How to Bring Invisible Employee Spend Onto Your Radar

Intelligent Spend Management is a comprehensive way for organizations to obtain a unified view of employee-initiated spend. A key component of employee-initiated spend is travel. In the paragraphs below, we will examine some reasons why employees are booking outside of the corporate managed travel program, how that behavior can introduce risk to the company, and suggest ways in which technology can be used so that expenses booked outside of the corporate program can be managed and brought into view.

As travel begins to pick up, customization and control are the demands of employees. Though the general consensus is that travel will return, there’s no denying that it will be forever changed by the pandemic. Traveling employees’ requirements around safety and comfort have never been more important. In fact, according to a Wakefield survey, twenty-four percent of Gen Z and Millennial respondents would search for a new position if these needs weren’t met. If the perception is that a travel booking tool is difficult to use, it likely will not be used.

What are risks generated by employees booking outside of corporate travel tools?

If you are the treasurer, procurement director, or travel manager in charge of the corporate travel budget, one of your goals is to maximize the savings you can obtain from booking with preferred vendors you have negotiated contract prices with. Your corporate travel booking tool and travel management company (TMC) can help in directing employees according to your travel policies. However, employee bookings outside of the managed-travel program reduce the opportunity to apply negotiated rates and keep track of the number of flights or nights booked. Booking outside the managed-travel program also foregoes application of your corporate policies. While you may be able to track bookings after the trip is completed and the expense report is submitted, additional work by your accounting team will be required to reconcile and aggregate the spend. Bottom line: you can exercise more control of spend when employees book everything through the corporate travel program.

More control generally means less risk.

If you are the head of human resources and have a goal to increase employee satisfaction and attract and retain top talent, you want to enable your employees to use tools they are familiar and comfortable with, demonstrating your organization’s commitment to keeping up with innovation. Supporting your employees with tools that enable them to stay within policy – even when booking outside of the managed travel program – while simultaneously informing your organization’s travel manager of booking details, could keep your travelers happy and provide the desired visibility and integration with your managed travel program.

Intelligent enterprises capture employee-initiated spend and apply policy as soon as spend occurs, providing a unified view of spend without burdening the employee with additional reporting requirements.

Capturing data from bookings outside of the corporate travel program can increase visibility and control of spend. How do we capture that data while enabling travelers to book the way they prefer?

Enhancing the employee experience

Suppliers in the travel ecosystem are looking for ways to make a traveler’s life easier. Mobile apps enable air, train, hotel, and rental car vendors to book reservations and keep track of bookings from a smartphone. Data from the traveler’s record and booking history are tracked through the frequent flyer or loyalty traveler number. The traveler’s itinerary and receipts can be emailed to the traveler, eliminating the need for the traveler to scan and attach paper documents when sharing their travel info with family and friends, or in the process of generating expense reports. Local transportation can be booked online through ride apps, and e-receipts automatically emailed to the traveler. Free travel apps, such as TripIt from Concur, enhance the employee experience by integrating data feeds from different vendors so that travelers can see a unified view of their trip and receive alerts when unexpected changes to their plans occur – all from their smartphone.

How does the organization benefit?

Sharing the above information with the traveler’s organization ensures stakeholders get visibility into the bookings and reservations that the employee makes outside the corporate managed travel program. Combined with travel booked using the corporate booking tools, these organizations gain a complete, unified view of employee-initiated travel spend.

Customers using Concur Travel and Expense can accomplish the above with Concur TripLink.  Employees can book directly on the hotel and airline websites and have the corporate negotiated rates applied. All the booking details are automatically passed to the managed travel program provided by the SAP Concur platform, enabling the finance organization to have full visibility on travel plans and accrued payables. The human resources and corporate safety teams benefit by being able to more accurately locate and support employees that are traveling in the event of a natural disaster or regional disturbances. With tools such as Concur TripLink, organizations can bring invisible spend into view, improving their spend governance, enhancing the employee experience, and addressing their duty of care.

SAP Concur helps organizations attain desired business outcomes through Intelligent Spend Management, enabling control of every source and category of spend while delivering workforce experiences that increase engagement and productivity. The SAP Concur Customer Improvement team will help your organization realize more value from your investment in SAP Concur.

For more information on how SAP Concur can help, please contact us.