Managing business travel and expense (or T&E) is no longer just an administrative process: it has become a strategic lever for organisational performance and compliance. Between cost pressures, regulatory requirements and employee expectations for fluidity and accountability, companies need to rethink their approach.
This comprehensive guide introduces you to the current challenges, proven best practices, and technological innovations that are redefining T&E management.
T&E comprises two complementary components:
These two aspects are inseparable: an effective travel policy must be linked to a smooth expense management process.
In an international context, harmonising rules is a challenge: each country has its own specific tax and regulatory requirements. An overly rigid policy can hamper productivity, while an overly flexible policy increases the risk of abuse. Example: an employee on assignment abroad may be unaware of local limits, leading to non-compliant expenses.
Expense reports are prone to unintentional errors (missing receipts, duplicates) as well as fraud. Without automated controls, these anomalies can be costly for the company. According to the ACFE, expense report fraud accounts for up to 15% of losses related to business expenses.
Without consolidated reporting, it is difficult to manage travel budgets, identify potential savings or negotiate with service providers. The result: decisions based on incomplete data, leading to additional costs.
Business travel has a significant carbon footprint. Integrating CSR criteria into T&E policy is becoming essential to meet sustainability objectives.
The technological challenge: connecting T&E to your ERP and HR tools
T&E processes must be integrated with ERP, HR and accounting tools. Poor integration leads to duplication, delays and errors. It is best to opt for compatible tools, such as SAP Concur, for smooth management.
A T&E policy must be easy to understand, tailored to different profiles, and available on collaborative tools. It must specify:
Our advice: disseminate the policy via collaborative tools and make it available on mobile devices to avoid any grey areas.
Digitisation reduces manual tasks and the risk of errors. Modern solutions enable:
This means fewer errors, less fraud, and finance teams freed from repetitive tasks.
A clear policy is not enough if employees do not know how to apply it.
Some best practices to apply in order to transform constraints into a smooth and intuitive experience:
Controls should not be perceived as intrusive surveillance. Innovative T&E tools enable enhanced compliance without complicating the daily lives of teams:
Measuring the average cost per trip, reimbursement time or compliance rate allows you to adjust your policy and improve performance.
Key indicators to monitor include:
Manually entering expense reports is time-consuming and prone to errors. Modern solutions incorporate technologies such as OCR (Optical Character Recognition) and AI to automate the capture of receipts: employees photograph their receipts using a mobile app, and the tool automatically extracts the data (amount, date, VAT) and integrates it into the approval workflow. The benefits:
Cloud solutions such as SAP Concur offer a scalable architecture that is accessible anywhere and integrated with existing systems (ERP, HR, accounting).
Why is this key?
Mobility is at the heart of employee expectations. T&E applications provide a seamless user experience, which promotes tool adoption and reduces processing times. :
The use of T&E data is no longer limited to reporting. Advanced solutions incorporate predictive algorithms to:
Sustainability is no longer just a trend: it has become a strategic imperative. Companies must now incorporate environmental criteria into their travel policies, and T&E solutions play a key role in this transformation.
How do these tools contribute to responsible practices?
Beyond regulatory compliance, these initiatives meet a dual requirement: that of employees, who expect responsible practices, and that of stakeholders, who are concerned about environmental impact. A sustainable T&E policy strengthens brand image and contributes to overall performance.
At Arago, we support you in defining and implementing a T&E strategy tailored to your challenges. Our approach aims to analyse your processes, identify levers for optimisation, and build an effective and compliant travel policy. We provide support from strategic framing to technical integration, automating travel and expense management, improving financial visibility and integrating responsible practices. Our goal: to transform your T&E policy into a real lever for performance and employee experience.
Travel and expense management is much more than an administrative process: it is a strategic lever for controlling costs, ensuring compliance and improving the employee experience. Technological innovations (automation, cloud computing, mobility) are paving the way for a more agile and responsible approach.
Would you like to simplify the management of your travel and expense reports, increase efficiency and ensure compliance? Arago supports you every step of the way, from defining your T&E strategy to implementing innovative solutions such as SAP Concur.
Contact us to transform your travel and expense management into a lever for performance and accountability.