INSIGHTS
Choosing the best business travel booking tools and technology
Navigating the complexities of business travel can be a daunting task. As your company grows, it can be challenging to keep your travel budget under control and ensure the well-being of your travelling employees. Embracing the right business travel management services and technology can be a game-changer.
Here’s a quick guide to the most essential tech for streamlining your company’s business travel solutions, from traveller satisfaction and safety to budgeting and policy controls.
Online booking tools
Your travellers are used to booking personal travel via websites and apps. When they get to work, they expect the same experience. This is where a managed corporate online booking tool is vital. These tools allow travellers to arrange their own air, lodging, rail, car rentals, and more, via a convenient and familiar user interface. They also offer enterprise controls that align with preferred suppliers, corporate rates, and travel policy guidelines.
Online booking tools can integrate with other business technologies like expense management tools and HR systems. They will also capture your travellers' booking data for analysis, reporting, and duty of care.
Expense management tools
Working together with the online booking tool, expense management systems are a must-have for keeping track of traveller spending and categorising expenses. Most expense management tools offer convenient mobile apps that will allow travellers to capture and track receipts on the go, saving them the time of filling out manual expense reports.
Beyond traveller convenience, centrally capturing travel and expense data in near real-time, offers insights into spending patterns, travel policy compliance, traveller behaviour, sustainability, and more. This helps you make swift, data-driven decisions about your travel programme and budget.
Travel risk management, traveller safety, and duty of care
Businesses have a duty of care to keep their people safe, particularly while travelling. Travel risk management is about being proactive rather than reactive. When travellers find themselves caught in political unrest or natural disasters, minutes matter. The right tech is needed to locate, communicate with, and assist travellers quickly and accurately.
The best risk management technology tools provide:
- Global intelligence and risk analysis
- Real-time travel alerts and situation monitoring
- Traveller tracking and communication
- Integration with travel reporting systems
There are several risk management/duty of care technologies on the market with varying service offerings. An experienced business travel company like FCM can help you navigate these options and select the best solution for your organisation.
A unified travel technology experience
Though travel tech choices can vary, the best programmes can integrate these business travel solutions and present a unified, personalised experience for travellers, travel arrangers, and your own team. That's where a travel portal, or a system like FCM Platform, comes into play.
Bringing this tech into a single platform with a consistent interface streamlines and personalises the user experience. It also helps to facilitate communication, surface actionable insights into your programme, and drive better business decisions. A unified platform for your travel technology is a must-have in the modern business world.
Considerations when evaluating business travel services
There are a lot of considerations to be made when choosing the right travel management technology. Here are just a few things to keep in mind as you make your evaluations
- Geographic availability: Not all business travel technology works in all locations, and some tools simply perform better in some markets than others. Ensure the technology you select aligns well with your locations and most common travel destinations.
- Payment flexibility: One of the biggest drivers of managed travel success lies in seamless, flexible, and consistent payment methods. Can the technology you’re evaluating accommodate your preferred payment methods? If not, you'd better keep looking.
- Integration capabilities: System integration is key to efficiency, and your travel technology should be able to work with your company’s other systems, like HR and finance/accounting.
- Multi-device accessibility: Your travellers conduct business using varying devices in varying locations. For the best traveller experience, select technology that works across all of them, including laptops, smartphones, and tablets.
- Futureproofing: Does the technology evolve with your business objectives and your travellers' expectations? Opt for solutions that promise continuous development and innovation that will keep up with fast-changing times.
The best travel management companies will help you with these evaluations and guide you to make the right decisions that fit your business.
The best business travel solutions for growing companies
Efficient travel management is crucial as you grow. FCM is more than just a business travel agent. We are a full-service travel management company that helps emerging enterprises like yours integrate the best travel solutions and services. Are you ready to make better, data-driven decisions and keep your people safe?