Mr. Stephen says “It takes minimum 8 to 9 hours to receive an approval for my business trip”. Do your employees face the same delay in approval as Stephen? You may have an approval process involving numerous e-mails and discussions over the phone. Well, that sounds ancient as with advancement in travel technology travel approval can be made as quick as in fifteen minutes.
What is pre-trip approval?
Pre-trip approval is the initial step of the travel process where employees raise travel requests to be approved by respective approvers.
The main objective of pre-trip approval is to control undesirable travel buying behaviours of employees and cost. The approver verifies the travel request according to the travel policy of the corporate and decides to approve or decline.
What are the drawbacks of manual approval processes?
The major drawback of the manual approval process is, it includes too many levels of approval that make it tedious and confusing. Also, multi-level approval is difficult to enforce when the process is manual. These days, travel fares tend to vary with every passing minute. By the time the travel requests reach the approver, he approves and the request is forwarded to travel admin for booking, the fares may reflect a hike.
Moreover, this enables approvers to view the other travel options available in comparison to the one chosen by the employees. According to research delay in travel approval, can lead to 9% excess travel spending.
How automated approval of corporate travel management solution works?
Corporate travel management solution is a web-based software solution that allows employees to raise travel request, get approval, book their travel, make payment and receive insights about their travel spend. It automates the entire travel process making travel easy for corporates to manage and employees to travel.
Let’s look into the approval features of corporate travel management solution. Employees log onto the corporate travel management solution. Employees select the preferred travel dates and modes. The travel request is sent to the approver for approval. The corporate travel management solution available in desktop, mobile and tablet version, has made it possible to approve the travel request from anywhere and anytime. The approver after ensuring the travel requests are as per the company policy and verifying the purpose of travel approves the requests.
How corporate travel management solution makes the approval process easier?
With the ability to approve and decline instantly from an email and application, approvers can quickly take actions. Approvers now can easily take action of multiple travel trips at the same time. Not just that, one can also review the approval history. The entire travel process becomes systematic.
Some major benefits of corporate travel management tools are as follows:
Automation: Its effective automation eliminates time-consuming manual approvals.
Insights: The meaningful reports of the automated travel management solution helps in making decisions and streamlines the auditing process. It helps approvers to review the detailed travel itineraries in a single dashboard.
Effective Change Management: It involves customizable notification that alerts the employees to change policy and encourages the right choice.
Control: It ensures that the employees are traveling within the budgets. It also monitors the effectiveness of approvers, whether any delay has caused the company to pay more.
So, it’s high time to get rid of the ancient business travel approval process and make the corporate trips hassle-free and easy. Ensure today you are getting the best from your corporate travel program.
