Congratulations! You’ve researched the key features and functionality of several modern, cloud-based travel management and corporate card solutions. You’ve ensured it’s user-friendly, accounts for all needed functionality, and boasts superior travel agent and customer support.
Now it’s time to implement. The goal should be a quick (60 days or less, ideally) onboarding and launch sequence that leads to 100% adoption.
To do that, here are some best practices for onboarding a new travel management company — including what’s required if your new partner also serves as the expense management software, which is always a wise choice. Keep reading for strategies to drive adoption, responses to FAQs about employee travel, and resources to help ensure success.
Once the challenging work of selecting the best travel management software for your organization is done, the fun part starts — implementation. Whether your chosen provider is Navan, TravelPerk, Egencia, SAP Concur, SalesTrip, Salesforce, or another solution, these implementation tips will help.
Here are five best practices for implementing travel management software in an organization:
In today’s fast-paced and ever-evolving business landscape, travel management can be challenging for organizations. So while the above tips might get organizations on the right path, it’s a good idea to lean on some tried-and-tested strategies to ensure that adoption skyrockets and the company can maximize its investment in the new technology.
By mandating the software, the organization benefits from booking management, discounted rates, proactive policy and spend controls, more significant insights into real-time data and expense tracking, and more.
For example, commercial general contractor EMJ incentivized employees with the Navan Rewards program and saved 30–35% on hotels and 9% on total bookings after switching to Navan.
Get ahead of employees’ most common questions when faced with a new travel management platform. Here are some responses regarding travel experience, travel inventory, and corporate travel policies.
Even better, leadership can explain how when partnering with a solution that combines travel and expense management, employees will never need to submit an expense report for reimbursement because transactions for travel expenses paid on the corporate credit card are tied to the trip. In addition, the solution automates the approval workflow, improving travel policy compliance for small businesses and enterprises, and gives the company a holistic view of travel spend companywide.
Resources are crucial to adopting and using any travel management software. Before signing on the dotted line with any agreement, see if your special travel management software has the following resources.
Most business travel management providers will offer a library of information, support, and product documentation, with insights into best practices and recommendations. This purpose-built resource can help customers make the most of the platform. Ask providers if there’s a centralized place to access how-to videos, product updates, etc.
In-person training sessions give users an overview of booking management and how to gain real-time insights from the travel data dashboard. Live training can be beneficial if a large team needs to get up to speed quickly. They help finance teams hit the ground running, leveraging data for spend management, expense tracking, policy enforcement, and more.
Finally, some travel management providers will offer a dedicated consultant to help an organization implement the new tool and drive adoption. It’s proven that investing in a dedicated consultant early on can lead to better business outcomes for the provider and organization.
In summary, ensure you have the right resources to streamline your travel management software adoption. Look for a comprehensive help center, a robust enablement program, live training, and a dedicated consultant. With these resources, you can implement the software more efficiently and maximize your investment.
Navan is the only modern, end-to-end travel, corporate card, and expense management solution, providing thousands of customers around the globe with time savings, cost savings, and real-time visibility over spend–and the resource to reach 100% adoption. Take a hands-on, 3-minute tour today.
This content is for informational purposes only. It doesn't necessarily reflect the views of Navan and should not be construed as legal, tax, benefits, financial, accounting, or other advice. If you need specific advice for your business, please consult with an expert, as rules and regulations change regularly.