The MacNair Travel Leadership Blog

According to the Global Business Travel Association, Travel expenses are expected to rise in 2016. In many organizations, T&E is the 2^nd largest line item in your budget after salaries. In some cases, out-of-date business processes may only reflect 60% of your employees’ Travel & Expense spend.

If this is true for your business, then you know there’s an opportunity to trim expenses and you need to find a solution. What’s the solution? The key lies in understanding where your expertise is within your own business and then aligning your organization with a Business Process Services partner with travel management expertise. A Travel Management Company that focuses on travel leadership will provide the support you need to get your budget out of the red and here’s how:

Corporate travel is one of the largest expenses that a business can incur, but it is also one of the most controllable. According to the Global Business Travel Association, (GBTA) spending on business travel is likely to increase by 3.7 percent in 2016, meaning an even larger impact on the business bottom line.

In addition to is being a significant expense; corporate travel management is a key component to SME business plans. Scheduling face-to-face meetings with clients or attending a new product launch on-site can create new business, increase profits and successfully contribute to overall business goals.

As the Travel Manager in your organization, how can you increase the return on investment (ROI) for corporate travel?

Travel managers are busy people. Booking flights, talking with vendors, and managing employee itineraries are just a few of the seemingly endless tasks on the travel manager’s “to do” list. For some SME’s the travel manager is also the office manager or housed within the human resources or finance department, depending on the structure of the company. Yet, businesses are finding that corporate travel continues to play an extremely important role. While leadership is asking for ways to efficiently manage this controllable expense, travel managers are struggling with completing tactical objectives and providing overall travel guidance simultaneously.

We’ve all worked with great managers, and depending on your business, they have specific qualities that make them great - excellent people skills, outstanding project management and a visionary way of thinking that motivates people to do their best, are just a few of the characteristics that make a great manager. In the corporate travel industry, travel managers are critical to the success of an organization’s travel program. The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) has this to say about the value of travel management, “Travel management is a specialized business function that balances employee needs with corporate goals, financial and otherwise. Travel management ensures cost tracking and control, facilitates adherence to corporate travel policies, realizes savings through negotiated discounts, and serves as a valuable information center for employees and managers in times when travel is not as smooth and carefree as it used to be.”

Businesses are always looking for ways to save money, but when travel is an important part of your company’s success, expenses can skyrocket. The travel and entertainment (T&E) line item not only takes a toll on your bottom line, but for employees to book their travel, reconcile credit card reports, and other travel-related follow-up takes away valuable time from their day-to-day job responsibilities.

Enter a travel management company – a great solution, right? Travel management companies (TMCs) are able to take over the responsibility of booking and managing your overal travel management process, but are they really saving you money? Are they making an impact on the bottom line? The answer is, "Yes."'