Data Is Key to Travel Budget Optimisation

Grappling with ways to optimise your travel budgets? The answer lies in your travel data if you look closely. In this article, UNIGLOBE experts suggest using your travel data to uncover valuable insights and make continuous improvements that will benefit your travel program and have a positive impact on your bottom line.

Influence traveller behaviour

This is an area where business data analysis can make a big impact.

According to a study by the GBTA Foundation, 59% of business travelers said they went out of policy on at least one major travel expense on their latest trip and 90% made a conscious choice that went against specific policy, such as buying business class air instead of economy or staying an extra hotel night.

“The best way to influence this type of behavior is to look for accumulated patterns. Consider analyzing data each month to monitor activity and work with managers of defaulters to make them aware of the patterns of out of policy behavior and the accumulated costs,” suggests a UNIGLOBE expert.

“Once travelers know you are inspecting this data, you might be surprised to see measurable changes in employee behavior across the board,” adds the expert.

Strategic analysis of travel data can allow businesses to investigate past expenditures to identify patterns of travel policy violation and deviations from budgeted expenditure for suitable course correction. With an intuitive approach to data analysis, organisations can also predict upcoming spends and projections to take informed decisions.

“Leveraging tools like the UNIGLOBE Complete Access Online can help you take a bite out of big data analysis. With access to travel booking data in the form of comprehensive reports, you can analyse your core travel and expense data to improve expense management across functions,” concludes the UNIGLOBE expert.