SPONSORED FEATURE How to build
a business case for business traveller management
Managing business travellers has always been a complicated process but changes to tax, immigration and security environments are adding to the difficulties. Liam Brennan, CEO of GT Global Tracker offers some helpful advice to those looking for a solution.
M
uch has been written recently about the risks associated with short-term business travellers. In the Global HR and Mobility
world, the focus of such articles has usually been around the taxation, immigration and duty of care elements. So if we decide that this is a real business problem,
how do we go about building a business case to implement such a project?
The importance of involving stakeholders The single biggest issue in managing business travellers within an organisation is to understand who exactly is responsible for managing those travellers. Let’s look at all of the potential stakeholders that can
be impacted by a single travel event and who, as a result, should be part of an internal task force team to deliver the project (see centre panel.) Each internal team member can interact with the output of data driven by a business travel event. With so many internal functions to satisfy, each with
varying degrees of influence in an organisation, it is easy to understand why it is sometimes seen as hard to achieve. Each of these company functions should have a vested
interest in securing data from a managed business traveller programme and therefore it is important to recruit a member from each unit as you build your business case.
Here are my tips to successfully implement a business traveller management programme:
There is only one constant in a business travel event – focus on the traveller first In many companies there are fragmented approaches to managing business travellers. Larger companies have Travel Management teams focused on the booking of travel and the resulting spend levels. Smaller companies allow travellers to book directly with suppliers and set guidelines on the class of travel, level of accommodation etc. The only constant in a business travel event is the business traveller and their smartphone. If you want to manage business travel, you should look to maximise this single consistent data source.
Don’t be afraid to rely on the business traveller One of the most surprising elements I have encountered in talking with countless customers over the last 12 months
16 | Relocate | Autumn 2018
is their reluctance to involve the traveller or to rely on them to complete processes. This is unusual as we expect travellers to download internal forms or use travel booking engines. If we analyse the output of travel booking engines to monitor compliance, it begs the question: how did that data get there if not from the traveller themselves? I listened intently at a recent business travel conference
session as a Mobility Manager said he wouldn’t roll out a technology solution as he couldn’t rely on his people to complete the process, yet he mandates the use of an internal Excel form to capture travel data. Many travel industry reports indicate the wishes of
travellers to access company processes via a mobile app rather than internal forms or emails (Business Travel News – Mobile disconnections in the age of smartphones and travel apps). Speaking at the recent HR Tech Conference in Las Vegas Nevada, Josh Bersin, founder of Bersin, Deloitte Consulting LLP, outlined how employees are seeking a new ‘Engagement Layer’ to interact with company systems. This engagement layer will be ‘chat’ or mobile, with connectivity to complex HRIS, Expense or Payroll systems. As these systems evolve, the layers of integration become easier than in the past so encouraging use of mobile systems will ensure greater interaction with and collection of data. Instead of completing complex and repetitive internal
form processes you should look to hand your travellers an App/Mobile solution. You equip them with a mobile phone, travel insurance, roaming data plans so why not add one more piece of kit for their international travels? The upcoming millennial generation has always had a
smartphone in their hand and even technophobic business travellers are coming around to the use of apps like Uber and Skyscanner to facilitate their international travel. A critical part of implementing a short-term business
travel programme is to impress on the traveller that the taxation or immigration impacts are personal. If a traveller is refused entry or is temporarily suspended from entering a country for a visa infraction, it is the traveller’s personal passport and identity that sits on the immigration system. If that traveller leaves the company, the infraction goes with them – it is not expunged when he or she starts to work with a new company. All tax returns are signed individually by a traveller
and a tax liability could arise many years after the travel event. Having accurate information can help to counter a tax demand or audit.
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