Integrating a Business Travel Management Platform With Your Company’s Processes!

Owing to advancements in technology, companies around the globe are moving from traditional ways of working to automation and digitisation. This shift has certainly improved the efficiency of their operations. As more and more organisations opt for business travel management tools to manage their business trips, it brings us to a question - how beneficial is a business travel management platform for your company’s processes?

A business travel management platform can be used to find and book policy-compliant hotels and flights, manage employee travel history, get detailed expense reports, and organise vast volumes of data efficiently. The data arises from queries regarding travel packages, ongoing tours, and upcoming itineraries. A business travel management tool integrates different departments and teams to function as one big entity.

Understanding How Benefits Outweigh Costs

In the past year, companies have had to cancel business trips, modify plans, and deal with several uncertainties. This has brought forth the importance of a business travel management platform. A single one-stop-solution helps find hotels that are within the company’s travel budget and compliant with the available travel policy. It also allows companies to get a list of flights that are cheaper than the previously selected options.

Furthermore, a good business travel management platform provides end-to-end travel management, including GST compliance, consolidated invoicing, central payment system, and instant expense reports. It’s also able to integrate well with existing Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software, Human Resource Management Systems (HRMS), and other corporate policies.

An Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software helps organisations manage their day-to-day activities, such as accounting, procurement, report generation, etc. Business travel management platforms also incorporate features specific to the travel industry while enhancing the productivity of any company. Therefore, you can expect to get detailed savings reports, employee travel history, and personalised results.

Pointers to Consider Before Making the Switch

Different corporate travel management companies have different approaches to the market. The client base also differs from one company to another. Some business travel management platforms cater to big corporations, while others are more comfortable working with small enterprises and start-ups. Here are some of the things one must keep in mind while switching to a business travel management platform:

• Consider whether the platform offers integration with existing corporate travel policies.
• Look for a vast inventory of hotels, flights, and other transportation options.
• Check whether the business travel management platform offers 24-hour customer support.
• Ascertain if the platform can be connected with existing tech tools and platforms.
• See if the business planning tool has a user-friendly dashboard.
• Understand whether the platform provides support in terms of invoicing, GST compliance, and expense reports.

Also Read: An Ultimate Guide on Corporate Travel Management for Businesses

Employing a Business Travel Management Platform

Integrating a business travel management platform with your company's existing processes may seem challenging at first. Still, there are a lot of benefits associated with this decision. Companies should choose platforms that are user-friendly and can be integrated with existing tech tools.

myBiz, powered by MakeMyTrip, is a business travel planning and management platform that integrates with your company’s corporate travel policy to provide employees with hotels and flights that are within the budget and also compliant.

It also offers HRMS integration, and works well with additional tools like ERP systems. With the help of a mobile-based application, your employees can enjoy business travel at the click of a button, and don’t need to go through lengthy paperwork, complicated reimbursement processes, and other manual tasks.

Steps for Taking the Plunge

Switching from a traditional structure to more advanced technology-based business travel management tools can be taxing for most players in the market. That’s why adaptability is the foremost criteria while selecting business travel management tools.

Other important factors include the cost of implementation and expected future trends of corporate travel. There are a lot of factors to be kept in mind while switching to dynamic models. Here are few steps one can take before the shift:

• Analyse the existing business travel model while keeping future targets in mind.
• Consider the cost involved in the implementation and the profit expected after implementation. Also, consider the cost of training existing employees.
• Check whether the employees are ready to adapt to advanced systems.
• Look at different business travel management platforms before committing to one particular tool. Different management platforms have different capabilities and shortcomings, and all of them must be weighed carefully before investing.
• Find products that have been active in the market for a considerable amount of time.
• Speak to your employees to know the desirable qualities they’d like to see in a business travel management platform.

Are you ready to make a shift to a business travel management platform that suits the needs of your company?