Comparing Travel Management Systems

Travel Management Software Definition: What are Travel Management Systems?

A travel management software is a system that makes the management of different travel-related tasks more efficient. This applies to short trips by car or train as well as longer business trips by plane.

Specific processes and data are centralized within the program. You no longer have to use numerous (online) tools or service providers and manage the resulting information or documents individually. All relevant steps and data run very conveniently over a single platform and are therefore clearly traceable.

Depending on the scope of the program, it offers the possibility to manage budgets, plan trips in terms of time, make direct travel bookings and automatically send corresponding notifications and organize invoices. Specific filters can ensure that your travel policies are precisely adhered to. All travel data is stored in one place and is available for long-term budgeting or expense matters and other reporting or management purposes.

Why should you use Travel Management Tools?

Business trips are actually widespread in many companies. For major companies, perhaps operating internationally, organizing them is a considerable effort.

It is not uncommon for a special department to be responsible for planning these trips according to budgets and other guidelines. This includes ensuring that all those involved get the right information or documents needed for the smooth running of the trips. The employees are responsible for the immediate planning and long-term control of business tours based on the resulting travel data.

The cost-benefit factor of business travel is always an important issue for companies. Therefore, a comprehensive and transparent processing must be ensured, both before a trip and in its aftermath.

To fulfill these tasks safely is extremely difficult via “classic” travel management. Here, the way to plan business trips leads through Excel spreadsheets or even handwritten forms and email communication. The booking usually takes place online or in a travel agency. The invoices and expense forms are then submitted to manage the accounting. The process goes through various instances. Important information and papers are saved in different formats (digital and/or physical). Finally, all documents and other information must be manually transmitted to all the employees involved.

Of course, this is quite complex and therefore inefficient. Using suitable travel management software, the most important processes and data of the travel organization can be centralized and automated in many places. This gives you a better overview, less susceptibility to errors and, ultimately, a safer ROI.

This increase in efficiency is not only relevant for larger companies with many business travel processes. Smaller businesses that only occasionally send employees to more distant partner companies or only need to plan visits to trade fairs also benefit. Here, significant expenses and other important data are particularly often overlooked. The right travel management tool helps to prevent this.

How does travel management software work?

Of course, how travel management software works largely depends on which functions the respective tool combines. There are definitely major differences here. However, the typical process of travel organization using such a tool is as follows:

1. Travel booking: A fast, uncomplicated booking saves you a lot of time and money. Travel management software gives you a prompt overview of the best offers. It allows you to make a booking within a few minutes without additional costs. Short-term changes or cancellations also work through the system.

2. Travel billing or expenses management: If the travel expense accounting has to be done manually, this requires a lot of time. Manual processes are also relatively prone to errors. A traveler software records all tickets, receipts, and expenses in real time throughout the planning and travel process. The information is forwarded digitally and automatically to the accounting department. You have the opportunity at all times to quickly get an overview of the costs. It is also possible to connect the travel management software to an ERP system to further optimize the workflows.

3. Travel policies: Travel policies are important. They ensure efficiency by specifying a line according to which business trips are planned and implemented. Frequent queries, lengthy approval processes and changes are thus eliminated. Travel management is accelerated and operates 100 percent in compliance.

4. Travel support: Employees should be supported as extensively as possible during their business trips. This also includes facilitating the handling of flight tickets, hotel booking confirmations, and expense reports. Travel management tools sometimes offer a mobile app or are accessible as an online travel management tool via a web app. With such mobile applications, travelers can access or edit all necessary documents digitally. This saves carrying around numerous printed emails, forms, lists, and other documents.

5. Reporting and long-term planning: A travel management system stores all travel data and documents centrally. This data can then be used for data-based budgeting and process optimizations, among other things.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of travel management apps?

Travel management software can make the entire process of travel organization and follow-up, and long-term planning more efficient. The key advantage is that the most relevant steps come together on a single platform. The most important benefits in this context are summarized in detail below:

• Comprehensive, interactive booking interface: Employees can search, compare, and book trips directly via the travel management system. This is either done independently or for other employees in the company. The solutions have interfaces to corresponding booking services. Travel preferences can also be saved, loyalty programs used, and payment methods defined.

• Firm adherence to travel policies: The ability to integrate the company's travel policies directly into the travel management software guides the organizational processes in fixed directions. The guidelines help, among other things, to clarify the types of expenses that employees can claim. In addition, the guidelines help in refusing reimbursement of claims that do not comply with the regulations, and enable travel managers to ensure that their team adheres to the budget. Arbitrary expense reports are finally a thing of the past.

• Automation and Analytics: Travel management tools help finance teams, among other things, by categorizing expenses to more accurately organize and optimize travel costs in the long term. These tools can automate approval workflows for processing and refunding travel expenses. They are also capable of analyzing large amounts of expense transactions and other data, which in turn is useful for forecasting future investments or creating budgets. Automations and analytics are also possible in other areas.

