How SMEs Can Use Corporate Travel Tools to Drive Financial Agility

For most businesses living in a more globally connected environment, business travel is essential for both small and medium-sized enterprises. From client meetings to team collaborations, travel plays a significant part in the success of a business.

There are many challenges that come with business travel. From managing expenses to the volume of planning that comes from booking multiple or dozens of employees’ travel.

Budgets are often a little tight for SMEs, so being financially savvy and having the right strategies in place helps improve efficiency without compromising on quality. Not only that but it’s important to keep your employees satisfied too.

In this guide, you’ll learn how to develop a practical framework that once enabled, will simplify your travel management processes as a small to medium enterprise.

How corporate travel affects SMEs

When it comes to managing business travel, one could describe it as a balancing act. You want to meet employee needs while carefully managing the company’s limited resources. 

Compared to larger businesses, SMEs will likely have one or two staff members to juggle the demands of corporate travel as opposed to having a dedicated team.

If you’re not managing corporate travel efficiently, then this often leads to both financial strain and dissatisfaction of employees who are booked onto said travel.

With a corporate travel strategy in place, you’ll be able to reduce costs, support employees on the road, and strengthen client relationships through your reliability and professionalism.

Improving your corporate travel processes will also help your business adapt to what is hopefully a positive trajectory for your company’s success. 

Challenges SMEs face in corporate travel

Unlike larger businesses whose deep pockets are helpful in covering mistakes, SMEs are offered the same luxury. Corporate travel comes with obstacles and when your business has a constrained budget, it often results in inefficiencies if the right framework isn’t in place.

For example, without any defined company policies in place, employees may overspend on travel costs or accommodation and that takes a chunk of profit away from the business.

Another challenge that often comes with corporate travel is the inability to track expenses accurately. If the business is using personal booking and reporting methods, there’s no centralized platform for your admin team to work from. As such, tracking company-wide spending patterns becomes a lot harder to do.

This is important because the data you get from these patterns will help to identify discount opportunities and loyalty benefits that help you save money in the long run.

Creating a sustainable corporate travel strategy 

To implement an effective corporate travel strategy, you first want to check that it supports your business objectives. With structured policies in place, SMEs are able to set boundaries from the start but that changes and adapts to the fluid growth of a smaller business. 

Firstly, it’s a good idea to define a travel policy. Incorporating practice guidelines that relate to accommodation, flight booking, and reimbursements. Try to keep it nice and simple, that way everyone can follow it easily enough.

There’s also plenty of technology that you could use in order to fine-tune your travel management. While SMEs might not be in the position to spend thousands of advanced enterprise systems, there are some affordable solutions that can do the same job required.

From expense tracking to booking, and reporting, it’s useful to get a system that houses it all under one roof. A system like this one is great for saving time and for helping identify expenditure patterns to improve decision-making.

SMEs are able to use these savvy systems to incorporate pre-negotiated rates with preferred providers. From loyalty programs to industry-specific deals, there’s money to be saved when booking corporate travel.

Introducing periodic reviews of your travel strategy will help ensure alignment within your company’s financial goals remains consistent.

Aligning employee satisfaction with cost management 

It’s beneficial to remember that financial agility doesn’t mean shortcuts should be taken at the expense of your employee’s well-being. Doing so results in stress, lower productivity levels, and resentment from employees. It’s all about getting the right balance between cost management and satisfaction.

Allowing flexibility for employees while maintaining set boundaries will help avoid the above. For example, enable employees to choose their own hotels or flights from a preselected list. Pay attention when it comes to offering safe and comfortable travel arrangements for the purpose of employee satisfaction.

Setting up a feedback loop is helpful for the business, especially where frequent travelers are concerned. This helps to provide insight into how well the policies are working for the employee experience and what might need to be improved upon.

Keeping up with industry trends

For SMEs, there will always be a need to adapt to broader industry trends to stay competitive within the corporate travel environment. The rise of hybrid work models has changed the way many businesses travel nowadays. 

