Travel Management Software
Travel management software, also referred to as corporate travel management or CTM software, is specifically designed to facilitate the process involved in managing the travel activities of company employees and staff members.
This type of management software provides businesses with a cost-effective and highly efficient platform for planning, buying and tracking employee travel expenses. HR and accounting departments can utilize the system to make more informed purchasing decisions and keep a more centralized record of employee travel activities.
Travel management software is very useful to companies and international organizations that employ traveling employees or have staff members who are frequently flying to different locations to represent corporate interests.
From booking flight tickets and hotel accommodations to paying for rental cars and other travel expenses, such software can provide users with everything they might need when it comes to booking and managing travel for employees.
TravelPerk is a travel management solution that allows users to book, track and report on business travel on one intuitive platform. The software allows users to book all your trips, empower your employees to manage their own travel, ensures better visibility and saves time when managing business travel.
Businesses can take advantage of travel-management software solutions to refine the travel and expense budget of their employees. This means streamlining purchasing decisions and centralizing the data pertaining to expense reports and other important travel information.
HR and accounting departments can easily determine the appropriate travel spend for every staff member traveling since the system can provide information about flight tickets, accommodations and other potential expenses.
For the traveling employees, they no longer need to use the services of a third-party travel agent or keep track of all their receipts so they can enter them later into the company expense management system.
Managing business travel is a lot more convenient with this kind of platform, as employees can book their tickets using the booking tools available and automatically log expense reports for their travel purchases.
Managers, supervisors and accountants will have complete access to the expense reports so the company can reimburse the employee later on. As all of the information is located on one platform, they shouldn’t have any trouble getting the reports they need anytime and anywhere using mobile applications.
Travel management software solutions are often integrated with expense management systems to ensure efficiency and accuracy, especially when it comes to creating reports and reimbursement. While some platforms come with built-in expense management tools, others offer seamless integration with third-party solutions. The focus of this type of software solution is to provide accurate records of employee travel expenditures.
There are many travel management services and software solutions for businesses to choose from, with most being cloud-based solutions that offer similar features and capabilities with a few minor differences.
TravelPerk, for instance, is marketed as an all-in-one travel management software solution that caters to companies of all sizes in any industry. The system serves as a hub for everything related to business travel, from the automated business travel management functionality to the all-in-one booking system.
You can use the platform to book for yourself or for other everything from flight tickets, hotel accommodations and even transportation.
Despite the few minor differences in these travel management systems, there are a number of standard features and capabilities you should expect from a top-tier travel and expense management solution:
One of these features is a policy approval and management system. This is a feature that enables users—specifically the managers and HR department heads—to create a well-designed travel policy and approval process that will help manage their travel programs more effectively. When implemented properly, this can be a cost-saving solution for your business when it comes to employee travel expenses.
Self-booking tools are another feature that are normally included as standard with travel management software. These are tools that allow users to book everything they might need when traveling, which include booking flights, hotels and other activities like restaurant reservations for business meetings and transportation.
Best-in-class solutions will have all this in a clean and easy-to-use dashboard with a concise interface that allows users to easily search and buy tickets.
Smart reporting is also a must-have feature in any travel management software system. This is how you will be able to get a better look into the expenditure of your employees.
The platform will allow traveling employees to easily create expense reports that HR and accounting teams can review and approve almost instantly as everything is done online.
While there are many advantages to utilizing a good travel management software solution, there are some benefits from using this type of software for businesses:
This type of software allows businesses to streamline their travel processes. In the not so distant past, email was the primary tool for initiating and finalizing travel requests. This process can be highly inefficient and costly, as it doesn’t provide the organization room for cost savings.
When using travel management software, all of the information and communication can be done through the application, ensuring that initiating and approving travel and requests can be done quickly and easily on one platform.
With travel management software, decision-makers will have all the data they need to make the right purchasing decision. This will make the approval of travel requests go a lot quicker, while still making sure employee travel expenses are within the company budget.
All transactions are conducted within the platform and with all the features and tools provided, the online booking process becomes a lot easier and more convenient as well.
The smart reporting feature available with this type of software also benefits businesses and organizations, as it is fully capable of generating valuable spending data. Companies will have access to travel spend information through the integrated expense management system.
With the data collected, you will be able to adjust and make better decisions in the future when it comes to your employees’ travel expenditures.
Travel management software solutions are becoming a prominent tool for most companies and organizations that deal with traveling employees. It not only facilitates your company’s travel programs, it also keeps historical records of all the travel and expense activities of all staff members and helps streamline and automate processes that previously had many steps to complete.
