As a result of the Sars-CoV-2 pandemic, many companies have been able to significantly reduce their business travel expenses. Many now want to keep travel costs at a similarly low level after the pandemic - of course without compromising on quality at the expense of employees.
But is this even possible?
Yes, if you implement consistent travel management. I recommend the following five measures:
1. Determine requirements and areas for action.
The basis and most important success factor of travel management is to determine the business travel requirements of a company at the start of an assignment. In addition to the pure quantity structure, it is important to determine whether a company mainly carries out project business at changing locations, for example, or has a more stable travel volume on certain routes and destinations.
A target/actual comparison of solutions with regard to the organization, processes, travel guidelines, contracts and supplier portfolios in relation to business travel and operational mobility is carried out on the basis of the corporate structure and culture as well as defined goals.
2. identify concrete levers and measures for cost reductions.
By involving relevant stakeholders in the area of business travel using structured interviews and workshops, possible levers are jointly examined for effectiveness and feasibility within the company. This ensures that the proposed measures are realistic and appropriate for the customer and lead to savings in travel costs that are reflected in the company's results.
In the best case scenario, the key figures that will be used to measure subsequent successes are already defined in this step.
3. Adapt the travel policy.
Travel policies are a joint effort of the company divisions that have points of contact with business trips:
- Human Resources,
- Procurement,
- Finance,
- Tax
and others should be clear about roles and responsibilities and contribute the respective important regulatory components, such as the modalities of travel expense accounting. Travel policies thus create the framework for employees who book business trips and should be balanced in terms of the highest possible policy compliance or the highest possible level of traveler engagement with company goals and employee needs.
It must be as clearly regulated as possible,
- who,
- was,
- wann,
- how and
- where
you should book for your business trip.
4. Streamline the supplier portfolio.
For purchasing management, centralized, global control within the organization is recommended, which is linked to local market expertise at home and abroad depending on the type of service (airlines, hotels, car rental companies). In order to obtain the best possible conditions from contractual partners, requirements must be bundled across all locations and company units and concentrated on a targeted selection of suppliers.
In cases where the company's own requirements do not allow for better conditions than the contract travel agency, for example, the company does not enter into its own contracts and an optimal supplier portfolio for business trips is created as an individual combination of the company's contractual partners and the spot market.
5. continuously improve operational mobility
Operational mobility, and business travel in particular, is characterized by a very high number of decentralized purchasing decisions and processes. To reduce business travel costs sustainably, there are three typical starting points for continuous controlling and for continuous improvements:
- setting the right framework through guidelines and recommendations,
- a range of benefits that make sense for the traveling employee and are bookable, and
- the approval of costs after the trip, where deviations from the policy are visible and approved by the manager
Dependent - also anonymous - evaluations are used to analyze deviations from travel policies and those responsible review appropriate measures. This can even mean adjusting the travel policy
