Imagine that your most critical overseas clients are about to switch to your competitors. You need to send your best salespeople to win them back. In a rush, you email your head of sales to tell him you need volunteers from the team. He responds by saying that all the team members are reluctant.
True or False: None of the employees volunteered because they are lazy and do not care about the company.
Answer: False. It’s not the employees who are the problem. It’s your corporate travel management system.
What is corporate travel management software?
A corporate travel management software automates critical business travel tasks like bookings; expense claims reports, approvals, etc. Market Research Future says corporate travel management software’s market size is estimated to reach 17.4 billion USD by the end of 2030.
Due to the staggering demand, numerous business travel management solutions have emerged. However, only a select few platforms are the best. And amongst the best players, only one or two might fit your needs exactly.
Our team studied over 40 of the most well-known business travel management software to make the selection process easier for you. Here are our top 10 picks.
Table of top 10 corporate travel management software
Product | Automatic Airlines GST Calculation | Savings with Multiple TMC Integrations | Integrated Travel and Expense Module | Missed Savings Alerts | UI/UX | Mileage Tracking | 24X7 Customer Support |
Happay | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Zoho | NA | Yes | NA | NA | Yes | No | No |
TravelPerk | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | Yes |
SAP Concur | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
ITILITE | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | Yes |
Salestrip | NA | Yes | NA | No | Yes | NA | Yes |
TripActions | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
Expensify | NA | Yes | NA | NA | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Divvy | NA | Yes | NA | NA | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Ramp | NA | Yes | NA | NA | Yes | Yes | Yes |
10 Best corporate travel management software and systems
1. Happay
Happay is a fully integrated travel, payments, and expense management software that can be customized according to your needs. The service providers work with your team to curate an expense policy that best suits your business’ vision of expense management.
Happay supports every stakeholder in the expense management process. Its unique features, like Smart Audit, GST compliance, real-time analytics, etc., help finance officials detect bottlenecks in the system and eradicate them.
On the other hand, its employee-centric features, like the self-booking tool, automatic receipt capture, and automatic expense claim creation, give employees control over their business trips.
The platform offers in-depth analytics and organization-wide control to executives and business leaders, giving them complete control over business spending. They get the latest data at their fingertips which in turn helps them make more informed business decisions.
Top services offered
- Automatic GST calculation
- Automated expense filing
- Deviation workflows
- Automated policy compliance checks
- Comprehensive reports and analytics
Unique features
- Smart Audit
- Automated GST compliance
- Petty cash management module
- Integrated self-booking tool
Pros
- Employees get reimbursement in as few as five days which contributes to employee morale
- Significant reduction in policy violations
- Reduction in expense verification time
- Decision-making gets accelerated for employees
Cons
- The Happay mobile app does not have an offline feature
Happay Ratings
1. Ease of use –
2. Value for money –
3. Expense fraud prevention –
4. Spend visibility –
5. Analytics and insights –
6. Customer support –
2. Zoho
Zoho expense is an expense claim software that helps businesses streamline spending by providing features like expense report management, expense reporting automation, receipt management, etc.
Top services offered
- Expense report management
- Receipt management
- Simplified approvals
- Expense auditing
- Advanced customization (premium plan)
- Advanced audit trail report (enterprise plan)
Pros
- Report filing becomes easier
- Zoho simplifies the expense approval process and saves time
- Increase in expense policy compliance
Cons
- According to this G2 review, the platform’s frontend sign-on process is suboptimal.
- Another G2 review states that the GPS feature is challenging to use.
Zoho Ratings
1. Ease of use –
2. Value for money –
3. Expense fraud prevention –
4. Spend visibility –
5. Analytics and insights –
6. Customer support –
3. TravelPerk
TravelPerk is a unified corporate travel management platform that offers travel booking, management, travel cost control features, etc. They have an easy-to-use interface that provides transparency to both travel managers and traveling employees.
Top services offered
- Travel management reporting
- Online booking software
- VAT recovery
- Travel risk management
- Carbon emission control
Pros
- Complete control of all business travel
- An easy change in travel bookings and higher refund on cancellations
- Increased savings
Cons
- According to this G2 review, the rebooking process is tedious and inefficient.
