As a travel manager, you need to be streamlined, efficient and organized to ensure your company’s travel stays within budget and that each trip furthers your company’s goals. One thing that can make all that easier? Convince your boss to invest in business travel software.

Business travel technologies make navigating travel management easier and more efficient. However, it can be difficult to convince your boss of this — especially if they’re not the ones directly affected by any existing inefficiencies.

How do you persuade them that deciding to invest in business travel software is a smart idea? Here’s what you need to tell them.

“Business travel software will save the company money”

Yes, choosing to invest in business travel software is an additional upfront cost your boss may not necessarily want at this time. However, the fact of the matter is, working with business travel software will, in the long run, save your company money.

Business travel software not only frees up travel managers’ and arrangers’ time. It also allows travel managers to better find travel savings and deals that otherwise might take hours of searching. Additionally, business travel software helps travel managers better keep a handle on employee spending. As a result, budgets are adhered to and travelers remain in compliance.

Ultimately, the cost savings resulting from benefits such as these make the investment more than worth the initial cost.

“Business travel software creates valuable data”

If you aren’t quite the data person, you may struggle to produce reports for your superiors that accurately reflect your company’s business travel spend and other essential data points.

However, with the right business travel software, that struggle is in the past. With just a few clicks, software can compile data that shows invaluable information regarding not just travel spend but other data points that will help your team make better company decisions overall.

“Business travel software enhances duty of care”

Duty of care is an important part of any organization, but is vital for any company that engages in business travel regularly. However, duty of care can be difficult to manage without reliable technology.

When you invest in business travel software, you can better keep tabs on your travelers and provide them with the resources they need to stay safe while traveling. Some software options provided by TMCs, such as Crisis24, even offer 24/7/365 support in the event of an emergency. Others, like e-Travel Technologies, offer continuous travel risk monitoring before and during a trip, while some, like International SOS, offer medevac and evacuation support.

Beyond this obvious benefit, this attention to duty of care will provide deeper benefits by showing that your organization cares for its employees’ well-being — which can help retain existing talent and attract new talent.

“Business travel software makes the entire company more productive”

Obviously, if your boss decides to invest in business travel software, you’ll be more productive in your job, as the software will take some of the minutiae off your plate. However, if this fact doesn’t convince your boss to make the investment, maybe they’ll listen when you tell them that business travel software will actually make the entire company more productive.

If your traveling team members spend hours dealing with their travel, whether before or after a trip (or both), those are hours of lost productivity. Giving them access to business travel software ensures they can spend more time doing their actual jobs.

“Business travel software can make travelers happier”

Hand in hand with freeing up travelers to do their actual jobs, business travel technology can also make travelers happier. When every business trip doesn’t mean lost time, you may even find that some travelers that were previously hesitant to travel for work are now ready to hit the road. That brings further benefits to the company, too, as studies have found that business travel satisfaction impacts employees’ overall job satisfaction.

Do You Need Business Travel Software or Managed Travel?

Before you convince your boss to invest in business travel software, take a moment and think. Does your company need to invest in business travel software or managed travel? Both come with similar benefits, but managed travel does have its unique qualities.

If you’re not sure, look into what managed travel could do for you and then proceed from there. 

When you’re ready to make your big pitch, be sure to present your case with thorough information (whether that be data or real-world examples of ways individuals in your company have suffered from a lack of business travel software in the recent past). Provide your boss with suggested next steps so they know where to start once they’re ready to invest.

JTB Business Travel is Here to Help

Whatever business travel solution you and your boss decide to go with, JTB Business Travel is here to help. With a range of business travel solutions available to companies of various sizes (including SMEs), if you have a business travel need, we likely have a way to fill it.

Get in touch today to learn more and be sure to check out our extensive resource center, filled with helpful information and guides to all things business travel management.