What has Marie Kondo got to do with business travel, or tech?
by Andy Watson, SAP Concur’s SVP & GM for Asia Pacific Japan and Greater China
Owners of untidy homes and weary business travellers may not realise that they have much in common until Japanese decluttering expert Marie Kondo came along. She made the connection clear.
Just like it’s possible − with the right method − to transform your chaotic home into a neat abode that sparks joy, it’s possible to turn business travel from pain to pleasure with some technological ingenuity.
Traditionally, business travellers need to:
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| Source: SAP Concur. View from a plane window. |
Just like it’s possible − with the right method − to transform your chaotic home into a neat abode that sparks joy, it’s possible to turn business travel from pain to pleasure with some technological ingenuity.
Traditionally, business travellers need to:
- Manually conduct multiple searches for desired flights and hotels.
- Bookings are done separately, with the need to repeatedly key in personal and booking information.
- Consolidate multiple bookings in one place, often in a paper-based fashion with no capability for changes or real-time prompts and updates.
- Go through a tedious submission process for internal approval of the trip.
- Safekeep paper receipts collected along the trip.
- Go through the receipts and key in details for claims upon return.
With modern, mobile-based travel and expense technologies, business travellers will be able to declutter all these processes, better organise their trips, and take more effective care of their own safety. For instance, they could:
"Looking beyond travellers themselves, all these capabilities can tidy up operations for finance managers and make their work a breeze," he added.
Looking beyond travellers themselves, all these capabilities can tidy up operations for finance managers and make their work a breeze. The data for employees’ bookings across multiple channels would all flow back to the finance team. The team gets more visibility and greater insights, so they can apply policy on direct bookings and better manage compliance and approvals.
- Bookings are done separately, with the need to repeatedly key in personal and booking information.
- Consolidate multiple bookings in one place, often in a paper-based fashion with no capability for changes or real-time prompts and updates.
- Go through a tedious submission process for internal approval of the trip.
- Safekeep paper receipts collected along the trip.
- Go through the receipts and key in details for claims upon return.
With modern, mobile-based travel and expense technologies, business travellers will be able to declutter all these processes, better organise their trips, and take more effective care of their own safety. For instance, they could:
- Use smart apps to book flights, hotels and rental cars,
streamlining travel booking, claims and invoicing management from start
to finish.
- Organise all travel plans in one place, including personal arrangements done with travel service providers like Airbnb and Uber.
- Receive real-time flight alerts throughout their trip, even possibly getting notified when a better seat becomes available.
- Link frequent flyer accounts and reward programmes on one platform, which lets travellers save time on bookings and leverage a B2C experience, while staying within the policy needs of their company.
- Keep their company in the loop with modern apps so it can render on-site assistance should the need arise. Modern apps can help firms proactively monitor weather, violence, system disruptions or other risks that may impact their travellers, communicate with them and connect them to expert support.
- Take pictures of their paper receipts, submit them instantly for claims and forget about the need to safekeep them. Some apps can automatically create, itemise and categorise charges in expense reports.
- Use apps to auto-submit hotel, restaurant and transportation e-receipts, or enable these vendors to submit their receipts directly to the corporate expense system. This paperless approach aids environmental preservation. Other sustainable options exist for modern apps – travellers may be able to optimise their routes based on emissions, be encouraged to consider the low-carbon option of rail travel, and rent environmentally-friendly cars from designated rental firms.
- Organise all travel plans in one place, including personal arrangements done with travel service providers like Airbnb and Uber.
- Receive real-time flight alerts throughout their trip, even possibly getting notified when a better seat becomes available.
- Link frequent flyer accounts and reward programmes on one platform, which lets travellers save time on bookings and leverage a B2C experience, while staying within the policy needs of their company.
- Keep their company in the loop with modern apps so it can render on-site assistance should the need arise. Modern apps can help firms proactively monitor weather, violence, system disruptions or other risks that may impact their travellers, communicate with them and connect them to expert support.
- Take pictures of their paper receipts, submit them instantly for claims and forget about the need to safekeep them. Some apps can automatically create, itemise and categorise charges in expense reports.
- Use apps to auto-submit hotel, restaurant and transportation e-receipts, or enable these vendors to submit their receipts directly to the corporate expense system. This paperless approach aids environmental preservation. Other sustainable options exist for modern apps – travellers may be able to optimise their routes based on emissions, be encouraged to consider the low-carbon option of rail travel, and rent environmentally-friendly cars from designated rental firms.
"Looking beyond travellers themselves, all these capabilities can tidy up operations for finance managers and make their work a breeze," he added.
Looking beyond travellers themselves, all these capabilities can tidy up operations for finance managers and make their work a breeze. The data for employees’ bookings across multiple channels would all flow back to the finance team. The team gets more visibility and greater insights, so they can apply policy on direct bookings and better manage compliance and approvals.
With
this same data, the finance department could anticipate needs, predict
challenges, identify opportunities on the fly, and tackle everything
from taxes and compliance risk to mobile phone expenses and fraud. All in all, a company
could create a best-in-class experience for its employee travellers
while dramatically improving its financial controls and productivity
organisation-wide.
Without doubt, technology can free employees of the mundane hindrances of travel, giving them a clear mind to get their business done. With business travel within Asia growing fast, the time for firms to take action and put some joy into their travel and expense experience is now.
Without doubt, technology can free employees of the mundane hindrances of travel, giving them a clear mind to get their business done. With business travel within Asia growing fast, the time for firms to take action and put some joy into their travel and expense experience is now.
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