• Reporting functions: Reporting tools in travel management software offer the opportunity to make data-driven decisions and make travel organization overall more effective. These tools help you to quickly detect non-compliant expenses or bookings and can recommend measures to improve future results. The reporting system also enables more efficient travel program management by "monitoring" travelers and pointing out cost-saving opportunities.

• Process optimization: Many processes can be automated using travel management software. This leads to more efficient workflows, means more structure in the processes, and gives you a better overview. Long waiting times between the individual work steps are eliminated, which in turn saves time and money.

Does business travel management software have any downsides despite all these advantages? Not really, yet certain challenges can arise when using it. The following difficulties are typical:

• Integration problems: The integration of travel management software with expense management, the accounting solution, and other programs is crucial to ensure all-around efficient processes. For example, information about travel bookings must match the actual expenses, which are then consolidated and assigned to various cost centers in accounting. If the data is not processed correctly in all systems and is inconsistent, you can almost literally lose money. In this context, it is essential to pay close attention to the comprehensive compatibility of travel management software with relevant existing systems.

• Data protection: Data protection is an important factor when using traveler software. Thus employees might use their own credit cards to pay for travel services and/or give personal bank details for refunds. Also, it can happen that employees mix business and private matters on trips. This means that clear differentiation via travel management must be possible for you. Corresponding data is examined in detail. Finally, personal information required for the booking of a flight or a hotel room can be included in expense reports. All this and other information is compiled in the travel management tool. If the solution does not provide sufficient conditions for optimal data protection against this background, this can result in serious data protection violations for you, which in the worst case lead to considerable penalties. Therefore, you should definitely look for a travel management provider who offers optimal data protection conditions for your needs.

How do you choose the right travel management software?

Determining the right travel management tool is not an easy task. The market offers lots of options with a wide range of functionalities. To simplify the decision, you should keep the following factors in mind when searching.

Consider Technology Needs Initially, it is important to determine as precisely as possible what requirements exist and what type of solution is best suited to meet them. You should ask yourself the following questions to sketch the current situation:

• How many employees travel regularly?
• Which other services or programs must work with the travel management software?
• Who will handle the travel management and therefore needs to be trained on the software?
• How tech-savvy are the responsible employees - are they receptive to major process changes?
• Should employees book independently or does a department or specific person take on this task?

Base on Budget Possibilities The price to be paid for the setup, integration, support, any customization, and of course for the product itself largely depends on the type of provision chosen. In general, there are three possible solutions: On-premise software, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) or online travel management, and custom implementations. A SaaS service is usually the most cost-effective both immediately (in terms of procurement) and in the long term.

Collect Employee Feedback Travelers themselves, the finance department, the IT team, and the management or individual department heads are all involved in a company's travel cost management. Before choosing a solution, you should understand the individual working processes of these people, address their questions and eliminate emerging problems with the new product early on. Only in this way can it be ensured that the chosen travel management software is really used as desired and unfolds its full potential.

Evaluate Current Infrastructure Most likely, at the time of researching the introduction of a travel management tool, technologies are already in use that allow you to simplify the travel organization in some way. These do not always have to be completely reoriented. One of the biggest concerns when using new systems is almost always the integration with established programs and the respective processes. It is therefore necessary to check which connections need to be established and how open the new travel software is to these links. This should also be weighed up with regard to future scaling requirements that are likely to be necessary.

Evaluate the Security Profile of the Travel Management Provider Data protection is a very important topic in travel management. Therefore, you should take a close look at what the respective software provider does to secure the company's data on the one hand, and to handle travelers' information in compliance with data protection regulations on the other. This is the biggest weakness of SaaS services. While they do offer a very efficient solution, companies do not have full control over the security of their data. Therefore, you should check the specific GDPR certificates, ISO standards, and the security profile of the provider as a whole in more detail for such travel management systems.

How much does a travel management app cost?

Many travel software providers either have a completely free trial period of their product or a "freemium" version with fewer features. In general, the price of a travel management software largely depends on the integrated functions, but also on the users who will ultimately work with the system.

Travel management solutions are typically charged according to a monthly flat fee, a monthly rate per user, or an annual license. Monthly packages with more extensive functions start at around 50 Euros. However, smaller companies or those that need to organize less travel can also get very good support with programs for around 20 Euros.

Travel management software that is part of a larger package (which can be combined with products for travel expense and risk management, among others) always incurs significantly higher costs.

It can get really expensive if a custom solution is required. For this, however, companies here have the most control. Together with a developer company, they discuss individual needs, configurations, and expectations. Data protection and everything else are precisely tailored to the respective operational requirements.