Companies waste time and money by not automating travel expenses

Tickets that are lost or damaged, manual expense notes or in a simple Excel file… Companies have a poor control of the expenses generated during their employees' trips and that means slow administrative processes, as well as losing VAT recovery. Although there are technological solutions on the market, only a minority of companies use them.

 

All over the world, 65% of companies manually manage expenses generated during business trips (cabs, restaurants, tolls, parking, food and beverages, etc.), using a paper form, an Excel file or a mere visual control. A 41% consider the control of these expenses as a priority objective for 2016, especially considering that the forecast for this year is an increase of 4.9%.

These are some data provided in the latest sessions of Forum Business Travel, which have confirmed the low rate of automation in a chapter that in some cases may be even higher than that attributed to air transport, accommodation and car rental. As Montse Díaz, Travel Management expert, explains, despite the existence of multi-tool solutions on the market, “companies lose a lot of money in unrecovered VAT, which accounts for around 14% of expenditure”.

But there is also the administrative cost. According to data based on several studies offered by Gaëlle Cheveu Mongreville, head of Notilus España, indirect costs represent 4.6% of the travel budget. At least in Europe, this item averages 563 euros per traveler per year. In other words, every time someone travels for business purposes, your company has to spend 26 € 

To improve control, Mongreville recommends defining a reimbursement policy, standardizing procedures, automating accounting and paying with corporate cards. In this regard, Oacute;scar García, co-founding partner of FBT, drew attention to the new players: “Apple, Google and Facebook areán working on electronic payment systems that can revolutionize expense settlement processes, a new business for them with which they intend to break the market”.

Mobile devices will play a key role in this field. Many companies are already using systems for digitizing tickets and travel receipts, which only need to be photographed in order to enter the data into the accounting system. Some of these tools are approved by the Tax Agency, so it is no longer necessary to keep paper receipts.

According to Charles de Bonnecorse, director of sales for Spain at American Express Global Business Travel, “for some time now, companies have not been demanding úFor some time now, companies have not only demanded a simple management of their corporate travel, but also need a strategic ally to help them have exhaustive control of all the expense items related to business travel. In order to provide this support, it is necessary to have the right technological solutions that ensure this continuous control, guarantee compliance with budgets and maximize savings in expenses and processes.