If you’re not currently exploiting technology in your ground travel programme, look at what you do have. Do you have clunky, old-fashioned systems that don’t talk to each other? Do the systems you currently have in place meet the expectations of both management and the business traveller?
If they don’t, you’re missing out.
Technology helps streamline processes and makes your job easier, and your travellers’ experience smoother and more enjoyable, which has got to be a winning formula, right? And, in a nutshell, that’s how tech can help you.
As we’re all aware, technology has come on leaps and bounds even in the last ten years. We’ve got instant access to ride-hail, hotel and flight booking apps. Tasks that would have taken a lot of arduous research, or when finding a taxi, having to stand amongst a crowded pavement in the rain to catch a cabbies attention. But that’s all in the past.
Now, without our smartphones, we’d be lost. Travel is so much more accessible now, but the tech doesn’t just exist to make the travellers’ experience better, you can make it work for you back at HQ, too.
Let us help you understand how tech can transform your ground travel programme.
Tech can save you time (and money)
As a global travel manager, you aim to create and implement the best and most efficient travel programme for your organisation. You’ve got many things on your plate, take some of the load off with a helping hand from technology.
Time is currently wasted on meaningless admin tasks, such as expense report management. Automatic expensing could save you hours each day – it takes 20 minutes on average to complete one expense report. Sigh.
One tech solution also means you save time flitting from one system to another; instead, you have one login. Bundling everything together for your ground travel needs saves time, but also saves you money.
You gain 360-degree visibility
When we’re talking about visibility, we mean for you and your traveller.
For you, you might want to track employee rides, no problem. Maybe you’d like to drill down into expense reports, or perhaps you need to see, and action unmanaged spend issues, you got it. Your ground travel dashboard can generate a snapshot of how your travel programme performs, making it easy to action issues immediately or spot trends.
For the traveller, they need to be able to track their driver. It’s as simple as that. With the technology built into a ground travel solution, travellers can remove any worries about ground travel transport. They can contact the driver directly, or track progress on a map. It’s the seemingly small matters like these that can make the most significant difference to your travellers’ experience.
Communication is effortless
Tech makes communication more straightforward, more reliable and comforting. Knowing you can contact someone 24/7 whatever the ground travel issue is reassuring when you’re in a foreign city.
Although we’re more digitally connected than ever, it’s become cumbersome. With so many channels of communication, the water is muddy. We can communicate through email, phone, text, WhatsApp – the list goes on. Having a clear communication strategy for all your ground travel needs is crucial.
If you’ve got an issue with your ground travel, drop customer service a quick webchat message and start speaking to a real human almost instantly.
Your travel policy is crystal clear
Many business travellers have gripes with ambiguous travel policies, they ask themselves what can I do, and what can’t I do? 61% of UK travellers report not following policy all of the time. How can you change that?
The traveller should be able to focus on why they’re travelling in the first place; whether it’s to finalise that contract, drop into a new facility or a formal business meeting, they shouldn’t have to worry about all the admin and headaches involved with travel policies.
It should be clear what is acceptable and what isn’t as they travel, and a SaaS tech solution can help you clearly define what is and isn’t permitted, making it easier to understand and follow.
With a ground travel solution, you can send push notifications to remind travellers what is expected of them. These messages can help drip-feed information to your travellers, so they know when an instruction is mandatory and to educate them about the policy in general.
You should always ensure your travel policies are easy to access, easy to understand and up-to-date. You can do all this through a SaaS ground travel solution.
Read next:Habits that make a successful travel manager in 2021.
