A comprehensive travel and expense management program is critical to containing indirect business expenses. Creating a company-wide travel policy can be challenging in and of itself, but enacting the plan and ensuring compliance across the board can be seemingly impossible.
Fortunately, with the proper preparation and execution, businesses can successfully implement travel and expense management programs that streamline booking protocols, manage and reduce costs, and generate company-wide agreement and compliance.
Here are three ways to help you start a cost-effective corporate travel and expense management program at your company.
Take These Steps to Rein in Travel Costs at Your Company
- Build a Well-Defined Company Travel and Expense Policy
A company’s travel and expense management program can’t be successfully implemented unless it’s simple and easy for everyone in the company to understand and follow.
Typically, travel and expense policies cover travel rules ranging from airfare, vehicle rentals, lodging, and more, including preferred vendors and accommodations.
The challenge is in finding the balance between making your T&E policy easy to understand while still thorough enough to include critical details. A smart way to approach this issue is to compile a list of frequently asked questions in response to your business’s T&E policy and answer them. In doing so, you’re streamlining the policy process and mitigating the risk of future issues.
- Embrace Technology
If you’re still collecting receipts and plugging expense reporting and reimbursement into spread sheets, it’s time to embrace technology and automation. Manually processing your T&E results in lost receipts, late reports, and decreased visibility in spending habits.
Automated expense systems and mobile platforms increase operational efficiency while reducing errors and delays in reporting. With more purchases being made online or on mobile phones, it just makes sense to step away from paper spreadsheets and automate the reporting and reconciliation process.
- Create Visibility in Employee Spending
When employee expenses are well documented and everything they’ve spent is consolidated into one place, it creates visibility as to how much they are spending and what they’re spending it on. When employees can track spending through an automated system, planners and administrators have insight into ongoing company budgets while employees have real-time awareness of incurred policy violations.
Implementing a Successful Travel and Expense Program at Your Company
Successfully implementing and maintaining a travel and expense management program can be challenging, especially when it comes to ensuring company-wide compliance. Automating travel and expense management systems helps increase employee productivity while allowing greater control over data and spending information.
Teplis Travel makes it easy for your company to get started with a travel and expense management program. Contact a Teplis Travel agent or call 1-800-669-6547 to learn more.
