How Travel Managers Can Grow Their Data and Reporting Skills

Data is more important than ever if you’re to effectively manage your travel programme. If you’re to capture every trip and every pound spent, ensure the safety of business travellers, track emissions, set budgets, and adjust policies. If you’re to do the job you, management, and the company expect.

But as virtually every travel manager – 98% – reports, they lack the updated data and analytics they need to perform their daily roles.¹ Like most of us, you weren’t trained to be – or want to be – a data analyst. But there are ways to expand your data and analytic abilities. Our new eBook discusses how to improve your company’s data and analytics tools, look beyond travel spending, address tough topics, and use SAP Concur solutions in your efforts.

Dominate Your Travel Data: 4 Ways to Improve Reporting, Analytics and Control

Learn four steps for developing the strategy, tools, and skills that travel leaders need to more effectively perform their roles today.

Read the eBook

It’s Your Data – Control It

Suppliers and travel management companies are, of course, great sources of data, but you have an incomplete view of spending and other details if they are the only source. For a fuller picture, all your booking and travel expense data should be connected and captured, and all that data must be up to date and easily accessible. Concur TripLink connects your company’s travel partners and our solutions, making supplier-direct bookings and spending visible and feeding information directly into Concur Travel and Expense.

Get the Best Analytics Tools

Reporting tools and dashboards should simplify analytics because data is little help if you cannot understand it or gain insights. A technology solution should incorporate AI and include standard reports and dashboards for critical travel metrics but also deliver data in the form your business wants it. Our Intelligence solution does both, providing the information companies need to manage spending, make decisions, and adjust policies. Businesses can also tap into the human expertise of the Consultative Intelligence service to customise data, reporting, and metrics.

Measure More Than Money

Knowing where your travel pounds are going and whether they’re delivering on the investment is of paramount importance. But the same tools and strategy can provide the information and guidance necessary for areas that swirl around and touch travel, such as duty of care, sustainability, and other social responsibility goals. And you can use them to measure how your programme and company are doing. Numerous partner applications available through the SAP Concur App Center can target specific goals, such as carbon consumption.

Tackle the Tough Topics

With a better data and reporting foundation, travel managers can delve into once-challenging areas and topics. That could be determining just what amount of travel is booked through a TMC vs. booking tools vs. directly with suppliers. Or pinning down what exactly is in that “other” category of expenses. Cash purchases are problematic, too, so figuring out hows and whys can be enlightening. The Drive service addresses another challenge, using GPS to track mileage automatically and accurately. And when meetings bring a far-flung team together, Groupize helps manage and track expenses.

Learn More

· Download the eBook to hone your data strategy and solutions.

¹. ^{2024 SAP Concur Global Travel Managers Report}