Travel Expense Management with Open Expense Alliance

April 14, 2023

Travel Expense Management with Open Expense Alliance

‍

Integrated travel and expense systems can offer accuracy on transactions but are limited in providing details on an entire travel program.
A bundled travel and expense system allows you to select the precise technology you need to create a comprehensive corporate travel program.
A bundled travel and expense system can help increase employee engagement, improve productivity, control costs, and optimize efficiency.
This article is for travel managers, procurement managers or finance professionals looking for ways to integrate their travel and expense systems.

As travel and expense (T&E) management has become more automated, we’ve seen an increased interest in travel and expense platforms working together. It makes sense. After all, there’s value to having a frictionless connection between the two applications. In fact, building a flexible T&E program can be effective for the whole process.

Let’s take a look at how it works.

What’s a bundled travel expense management platform?

It’s difficult for one company to develop great platforms for both travel and expense; they are two different applications with two distinct missions. That’s why at Deem, we recommend you think in terms of bundling.

When companies work with Deem, they have the option to choose the best expense management for their specific needs from any provider. Etta business travel software seamlessly integrates with their preferred expense platform. By combining the best of both worlds, you get a complete solution that will optimize both the travel and expense spend.

Open Expense Alliance is here to help you with that.

With Open Expense Alliance, we made sure any business can integrate Etta with many of the largest expense management products — probably even the one you use right now. That means no changing workflows, switching systems, or moving to a less effective expense product with integrated travel.

Because of Open Expense, travelers can simply book their travel through Etta while their trip information is automatically shared with the company’s expense platform. A seamless connection between your T&E platforms means travelers don’t need to remember yet another username and password. They won’t waste time struggling with learning an entirely new system or hunting down receipts. With more time available to them, travelers can focus on more important things, like following up on that new business deal when they get back to the office.

While an integrated system improves data accuracy on transactions, a dedicated travel component is far better equipped to offer detailed travel information. With comprehensive travel data and the associated expenses, a company can improve how it tracks travelers for duty of care, policy compliance, and deeper insights into travel spending.

Four benefits of a bundled travel and expense solution

Overall, a bundled solution offers the best of both worlds. Travel managers can get a better view of travel spend for the company and individual spend for the traveler. Let’s look at how a bundled solution improves employee engagement, increases employee productivity, controls travel costs, and improves operational efficiency.

Improve employee engagement

Business travelers have come to expect consumer-like simplicity, choice, and flexibility when using travel and expense solutions. We often see a heightened level of workforce engagement when organizations bring their employees an intuitive travel booking experience that’s integrated with their expense solution, especially when each of the platforms include better user experience and support. Etta, for example, offers award-winning accessibility options and a beautiful design to create a powerful corporate travel platform that’s a joy to use.

‍

Increase employee productivity

Companies are challenged to find frictionless processes that keep employees happy and ready to achieve a higher performance. Bundled solutions offer faster performance as travel booking information flows directly into the expense tool. If travelers have to sort through paper receipts and manually enter expense information, it can lead to errors and inefficiencies.

An unproductive legacy T&E solution can create traveler frustration, which leads to program leakage. But when you can hand pick the right solutions, your travelers save time and can focus on other, high value activities rather than wrestling with software to file an expense report.

Control travel costs

Travel program leakage isn’t merely frustrating, it can have serious financial consequences. This non-compliance often leads companies to be unable to meet commitments for contract volumes and rebate thresholds. Without visibility and control of air, ground, hotel, and rail spend, companies can’t leverage negotiated rates and rebates, preventing maximized discounts.

But what if you could prevent leakage in the first place? You could control the costs of your travel program.

With a traveler-centric booking platform like Etta, travelers get the information they need right when they need it through a seamless interface. If a corporate travel platform is intuitive and caters to the travelers themselves, it’s easy to encourage adoption. On average, companies with an integrated, end-to-end travel and expense solution have 20% greater adoption rate.

Improve operational efficiency

Processes that digitally connect suppliers, customers, and assets create unique, unheralded efficiencies and customer value. Tying systems together to improve compliance, increase visibility, and reduce costs is a better way.

When you bundle Etta with the right expense platform for your business, you can effectively manage your organization’s travel spend. Bundling ensures a best-in-class solution that drives compliance and user satisfaction.

To learn more about how to benefit from your travel and expense software working together, visit our Get Started page.

Travel Expense Management with Open Expense Alliance