Some companies prefer to save money for more meaningful trips where high-stakes interactions take place. There will likely be further changes to the industry in the way of sustainability. 

Many companies are looking to do their part in reducing their carbon footprint. SMEs should make sure to book environmentally friendly hotels or partake in various carbon offset programs. Not only do these actions help the environment but they meet the needs and expectations that many consumers and clients expect from businesses nowadays.

Digital tools are helpful to revolutionize how companies think about travel. From mobile-first solutions to employees managing their own bookings, reporting expenses in real-time, will all play a key role in future corporate travel.

Achieving financial agility with travel management

Financial agility is having the awareness and flexibility for changes in the environment. Not only that, but being able to effectively maximize your resources. For SMEs, the travel strategy in place should not involve too many expenses while being flexible enough to make the changes required.

Focusing on financial goals, leveraging the right technology, and making use of thoughtful policies will help improve employee satisfaction when managing travel. Each of the elements can work together to create a system that’s both sustainable and supports growth in a resource-friendly way.

From advanced planning to fostering relationships and using a reputable corporate travel provider like TravelPerk, businesses that treat travel as an investment will find themselves better positioned for success.

Strategies for cost savings in SME travel

Just because it’s a business trip, doesn’t mean employees should be spending extravagantly in order to meet the quality standards necessary. Having a creative and well-thought-out approach will help SMEs save money on all corporate travel while funds are limited. Here are a few considerations to make when saving money on trips.

1. Book ahead of time - Booking flights, accommodations, and transportation well in advance allows your business to take advantage of better rates and a wider range of options.
2. Leverage loyalty programs - Signing up for frequent traveler programs with airlines, hotels, and rental services can result in valuable savings and perks over time.
3. Negotiate with providers - Building relationships with vendors in the travel industry often leads to deals and discounts that may be tailor-made, especially if the company has core travel activities regularly.
4. Travel during off-peak times - Making travel plans during non-peak seasons or midweek can considerably reduce expenses without affecting the objectives of such a trip.
5. Flexible booking tools - Platforms offering flexibility in their policies, such as price guarantees or refundable bookings, help with cost efficiency while maintaining adaptability.

By implementing these practices, SMEs can ensure efficient travel planning that focuses on cost control and operational organization needs.

The role of partnerships in corporate travel

Partnerships with travel service providers are a crucial relationship to manage for the purpose of adding value to your corporate travel.

• Engage travel agencies - Agencies provide negotiated rates and curated services, freeing up valuable time and resources for the business.
• Leverage industry memberships - Joining associations often brings added benefits such as discounted travel rates and exclusive offers.
• Collaborate locally - Partner with vendors nearby, as it provides better services and closer professional ties for continued support.
• Powerful partnerships make travel planning easier, improve the chances of securing cost-saving opportunities, and free up the SME to concentrate on more strategic objectives.

Measuring travel performance

Assessing travel strategies is imperative to its performance and alignment with the organization’s objectives. KPIs will provide insight into the value of business travel. These include:

• Trip costs - The evaluation of per-trip expenses helps identify patterns and opportunities for improvement.
• Employee feedback - Gathering input from team members allows for ensuring that travel policies meet the needs of both business and individuals while balancing efficiency and satisfaction.
• Value of outcomes - Reviewing the benefits gained by travel, such as concluded deals, improved client relationships, or training results, outlines the overall return on investment.
• A regular review of these metrics will enable the business to adapt and refine its strategy to sustain its success.

Improve your corporate travel strategy as an SME

Corporate travel plays a significant role for SMEs. With proper planning and well-defined strategies, SMEs will be able to efficiently manage their travel expenses, as well as allow for flexibility within the booking process.

By having clear travel policies, strong relationships with service providers, and cost-effective booking tools, SMEs are able to manage their resources more effectively to meet business goals.

Author Bio: Natalie Griffiths (LinkedIn)

Natalie is a freelance writer with five years of experience in copywriting for businesses, spanning many industries.