Deploy an Integrated Travel and Expense Management Solution for Greater Control and Convenience

Traditionally, organizations treated their business travel management and expense management as two completely different entities, sometimes to the extent where both processes were managed by two different departments. Not only is this process cumbersome and time consuming but it also leads to the creation of fragmented data silos which further leads to an increase in the employee’s workload.

Consider this scenario. Your sales rep has to travel on company business. Your organization uses a third party travel desk to manage your travel bookings and an expense management solution to manage expense reports and reimbursements.

In this scenario, the process flow is something like the following:

Sales rep raises a travel request [icon name=”icon-arrow-right”] third-party travel desk books tickets [icon name=”icon-arrow-right”] sales rep travels on business and keeps track of all receipts [icon name=”icon-arrow-right”] comes back and raises reimbursement claim [icon name=”icon-arrow-right”] manager approves [icon name=”icon-arrow-right”] finance department checks claim and receipts [icon name=”icon-arrow-right”] approves reimbursement [icon name=”icon-arrow-right”] sales rep is reimbursed.

As we can see, not only is this an inefficient process but also offers little to no flexibility. Suppose the sales rep has to stay on for a little while longer. Suppose the rep has to travel to another location. Suppose the travel desk is not fully aware of the company expense policy.

The best way to counter these process inefficiencies and to increase control over policy implementation and convenience for all concerned is to deploy an integrated travel and expense management solution. With an integrated T&E solution, employees can themselves manage the entire process of travel booking and expense reporting from one single interface.

In the case of an integrated solution, a sample process flow is as follows:

Sales rep submits travel request using pre-trip authorization feature [icon name=”icon-arrow-right”] manager approves [icon name=”icon-arrow-right”] rep books tickets and travels on business [icon name=”icon-arrow-right”] rep creates expense report and reimbursement claim [icon name=”icon-arrow-right”] request is approved [icon name=”icon-arrow-right”] rep is reimbursed.

As we can see, this process is simpler and offers more control and flexibility. Employees can modify travel plans as required and organizations can ensure that their travel and expense policies are strictly implemented.

With the software automating most of the process, employees no longer have to spend valuable time preparing expense reports. As it is an integrated solution, there is no need for data duplication and there is no scope for formation of data silos. It will also help the organization decrease expense processing costs and save time.

Know more about the benefits of an integrated travel and expense management solution that helps you automate your organization’s travel and expense management process. Or move on the expense platform for more benefits.