- The platform does not show or highlight the cheapest options, according to this G2 review.
TravelPerk Ratings
1. Ease of use –
2. Value for money –
3. Expense fraud prevention –
4. Spend visibility –
5. Analytics and insights –
6. Customer support –
4. SAP Concur
SAP Concur is an integrated travel, expense, and invoice management platform. Its automation features streamline expense recording, reimbursement, auditing, etc. SAP Concur is a cloud-ready solution with various features offering customizability. You can program it from the ground up to suit the exact needs of your business.
Top services offered
- Expense tracking
- Accounts payable module
- Smart categorization
Pros
- Resource optimization
- Improved employee satisfaction
- Complete spend transparency
Cons
- According to a G2 review, the platform’s user experience could be better.
- Another G2 review says that the customer support by the team could be more satisfactory.
SAP Concur
1. Ease of use –
2. Value for money –
3. Expense fraud prevention –
4. Spend visibility –
5. Analytics and insights –
6. Customer support –
5. ITILITE
ITILITE is an integrated corporate travel management platform that reduces travel spends while increasing employee satisfaction. It uses automation to streamline travel policy implementation and strengthen audit procedures.
Top services offered
- Expense report creation
- Digital receipt management
- Automated policy compliance
- Auto receipt capture
Pros
- Personalization of the platform makes deployment easier
- Streamlined approvals and automated workflows save time and increase organizational efficiency
- Advanced data analytics supplement financial decision-making with crucial information
- An easy booking process ensures a better experience for employees
Cons
- This G2 user faced a problem with the quality of accommodation booked through ITILITE because of an unclear feedback/review section
- This G2 review states that the cost of various booking options is higher than other public aggregator websites for the same options.
ITILITE Ratings
1. Ease of use –
2. Value for money –
3. Expense fraud prevention –
4. Spend visibility –
5. Analytics and insights –
6. Customer support –
6. Salestrip
Salestrip is a business travel and expense management solution on Salesforce. It allows employees to explore various options and book their trips on the platform without depending on external sites. It integrates the pre-trip travel management process and lets users submit, manage, approve, reject, and monitor reports.
Top services offered
- Dynamic travel policy compliance
- AI-driven trip options for booking
- Intelligent travel requests
Pros
- Instant and accurate travel insights
- Cloud-ready architecture is accessible from everywhere
Cons
- According to this G2 review, you cannot submit multiple expense reports at once
Salestrip Ratings
1. Ease of use –
2. Value for money –
3. Expense fraud prevention –
4. Spend visibility –
5. Analytics and insights –
6. Customer support –
7. TripActions
TripActions is a corporate travel management tool that helps manage travel bookings, corporate cards, itineraries, etc. TripActions is an AI-powered cloud-ready platform that works with seasoned travel professionals to give travelers a satisfying travel experience.
Top services offered
- Real-time visibility of expenses
- Automatic reconciliation
- Reporting and analytics
Pros
- Access to exclusive reduced travel rates
- Itinerary management becomes easy
- Scaling the platform is easy
Cons
- According to a G2 review, public platforms sometimes show lower fare options than TripActions
- A few users, including this G2 user, also face issues with unsatisfactory customer support.
TripActions Ratings
1. Ease of use –
2. Value for money –
3. Expense fraud prevention –
4. Spend visibility –
5. Analytics and insights –
6. Customer support –
8. Expensify
Expensify is a travel and expense management app with a unique virtual travel assistant feature. You can book flights, hotels, and taxis simply by chatting with the virtual assistant.
Top services offered
- Virtual travel assistant (Concierge)
- Automatic receipt capture
- Smart categorization
Pros
- On-the-go expense reporting
- Paperless expense management helps avoid errors
- Improved employee experience
Cons
- A G2 user said that the user interface was confusing.
- Another G2 user mentioned that uploading bulk invoices on the platform was challenging.
Expensify Ratings
1. Ease of use –
2. Value for money –
3. Expense fraud prevention –
4. Spend visibility –
5. Analytics and insights –
6. Customer support –
9. Divvy
Divvy integrates expense management with business cards to streamline the expense reporting process and increase real-time spend visibility. It accelerates expense reporting, increases policy compliance, and saves hours for all users.
