Corporate travel management is a multi-step business process. Business travel booking is one of the crucial steps in the complex process that impacts business travel experiences and costs. Employers can boost employees’ business travel experience and safety simultaneously by providing travel choices.
Likewise, they can control costs significantly by saving money on business travel booking. Leading travel management software solutions help companies and startups automate various steps in the complex process, including travel booking and approval.
The software allows organizations to define organizational travel policies and implement multi-tiered approval workflows. Also, it ensures that employees do not violate preset policies while booking essential business travel products like flights, accommodations, and car rentals.
At the same time, the travel management software helps employees get the required approval before starting business travel booking. If your organization is yet to automate corporate travel booking, you should understand the ways travel management software streamlines the booking and approval process.
11 Ways Travel Management Software Streamlines the Booking and Approval Process
- Make Approval Mandatory
While making business travel policies, you can make it mandatory for employees to get approvals from authorized approvers before booking a business trip or incurring out-of-policy expenses. The travel management software will ensure that employees start business travel booking only after their travel requests are approved by concerned approvers.
- Define Multi-Tier Approval Workflow
You have the option to define a custom approval workflow while configuring the travel management software. You can define multi-tier approval workflows according to your organizational policies. The multi-tiered workflow helps employees understand who can approve specific business trips.
- Built Special Approvals
Some travel management solutions allow you to create special approvals based on particular categories. The feature enables you to define managers or authorities who can approve a specific type of business travel expense. Also, it will become easier for employees to send the request to the right approver directly.
- Speed up Business Travel Approval
Employees can send business travel requests to the appropriate approver directly using the travel management software. Likewise, the approvers can use the software to review and approve/reject the business travel request sent by an employee.
Certain travel management solutions speed up business travel request processing by sending automated notifications to both requesters and approvers. Hence, employees can start business travel bookings as soon as their business travel requests are approved.
- Facilitate Self-Travel Booking
The software provided by a leading travel management company supports self-travel booking. It enables employees to complete business travel bookings in minutes by providing them with self-booking tools. Employees can use the tool to access extensive travel inventories and compare business travel products according to their destinations.
But the travel management software ensures organizational policy compliance while facilitating self-booking. It ensures that employees see travel products according to preset policies. Also, it does not allow employees to book out-of-policy travel products.
- Define Business Travel Booking Rules
By defining travel and expense policies, enterprises make it easier for employees to book the right business travel products. Employees refer to these organizational policies to avoid overspending while booking a business trip.
While configuring travel management software, enterprises can implement organizational policies. The software refers to the organizational policies while selecting and recommending business travel products.
- Keep Business Travel Policies Accessible
Employees often violate policies when they cannot access the relevant rules and guidelines according to specific business travel destinations. The travel management software customizes organizational policies according to business travel destinations.
Hence, an employee accesses destination-specific travel policies. The dynamic policy implementation helps employees understand what they can book and what they cannot book. The understanding helps them select and book only in-policy travel products.
- Centralize Business Travel Booking
Decentralized business travel booking escalates costs and increases instances of policy violations. Travel management software helps organizations centralize the travel booking process. Employees can book their choice of business travel products using the self-booking solution provided by the software.
But the travel management software will ensure policy compliance by showing and recommending only in-policy travel products to employees. Also, it will make them get approvals from relevant authorities before booking any out-of-policy travel product.
- Recommend In-Policy Business Travel Products
Personalization is one of the hottest trends in business travel. Leading travel management software boosts the business travel experiences of employees by making personalized recommendations.
They use artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms to choose the right business travel solutions according to an employee’s booking history and travel choices.
But the software ensures that the travel products an employee recommends comply with organizational policies. Hence, employees book their preferred travel products without violating preset travel and expense policies.
- Get Automated Notifications
The new-age travel management solutions track policy violations proactively. They send automated notifications to the appropriate authority each time an employee violates organizational policies while booking business travel. The notifications help enterprises prevent policy violations by taking exemplary actions against the violators.
- Track Business Travel Expenses
Some of the widely-used travel management platforms feature built-in software to manage expenses. They automate travel expense tracking. They automate travel expense tracking and processing by digitizing expense reports. Employees can use the unified travel and expense management software to generate automated expense reports without putting in extra time and effort. For those seeking a pleo alternative, many other options offer innovative solutions to streamline expense management.
The automated expense reports eliminate the risk of data entry errors and expense fraud. At the same time, the finance team can use the dashboard provided by the software to track, review, and approve travel expenses incurred by employees. The real-time travel expense tracking and processing contributes towards streamlining business travel booking.
Conclusion
Your company or startup can streamline the booking and approval process by implementing travel management software. But you must remember that the booking options and solutions provided by individual travel management software differ.
For instance, you can receive automated notifications each time an employee violates organizational policies by investing in the software provided by a reputable travel management company. That is why; you should spend time understanding how each travel management solution streamlines the booking and approval process.
