How 4 Travel Managers Built Future-Proof Programs

Lessons from HelloFresh, Asana, ConnectWise, and Canva on recognizing and managing travel program evolution

Every successful company faces the same exciting challenge: growth. As organizations expand globally, add team members, and increase business travel, their needs naturally evolve. For travel managers, this presents an opportunity and a responsibility: recognizing when your program should evolve to support the company’s next growth phase.

Four experienced travel managers — at HelloFresh, Asana, ConnectWise, and Canva — have successfully navigated these transitions, and their journeys reveal valuable insights about timing, decision-making, and strategic planning that every travel manager can apply.

Recognizing The Growth Opportunity

Reading the signs of evolution

The most successful travel managers develop an intuitive sense for when their programs need strategic updates. The trigger is rarely a crisis moment — instead, change comes about by recognizing patterns and anticipating needs before they become urgent.

Renato Bianucci, global mobility and travel manager at HelloFresh, describes this realization: “As the company expanded rapidly, it became clear that our existing process couldn’t keep up. Managing global travel for a growing international workforce from Berlin was unsustainable. We knew we had to rethink our approach entirely to find a viable solution.”

The decision wasn’t about fixing a broken system — HelloFresh’s travel program was functional. But Renato recognized that what worked for the company’s previous size wouldn’t scale effectively for its ambitious growth plans across 18 global locations.

The multi-dimensional challenge

Growth creates complexity in multiple directions. And that’s exactly what happened when ConnectWise acquired another organization and doubled its headcount overnight. Mindy Owen, the company’s travel and expense manager, needed to quickly scale systems that could handle more volume and more complexity.

Canva’s journey illustrates another common pattern. As the company’s travel program grew from supporting internal operations to managing massive global events like Canva Create 2025, it needed to evolve from basic logistics management to strategic event support.

International expansion dynamics

Asana’s experience highlights how international growth creates unique challenges. As the company expanded globally, it naturally accumulated different providers for various regions — a logical approach during rapid scaling. However, Vern Carandang, Asana’s program manager for travel and expense, eventually recognized an optimization opportunity. “Having travel and expense under one system simplifies everything versus the multiple provider approach we had developed,” he said.

Creating a Strategic Decision-Making Framework

Evaluating current state vs. future needs

Successful travel managers don’t just react to immediate pressures — they proactively evaluate their programs against future requirements by asking strategic questions like:

• Can our current systems handle 2x our current volume without creating bottlenecks?
• Are we spending too much time on administrative tasks versus strategic planning?
• Do our systems provide the data visibility we need for informed decision-making?
• Are employees satisfied with their travel experience, and does that impact compliance?

Building the business case

When travel managers identify evolution opportunities, they need to build compelling cases for investment. The most successful managers focus on business impact rather than just operational efficiency.

Andy O’Mara, head of travel and expense at Canva, emphasizes the importance of demonstrating value: “If I have to submit an urgent report to a senior lead, I can usually do that in less than a minute,” he said. “It’s clearly formatted and very easy to understand.” This capability positions travel managers as responsive business partners, not just cost centers.

Timing considerations

The companies in these case studies made strategic decisions to evolve their programs during growth phases, not crisis moments. This timing allowed them to:

• Implement changes when teams had the capacity to adapt
• Align system changes with business expansion plans
• Avoid disruption during critical business periods
• Take advantage of growth momentum to secure necessary resources

Managing the Transition Process

Change management for travel programs

Successful program evolution requires careful change management. Travel managers must consider multiple stakeholder groups: employees who book travel, managers who approve trips, finance team members who process expenses, and executives who need program visibility.

Canva achieved a booking compliance rate of 94% by focusing on user experience during its transition. Rather than enforcing compliance through restrictions, the company made compliance the easiest path forward. Kate Marsden, head of global brand partnerships, described the result: “Navan just feels so much easier. It’s super seamless.”

Ensuring smooth implementation

The travel managers who saw the most success planned their transitions strategically. They focused on:

• Communication: Clear messaging about why changes were happening and how they would benefit different groups
• Training: Comprehensive onboarding that made new systems feel intuitive rather than burdensome
• Support: Robust support systems during transition periods to address questions and concerns quickly
• Measurement: Clear metrics to track adoption and identify areas needing additional attention

Building stakeholder buy-in

ConnectWise achieved 100% employee adoption by involving stakeholders in the selection process and clearly communicating benefits. For Mindy Owen, it also helped to align the solution choice with company culture and values. , “As a software company,” she said, “a tech-forward solution was a must for us.”.

Learning From Success Stories

The HelloFresh approach: Proactive planning

HelloFresh’s transition demonstrates the value of proactive planning. Rather than waiting for its system to become a limiting factor, the company recognized growth trends and planned accordingly. The results were impressive: 33% savings on hotels, 28% savings on flights, and a 4.7/5 customer satisfaction rating.

The Asana model: Strategic consolidation

Asana’s journey shows how thoughtful consolidation can create significant value. By bringing travel and expense management together, the company eliminated complexity while improving user experience and achieving 13% savings on hotel bookings.

The ConnectWise strategy: Culture alignment

ConnectWise succeeded by choosing solutions that aligned with its technology-focused culture. This cultural fit contributed to a 100% adoption rate and 9% net savings on bookings.

The Canva framework: Experience-first design

Canva prioritized user experience from the beginning, resulting in 84% mobile adoption and the ability to successfully manage complex global events without travel logistics becoming a stress point.

Key Takeaways for Travel Managers

1. Develop future-focused thinking

Don’t wait for current systems to become problems. Regularly evaluate your program against future growth plans and industry trends. The most successful travel managers anticipate needs rather than react to crises.

2. Build strategic relationships

Understand company growth plans, budget cycles, and strategic priorities to position yourself as a business partner. When you speak the language of business strategy, you’re more likely to secure support for program evolution.

3. Focus on user experience

Employee satisfaction with your travel program directly impacts compliance and business results. Systems that people want to use create better outcomes for everyone involved.

4. Plan for implementation success

Great systems poorly implemented deliver poor results. Invest time in change management, communication, and support to help ensure your program evolution achieves its potential.

5. Measure and communicate value

Develop clear metrics that demonstrate business impact. The ability to quickly generate insights and reports positions you as a strategic contributor to business success.

The Path Forward

These travel managers demonstrate how program evolution can stem from thoughtful improvements that align with business growth. They recognized opportunities, built strong business cases, managed transitions effectively, and delivered measurable results.

Most importantly, they positioned themselves as strategic business partners who anticipated needs and drove solutions. This approach doesn’t just improve travel programs — it elevates the travel manager’s role within the organization.

For travel managers evaluating their own programs, these success stories provide a roadmap: recognize growth patterns early, build strategic cases for evolution, manage transitions thoughtfully, and measure results that matter to business leaders.

The companies that invest in strategic travel program evolution create competitive advantages through employee satisfaction, operational efficiency, and business intelligence. As a travel manager, your role is to recognize these opportunities and lead your organization toward them.

Successful travel program evolution requires strategic thinking, careful planning, and strong execution. The travel managers who master this process become indispensable business partners who drive organizational success.

Ready to scale your travel program? Request a Navan demo to see how we can help transform your travel strategy.