Practical Discussion on Optimizing Travel and T&E Expense Management Processes
A mid-sized technology company with offices on three continents, with an annual T&E budget of approximately $1.5 million, currently relies on internal resources to manage travel, and faces issues such as low expense visibility and cumbersome reimbursement processes. The company is considering improving its travel management processes either overall or in stages, and looks forward to industry recommendations.
We are a mid-sized technology company with operations across three continents, with approximately 60 employees who travel frequently worldwide, and an annual travel and entertainment (T&E) budget of $1.5 million.
Currently, we rely on internal resources to handle travel arrangements, such as using two or three corporate credit cards to find the best fares and book flights and hotels. Individual employees do not hold corporate cards; they only pay out-of-pocket for meals and other miscellaneous expenses, and then submit expense reports for reimbursement.
The existing workflow has many issues. For example, since flight and hotel expenses are only shown on corporate cards, expense visibility is low, making it difficult to assess the return on T&E investments; the reimbursement process is cumbersome and time-consuming; additionally, based on empirical observation, we may not be getting the best hotel and flight prices.
Travel management and T&E processes have always been a topic of significant attention within the company. We are considering whether to undertake a comprehensive overhaul or implement improvements in stages—for example, outsourcing the travel management process while keeping the existing T&E reimbursement process unchanged.
We welcome your comments and suggestions!