###### Business travel can be hellish to manage. With employees flying all over the world, there are flights to book, accommodation to arrange, and an endless list of miscellaneous costs and tasks to keep on top of.

In most cases, this is pure drudgery.

Which is a shame. Because work trips can be both highly productive and a pleasure for employees. They should be a way to expand your network, increase your company's exposure, and create lasting experiences.

What is corporate travel management?

Put simply, travel management is the structure that a company has in place to oversee and facilitate business travel. This includes the processes of planning a trip for booking and paying for everything necessary, as well as the approvals and documents needed to ensure compliance.
Some companies outsource this to specialized travel agencies. Others bring in dedicated travel managers. In this piece, we’re going to focus more on the impact that software can have, and how automating much of your travel management is better for everyone in the company.
Let’s start by identifying what makes managing business travel so difficult.

The biggest challenges for corporate travel

Company travel is still an area in which most businesses struggle. Even if you think you have it under control, you may still cost yourself serious time and effort just to handle what should be simple tasks.
That’s normal, but it’s not ideal. Do you find the following issues affecting your day-to-day?

1. Managing large numbers of requests

Most companies have someone who’s eventually responsible for monitoring travel. In large businesses, there’ll be a dedicated travel manager. But in smaller and growing companies, this role often falls to someone in the administration or finance teams. And it’s just one of their jobs.

2. Tracking approvals

Just as the admin or finance person needs to track requests, they also need to ensure that travel has been authorized by the right people. This usually means a team leader or manager, but in some companies also requires the CEO’s sign-off.
These are more touch points—more steps—in an already drawn-out process. But because they’re mandatory, there’s no getting around them.
Here’s where your travel management system can truly help. The approval process can be baked in, so that each manager is notified and can give their consent without anyone having to leave their desk.

3. Keeping spending in check

Travel is part of running a business, and is seen as essential for growth. But the bill that comes with it can be hard to stomach.
There’s a renewed focus on work travel. Employees want the opportunity, and companies are often keen to oblige.
However, this can easily lead to an inflated travel budget. And managers then have to start turning down reasonable requests.
According to the experts at TravelPerk, one key reason for this is businesses don’t give themselves access to low-cost inventory. They rely on “business hotels” and book through travel agents, all of which can come with a premium.
In our private lives, we look hard for great deals through sites like Airbnb, Booking.com, and Kayak. But out of convenience, or because they want more “professional” options, companies usually ignore thes

Making corporate travel less painful

The best way to ensure that team members don’t follow the rules is to make the rules a drag to follow. For most staff, booking travel isn’t a core part of their job description. And they’re really trying to find the easiest way to get through it so they can get on with what they’re supposed to be doing.
So if your travel process is irksome, your teams are going to find a way around it.
What you want to avoid:

• Too many rules (especially where they’re confusing)
• A high number of touches (including extra emails to managers for approval)
• Lots of manual steps (like filing printed documents and receipts)
• Unclear processes

Ideally, you want a travel booking process or system that walks employees through each step. Where the rules are built in, so they don’t have to decipher them on their own.
We’ll look at some good examples of this shortly. But what would such a system even look like?

What is a travel management system?

As the name suggests, these systems help companies manage travel. They can be purpose-built tools from third parties (see below), or some large companies even build their own.
In the pre-SaaS (software-as-a-service) days, the latter option made sense. But now business travel management tools are available out of the box, for relatively low cost, and it just doesn’t make sense to build something from scratch.
See below for tool suggestions.
The point of these systems is to “oversee, regulate, and coordinate the travel activities and expenses of a company's employees.” These are largely manual tasks that would normally be done by office administrators, or perhaps by a dedicated travel manager in a company.
With a travel management system, this work can be streamlined or automated altogether. The goal is to free up staff for more valuable work than monitoring others’ travel plans.

The solution to your travel-induced headaches

As is hopefully abundantly clear, the best way to fix your travel issues is to fix company spending. The more ad hoc, DIY processes you have in place, the harder it is to stay on top of everything.
Instead, you need a purpose-built expense management approach.
Your best option is to use payment methods designed for businesses. Because corporate cards and expense reports are really just a band-aid.