Top services offered
- Automatic receipt capture
- Automated approval workflows
- Card integration
- Receipt management
- Mobile support
Pros
- Access to an exhaustive repository of expense history
- Complete transparency in employee spends
- It makes it cheaper to cancel or change bookings
Cons
- According to this G2 review, the customer support at Divvy was subpar
- According to this review, the app is not very user-friendly.
Divvy Ratings
1. Ease of use –
2. Value for money –
3. Expense fraud prevention –
4. Spend visibility –
5. Analytics and insights –
6. Customer support –
10. Ramp
Ramp is a corporate travel and spend management platform that simplifies travel management by optimizing the reimbursement process. Its credit card integrations and smart categorization of expenses make travel expense management more organized.
Ramp’s travel management system is fully automated and ensures corporate travel policy compliance. It sends real-time alerts to managers if employees incur out-of-policy business expenses.
Top services offered
- Policy compliance alerts
- Integration with Lyft for receipt auto-capture
- Expense reporting automation
Pros
- Hands-free expense reporting
- Real-time insights into travel expenses
- Easy accessibility from any location
Cons
- According to this G2 review, there are some issues in the receipt capture module.
Ramp Ratings
1. Ease of use –
2. Value for money –
3. Expense fraud prevention –
4. Spend visibility –
5. Analytics and insights –
6. Customer support –
Different types of corporate travel management processes
Multiple strategies enable efficient corporate travel management. However, in the volatile business world where corporate travel is consistently on the rise, an automated, fully streamlined process is necessary.
Here are a few ways in which most companies manage their corporate travel.
1. Corporate travel management software
Corporate travel management software automates the travel management process and streamlines communication. It lets travelers capture receipts and bills with their phone cameras and automatically creates expense reports. It digitizes all spend and travel data which makes audits and analyses easier.
2. Corporate credit cards
You can opt for corporate credit cards to manage business travel spending and other expenses if you want to track transactions in real-time. Corporate travel cards allow employees to pay directly for expenditures and minimize the hassle of expense claim creation.
3. In-house administrative team
Some organizations have a travel administrator or manager who makes travel arrangements for the employees. Sometimes the human resources team takes up that role.
4. Corporate travel agencies
Corporate travel agencies charge a small fee in exchange for travel planning. They employ professional travel agents who are experts in travel management and know how to get businesses the best deals.
Happay’s corporate travel management platform combines the benefits of all four methods. Happay has a travel expense card that tracks all expenses in real time.
The platform also integrates with travel management companies to bring you the best deals, automates and streamlines the entire reimbursement process with the help of AI, and is a self-booking tool, so you don’t need a dedicated travel admin.
Why using corporate travel management software is the best decision
As discussed above, corporate travel management software combines the best features of all the resources at our disposal. Let’s look at a few direct benefits they offer.
1. Fewer expense frauds – Expense frauds cost companies a large chunk of their revenue. According to a study by ACFE, a typical organization loses 5% of its annual revenue due to fraud.
2. Faster reimbursements – A corporate travel management software automates the most time-consuming expense reimbursement process: from expense creation to approval to validation. This significantly reduces the time required to process reimbursements.
3. Easier travel planning for employees – Corporate travel booking software that offers the self-booking feature help cut down on needless communication (email back and forth and lengthy phone calls). It also allows travelers to be in control of their travel experience.
4. Policy compliance – You can program your travel management software to automatically flag policy violations. This can effectively increase policy compliance and safeguard you against cost leakages.
5. Process transparency – Manual expense management processes are highly opaque, and employees cannot track how far along their reimbursement is. Some travel and expense management software like Happay allows employees to track the progress of their expense claims.
How to choose the best corporate travel management software for your business?
1. Identify your needs
Make a list of expense management functions that most require optimization. Conduct an audit of current processes to identify bottlenecks in the system and keep them in mind when you begin your research.
2. Prioritize your needs
Choose five top-priority functions to focus on from the list you made in the first step. You can even categorize your needs into stages like non-negotiable, necessary, and somewhat important but not a deal-breaker.
