A tale of two travellers (and why connected T&E just makes sense)

In our recent white paper, Connected Travel and Expense Management, we introduced Nathan, an employee at a typical SMB, and showed a travel scenario he might experience. Here’s what happened…

Meet Nathan – a model employee harnessing what technology has to offer

Nathan is planning to drive from Oxford to Newcastle in a week’s time to meet a client. He’s called and booked a hotel stay in his company’s preferred chain nearby and the hotel emails him an itinerary that he automatically forwards on to SAP Concur so that he doesn’t have to rekey the data in to his expenses. What does that mean?

Because the business has visibility into travel plans before they are incurred, its possible to spot that the suite he’s booked is out of policy and also that the booking doesn’t include free WiFi, which has been negotiated with all hotels in the chain. This can be flagged before the trip and Nathan can be alerted to make any necessary changes to his booking.  

Nathan’s expense claims are easy to put together and he’s reimbursed promptly because his spend is already on the system almost as soon as it happens with credit card spend automatically feeding in. He feels his company are looking out for him and he works hard for them in return. His career is on an upwards trajectory and he remains a loyal, committed and valuable employee.

At the same time, Nathan’s finance team think Nathan is great. Because they can see his planned trips in advance (and Nathan sure does travel a lot!) they have greater visibility on spend so managing cash flow is easier. It also means they can spot out-of-policy bookings and fix them before they cost money.

Now let’s meet David – he’ll show us what happens when T&E aren’t connected

David is going to do the same journey as Nathan. He doesn’t know about his company’s negotiated rates with the preferred hotel. He thinks he is doing the business a favour by booking a budget hotel  further out from the meeting venue. Oh dear – it could cost the same as the negotiated rate at the preferred hotel and even cost more in taxis getting to his meeting venue!

When David checks into his hotel he discovers he doesn’t have WiFi, so has to pay an additional fee so he can check emails and catch up on work in his room. Like all the expenses he’s incurred on his trip, he keeps the receipt for when he next does an expense claim. When he checks out, he receives a printout of the hotel invoice and will submit it later on – at some point.  When he gets around to it.

Let’s look objectively at this scenario. David finds travel annoying and full of little frustrations. His expense claims are time-consuming and fiddly to put together. He thinks he’s helping his company by holding onto receipts and submitting one large claim but this bugs him as he is out of pocket for longer. He may even feel slightly hard done by and frustrated with the process, which could ultimately impact his job satisfaction.

At the same time, David’s finance team find his expense claims difficult to handle – as they do everyone’s. His expense claims come out of the blue, sometimes months after they happened, and they’ve got no way to get a handle on his spend, what may be coming down the line or its effect on cashflow.

The moral of the story?

This is just one example of how a disconnected travel and expense process can slow the traveller, the finance team and the business down. When you combine your T&E, data visibility, productivity and cash flow increase.

Take a look at our whitepaper, Connected Travel and Expense Management, for more reasons on why integrated T&E just makes sense.