Following an 18-hour journey to India, Mastercard executive Chad Wallace finally shook hands with colleagues he had spent years collaborating with virtually. From the bustling streets of Mumbai to the vibrant city of Pune, he immersed himself in the local culture—sharing insights over local specialties and building relationships with industry peers old and new.
Rather than booking the red-eye home, his trip ended in a way that is increasingly becoming the norm for business travelers: a weekend getaway to Dubai for a long-overdue reunion with a friend. After living out a lifestyle that blended business and leisure travel, it was a quick pit stop back in New York before heading off again—this time to Copenhagen—for a conference about the future of commercial payments.
“The classic two-day business trip is being reinvented,” says Wallace, who oversees global corporate solutions at Mastercard.
With more flexible workplace policies and advances in connectivity and video technologies, a new kind of business travel is taking flight. Those trips that were once considered a chore are becoming hot-ticket events as the lines between our business and leisure travel experiences increasingly blur and more employees seek opportunities to maximize time abroad.
This new enthusiasm for business travel is benefiting employees and businesses alike. Meetings, trade shows, and events are proving more valuable than ever—so much so that nine out of 10 executives responsible for making travel decisions believe business travel is critical for driving growth, according to Mastercard research.
Three ways to get the most out of corporate travel in conference season
Integrate and automate
Companies now have ways to simplify—or even automate—managing travel expenses. Take SAP Concur, for example: a cutting-edge travel and expense management software that integrates data from various sources, including payments, bookings, and corporate policies. This integration offers travel managers a more holistic view of employee spending, enabling them to automate policy enforcement, set spending limits, and approve trips in real time.
When corporate cards are integrated within expense management platforms, like they are with SAP Concur, transactions can be automatically captured and populated into the expense platform at the time of a swipe, which helps to eliminate errors and save time. Users are also conveniently alerted immediately if additional information is needed.
By combining the best of both payments and software platforms, businesses can guide employees toward policy-compliant, cost-effective, and even environmentally sustainable choices.
Seasoned travelers will undoubtedly welcome automated expense reporting. Typing in charges line by line after a trip and keeping track of a wallet of overflowing paper receipts is a process so tedious that nearly 20% of business travelers agreed they would prefer to get a cavity filled.
By streamlining the reporting process, digital T&E platforms also give employees the freedom to make the most of their conference attendance, like setting aside time to catch up with friends, or explore bucket-list destinations—exactly what Wallace deserved after another busy week of business travel.
Take advantage of virtual cards
Another option is virtual cards. These cards resemble corporate cards with a 16-digit number, expiration date, and three-digit CVC code. However, they are digital-only and can be assigned for a specific time frame, spending limit, or purpose. This can even include paying for conferences themselves, with solutions from providers like Cvent facilitating secure and efficient payment processing for all event-related expenses.
The result? By customizing spending parameters, finance teams no longer need to sift through expense reports trying to determine who used their corporate card at the casino during last month’s Vegas convention. With these benefits, it’s no surprise that nine out of 10 travel decision-makers say that, within the next five years, they’re interested in providing virtual corporate cards to employees to pay for trip expenses.
Conference organizers themselves are already reaping the benefits of virtual cards. Cvent, for example, is empowering organizers to simplify their payments by embedding virtual cards in their meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions solutions. This enables organizers to pay suppliers quickly with full transparency.
Finally, virtual cards are good news for business travelers. Gone are the days of worrying about accidentally misplacing a company card—and all the security issues that go with it—or relying on a personal card that will get reimbursed later.
With the growing adoption of virtual cards in mobile wallets, travelers can charge client dinners and airport lunches with tap-and-go convenience—and keep track of spending in near real time. Mastercard’s mobile virtual card app takes this convenience a step further, allowing users to seamlessly add virtual commercial cards to their digital wallets for expense management on the go.
“Travelers are used to mobile payments on their vacations, and with advancements in mobile virtual card and tap-and-go technology, the cardless trip is becoming more and more of a reality for business travelers, too,” Wallace explains.
Optimize travel spend with analytics
To unearth the not-so-obvious ways to save—such as avoiding an overpriced chain of gas stations in Phoenix—businesses can use advanced analytics software to better understand spending patterns.
Better yet, they can leverage these insights to forecast future travel expenses. By comparing key metrics, such as average cost per trip, to industry benchmarks, companies can determine if their travel spending is on the right track. They can also negotiate better contract terms with suppliers, such as airlines, hotels, and car rental companies.
To drill down further on best practices, companies can work with Mastercard’s advisors who help companies evaluate their current corporate travel and expense management programs, enhance the traveler experience, and reduce travel-related costs for everyone.