Study uncovers high demand for easing expense management reporting and reconciliation process.
ALEXANDRIA, VA – Two new reports issued by the GBTA Foundation — the education and research arm of the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) — evaluate the landscape of travel payments from the perspectives of both the travel manager and the business traveler. The reports, Payment Solutions for Travel Managers and Business Traveler: Landscape of Travel Payments, sponsored by TSYS — a leading global commercial payments provider — reveal that general awareness of new payment technology, such as mobile payments and contactless cards is high, but interest is focused around the expense reporting side.
“The research provides insight into how payment solutions work for both the business traveler and the travel manager,” said Joseph Bates, GBTA Foundation vice president of research. “Currently the expense management side of business travel is a pain point for both groups providing an opportunity for payment solutions providers to meet these needs.”
“TSYS is proud to partner with GBTA in delivering research that helps commercial issuers better understand the payment needs of business travelers and travel managers,” said Keith Pierce, group executive of Commercial Services, TSYS. “This primary research will help many in the commercial payments industry better identify areas for strategic investment, while addressing end-users’ pain points.”
Corporate Card Programs Widespread, Room for Improvement
Nearly all travel managers say their company has a corporate card program, and the study found that corporate card usage is high with a large percentage of travel spend paid for using corporate cards (70 percent on average). By and large, according to travel managers, corporate card programs meet their business needs, with a majority of travel managers highly satisfied with their corporate card programs. Areas travel managers flagged for improvement are controls, compliance, incentives and rebates. Additionally, one-third of travel managers each named process efficiency, merchant acceptance and global spend visibility as areas for improvement.
Payment Technology – Tepid Interest
Currently, interest among travel managers in using mobile payments, contactless cards and electronic devices for business travel payments is low.
Taking the Pain Out of Expense Management
While interest in payment technologies was low, travel managers were highly interested in software or mobile apps that can assist with expense management. The vast majority of respondents (roughly 70 percent) say they are “very interested” or “interested” in the six-listed expense management tasks:
– Record or image receipts
– Assist employees with completing expense reports
– Create, submit, and approve an expense report
– Record and append transactions to expense reports
– Assist employees with recording expenses
– Consolidate travel data to a single system.
The top three software or app functionalities that business travelers want are real-time updates, photographing receipts and being able to create, submit and approve expense reports from a mobile device. Similarly, real-time travel updates are deemed most attractive to travel managers, followed by technology that aids with expense management tasks in general.
GBTA surveyed 557 business travelers in an online survey fielded during February – March 2014, and 242 travel managers in an online survey fielded in April 2014. The full reports are available exclusively to GBTA members. Non-members may purchase the reports through the GBTA Foundation, by emailing pyachnes@gbtafoundation.org.
Data from the two studies will be presented during an education session during GBTA Convention 2014 in Los Angeles on Monday, July 28 at 10:30 a.m. The session will provide insights into the forms of payments companies use for business travel related expenses and the associated challenges; as well as exploring various forms of mobile capabilities aimed at improving the overall experience of business travel.
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales.
She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
