their regional crew at discounted rates? Benchmarking is your ticket to understanding how your travel program stacks up against the competition and similar sized businesses in different sectors.
When your travel management company (TMC) provides quantifiable data, you get a health check on your travel program, revealing whether you’re getting the most competitive supplier deals and keeping travel costs down.
If budgets aren’t an issue, benchmarking can deep-dive into air travel terms, hotel benefits, policy compliance, climate impact, and traveller wellbeing. With these insights, you’ll know which suppliers to negotiate with more strategically and which parts of your program could use some TLC.
Accuracy
Not having clean data or a consolidated view of your data compromises your ability to make decisions quickly and confidently. ‘Dirty data’ (inaccurate, outdated, or incomplete information) is usually caused not by the bookings themselves but by the tools surrounding them like integrated booking systems, expense management, manual processes, you name it.
If data accuracy is a pain point, it’s time for a heart-to-heart with your current or prospective TMC. Do their business travel reporting tools give you a clear and accurate picture of your total spend and business trip activity? Are there built-in safeguards to stop bad data before it enters the system? Strong data governance through your TMC is your best friend here. After all, good data in = good decisions out.
Data analysis
Business travel reporting that provides spreadsheets or dashboards full of data and numbers is useless if it is not accompanied by insightful analysis and interpretation that everyone can digest.
Is your TMC turning those numbers into gold? Are they helping you pinpoint which departments are falling behind on policy compliance? Is data being used by procurement to plan business changes or improve the travel program? Or is your board using it to determine the business's next sustainable steps? Great business travel reporting isn’t just about what’s on the screen, it’s about how it can be used too. Tailored dashboards help all stakeholders focus on the metrics that matter to them, cutting through the noise to deliver actionable information.
Expert analysis will also enable you to see where you receive a return on investment (ROI). Effective business travel reporting and analysis will drill down or benchmark aspects such as supplier contracts, TMC management fees, online booking fees, and incidental spending to demonstrate where your program is providing value or needs work.
Consolidated reporting
Overspending on non-business critical items is a huge area of concern for many businesses. Consolidating travel data with a single TMC means you can easily target booking, supplier, or budget leaks. It can also allow you to measure missed savings, identify where cash is slipping through the cracks, and determine who or what department needs support in this area.