The Institute of Travel and Meetings (ITM) has called on buyers to lead their business in implementing new technology that can help drive down costs within travel and expense management.
It comes after a study from ITM and expense management firm Traveldoo that found 46 per cent of companies still use a manual process to claim expenses and in 65 per cent of organisations, it was other departments and not the travel manager who proposed the introduction and implementation of an end-to-end travel and expense solution.
The results were published in the white paperJoined up thinking: End-to-end travel and expense integration, and beyond, which aimed to highlight the “value of technology to drive operational excellence”. It focused on three main areas – end-to-end solutions, the future of travel and expense management and the role of the buyer in this process.
“The survey highlighted the opportunity for travel managers to elevate their status within the organisation by proposing and leading change across the business beyond the traditional travel role, to encompass all areas included in the full end-to-end solution,” said ITM CEO Simone Buckley.
The study of 80 UK travel managers found that 84 per cent of travel managers have different technology systems for travel and expense and of these only 17.5 per cent are integrated.
It also showed only 22 per cent had implemented an end-to-end travel and expense solution, and 34 per cent of those who hadn’t were planning to do so.
ITM added that for a successful implementation of an end-to-end solution there needs to be engagement with wither departments including finance, expense management, IT, HR, audit, risk, security and internal communications.