By Paul Grant
Next week I’ll be celebrating one year at Gett as Head of Enterprise in the UK, and it’s been a great year, Covid-19 aside.
I’ve been in the corporate travel industry for 31 years since I was just 16 years old. And, as you can imagine, the industry has changed massively over those three decades — not to mention the most recent changes from the events of 2020.
Business ground travel remains one of the most fragmented sectors. The world is full of great ground providers, with each offering different services — from licenced taxis to professional black cars, limousine and chauffeur services to ride-sharing platforms. But many suppliers only cover parts of the entire needs of a business.
In this post, I’m shedding some light on why the corporate travel buyer should be looking to a neutral SaaS platform for their ground travel needs.
Corporate travel buyers have a duty of care
Regardless of recent events, corporate buyers have always had — and will always have, a legal obligation to ensure travelling employees are safe. You have a duty of care to ensure the hotel is up to scratch and that your airline is bonafide.
But what about your ground travel?
Travelling as an employee is stressful, believe me, I sympathise — I’ve been there. The stress must be mounting further due to Covid-19. Picture this, you land in a foreign country, you’ve never visited this destination before, and you’re tasked with finding a suitable taxi ride over to your meeting or your hotel.
How does your travelling employee know the taxi driver is fully insured? How do they know if they’re even a proper taxi driver?
Ground travel is a headache for your procurement team, so usually, employees are left to fend for themselves. But this uncertainty around ground travel is the missing piece when it comes to corporate travel.
A neutral SaaS ground travel platform can offer a joined-up service. A service that is fully licenced and fully insured — your employee can even check out the driver in the app before getting into the car. This kind of platform gives you full confidence that your employee is in safe hands wherever they travel.
Buyers are looking for an integrated, cost-effective solution
I’m not just talking about a ‘joined-up’ service we’d already discussed; I’m talking about a solution that helps make your job that little bit easier.
Automatic expense reporting
Imagine if your travelling employee buys a coffee or takes a taxi and it’s automatically added to the expense report. This is the kind of digital agility that will save you time and money on manual administration tasks. Seamless integration with third-party solutions is an important consideration when looking for a new ground travel provider.
Transparent pricing
Using a neutral ground travel SaaS platform means there are no markups on pricing. Cut out the middle person — whether it’s a hotel reception or concierge. You’re not paying for any of that. When travelling to a foreign country, your employee’s first thought might be ‘how do I find a taxi company?’ — so they’ll wander down to the front desk and ask them to call them a cab. But now you can wave goodbye to overpaying for these services.
With a neutral SaaS platform, all you need to do is hail a cab through your app. It’s that simple.
Savings are passed directly onto you
A neutral SaaS platform will likely buy in bulk. What does this mean for you? As they’re buying on behalf of global customers, they have better buying power than your company alone. That means those savings are passed straight onto you, the corporate buyer.
What should corporate buyers look for when they’re choosing a ground travel provider?
In my experience, I think there are two main things you should look to your ground travel provider for — look for a neutral platform and consider a platform that invests in technology— why?
You should look for a neutral platform — a platform that isn’t owned by a car company. With a neutral SaaS platform, you’re offered a wide range of fleet choice. The end-user can pick their choice of ride — a taxi, an executive car or a ride-hail. Whatever they want; for speed, they might choose the budget option, if they’re entertaining a client pick the luxury option. With a car company-owned platform, you don’t get this choice.
You should also consider a SaaS platform that is invested in technology. As a corporate buyer, you need assurance that the company you work with has a proven track record and has sufficient budget to spend on the platform.
At Gett, we organise all the best mobility providers in one platform. This optimises the entire experience, from booking and riding to invoicing and analytics, so you can focus on what you do best.
