The Secret to Pain-Free Corporate Travel Management

In our growing global economy, travel has become a significant expense in business. Whether it be for marketing, networking, publicity or just meeting employees in person in various office locations, businesses fly across oceans to simply stay in touch with its company and its customers, fostering a thriving community both internally and externally.

With the extreme need for international travel, companies need to track expenses, manage travel time and know where employees are on the global map. Sound impossible? Luckily, a specialized type of software handles this: Travel Management Software.

The Power of Travel Management Software

Better known as travel and expense management (T&E), this solution tracks every phase of each employee’s trip and provides complete oversight on spending. As we all know, travel is expensive, and software will ensure you execute your company’s travel needs efficiently, enabling one fluid process from flight booking to expense report payment.

Here are some company-altering ways T&E software can save your company time:

1. Travel Booking

Imagine this: your employee is on a trip and your software system has access to all of his needs — seat preferences, gate information, reward numbers. Based on your corporate travel policies, you can allow your employee to book his flight, reserve a hotel and grab a taxi on his mobile device. With this level of automation, your company remains in control while also allowing flexibility for your travelers.

2. Automatically Fill Expense Reports

Due to the matrimony of both travel and expense, all flight transactions are automatically charged to a credit card and imported in the solution’s database. Some solutions allows employees to even take pictures of receipts with their phone to avoid a paper mess at the end of the trip. By the end of each employee’s trip, the expense report will be nearly complete.

3. Easily Pay Expense Reports

So you have your automatic expense report automatically logged in a database, ready for multiple departments to evaluate. T&E software improves the approval process; the financial and accounting department can review, approve, process, audit and pay with ease. Then the expense report is efficiently and automatically filed away for future financial reporting.

Great Travel Management Solutions to Consider

Concur is the cream of the crop as far as T&E is concerned. It provides the optimal experience on all four fronts: travel, expense, reimburse and analyze. Concur works with enterprises and tons of travel partners to ensure the absolute best travel experience. Due to its powerful mobile capabilities, this solution offers both flexibility and speed.

It’s hard to argue with Expensify’s tagline: “Expense reports that don’t suck!” It goes without saying that expense reports are often not fun, yet Expensify slaps on the makeup and makes T&E management a pleasant experience for all. Expensify includes real-time access to travel plans and instant mobile updates. Using GPS, the solution is also able to track miles traveled. And expenses? You can integrate Expensify with your accounting, payroll, CRM or ERP solutions like Oracle, SAP, Xero, Quickbooks and many more.

Certify’s end-to-end T&E solution focuses on making corporate travel as simple as possible. With pre-trip notifications, seat view before booking, enforced corporate travel policy and integrated expense reporting, Certify simply does the job. The solution also includes handy tools to rebook a flight so no employee gets stuck at the airport by mistake. Certify’s booking system integrates flights, hotels and rental cars so that employees can get their needs met all at once. With mobile booking assistance and automated expense reports, Certify gets the job done with a cost-efficient plan.

Want more recommendations for Travel & Expense Management? Download our free Top 10 Travel and Expense Management Software report for a side-by-side comparison of the leading travel management software tools, including pricing and key features.

Miranda Limonczenko: Miranda Limonczenko is a former member of the Business-Software.com marketing team.