When you pack your
bags and head off on a trip, you often travel with the objective of scouting
out new customers. But is that investment in travel paying off?
One of the key
insights from our white paper 2015 European business travel and expense analysis, is that
business travel spend in Europe is once again on the rise, although corporate
travel managers are under more pressure than ever to demonstrate a return on
investment on their travel spend.
The white paper,
which is based on a telephone survey of travel managers who handle budgets
ranging from less than €250,000 to over €50 million in 590 European companies,
found that the main reason European corporations spend on travel is to acquire
and develop clients. This is particularly relevant as 43% of the organisations
surveyed intend to build on their activity abroad in the next three years,
leading to an increase in their budget spend.
Paradoxically
though, these companies view business travel spend as a cost rather than an
investment, confirming the space in the market to improve the travel services
these organisations are currently receiving.
Business travel
spend can be broken down into two parts: the expenditure on the travel itself,
which is known as the “direct cost”, or the expenditure on internal travel
procedures and expense reimbursement, called the “indirect cost”. Controlling
direct costs is one of the main priorities for those managing travel budgets,
however the study details that 47% of corporations believe that direct
cost-saving optimisation has reached a plateau and that they now need to focus
on optimising their indirect costs.
This is where a
global integrated travel and expense solution, such as Amadeus cytric Travel & Expense,
steps in to meet corporations’ needs. Through this solution corporations can
manage their travel programmes seamlessly from trip planning, to booking,
accounting and reimbursement. An intuitive self-booking tool, together with a
strong mobile app, is also a necessity to encourage adoption by employees so
that they can be safely tracked while abroad – which was travel managers’
second priority in the survey.
Business travel
certainly pays off when it’s supported by the right tools at home – and it’s
clear from the study that the uptake of travel and expense solutions is a trend
that’s set to continue. To discover further insights, download a copy of
the 2015 European business travel and expense analysis white paper, and visit the Amadeus stand to
discuss how we can help you shape the future of your travel and expense
management programme.
This post was written by Florian Tinnus, Head of Corporate IT, Amadeus IT Group. Amadeus is exhibiting at the Business Travel Show in February. Register for your free
No comments:
Post a Comment