3. Analyze your expenses and create a budget
Before looking for the perfect travel and expense management system, you must decide what you can afford. Analyze your purchasing power and the market rates for popular platforms. Then create a monthly or annual budget for the corporate travel management software.
4. Shortlist expense management software based on your requirements
Go through the above list and pick 3-4 platforms that best match your needs. Read about the features and benefits of these platforms in detail and then make your decision. You can even talk to the teams of these platforms and discuss the products in detail.
Remember to check the software’s integrability and compatibility with your existing accounting and ERP systems. Incompatibility issues can set you back in your processes.
How to use corporate travel management software?
1. Create or review your company’s travel expense policy – Review your existing travel and expense policy and modify it, keeping the software’s features in mind. Streamline workflows and revise the travel rules.
2. Program the travel management software – Work with the travel management software provider to program the platform according to your policy. Automate the relevant parts of the reimbursement and reconciliation process.
3. Educate the users and stakeholders- Help the employees understand how the new platform works and what they need to do to get the most out of it. Adopting new technology can be challenging, so be open to questions.
4. Implement the platform and take feedback- Once you deploy the platform, actively look for issues to tackle. Take frequent feedback from your team in the first few months and modify the software to make it optimal.
How much does a corporate travel management software cost?
The price of deploying corporate travel booking software in your business can be as low as $5 per user per month. It increases with the number of employees you have, the integrations you opt for, and the customizations you need. However, the costs can significantly differ depending on the service provider.
For example, Zoho’s plan ranges from $8- $12 per month for each active user, and Concur travel charges $9 per report. There is no upper limit for the services as it depends on the size of your company.
Optimize travel with Happay travel and expense management software
Happay’s corporate travel management software offers a lucrative self-booking tool that cuts the red tape and saves you time, money, and effort. It has already helped more than 7000 clients across 40 industries.
Here is why Happay is the superior spend management solution in the market.
- It captures expense data from multiple data points and improves expense reconciliation.
- 100% spend visibility reduces the scope of committing expense fraud.
- Travel becomes easy when employees don’t have to keep track of every single receipt because of Happay’s automatic receipt capture.
- Missed savings alerts help you save all the money that would have been overlooked.
- Happay’s self-booking flags all bookings that are not compliant with the travel and expense policy.
Get in touch with Happay and Schedule a demo
FAQs
To organize business travel with the help of corporate travel management software, pick the software that best suits your business needs. Corporate travel management software helps you automate business travel. Work with the service provider to optimize the platform according to your company’s travel policy and educate your team on how it functions.
The travel management software market is growing steadily, with a predicted compound annual growth rate of 10.5%.
Business travel is returning to normal after the pandemic. There has also been an increase in mobile users, making cloud-based mobile platforms more accessible. Companies are also expanding their operations at an increasing rate to different countries and cities. These can be a few reasons the corporate travel management software market is rising.
Corporate travel management software benefits all levels of the corporate hierarchy. People who can use travel management software are company employees, administrators, managers, finance officials, executives, etc.
– It gives employees more control over their travel experience and makes the reimbursement process faster.
– It gives managers more control over approvals and saves time otherwise spent on approval-related communication.
– It equips the finance team with tools that make expense reconciliation easier. It also helps them quickly identify expense frauds and errors. The dashboards and reports make financial analyses easier.
– Travel management software can provide an in-depth and accurate overview of organization-wide business spending to company leaders and C-suite executives.
Businesses need this software to control travel expenses, ensure employee safety, and improve efficiency by automating travel-related tasks and enforcing company travel policies.
This software can help businesses save money by offering cost-effective booking options, tracking expenses, and identifying opportunities for cost optimization.
Key features include travel booking and reservations, expense reporting, policy compliance enforcement, travel itinerary management, and reporting and analytics.
It helps by providing real-time travel updates, emergency contact information, and the ability to track and communicate with employees during their trips.
Yes, many of these solutions offer integration with accounting, HR, and other systems to streamline data sharing and reporting.
Yes, there are solutions tailored for businesses of all sizes, with scalability options to accommodate growing needs.
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