It is somewhat ironic. In an industry known for leading innovation and high-tech solutions, manufacturing companies lag behind in one area of technology adoption: Business travel.

However, forging a partnership with a robust digital travel management company (TMC) can yield substantial advantages regarding traveller safety and wellbeing, cost savings on travel expenses, and process efficiencies.

Below are 10 reasons manufacturing companies should move to a managed corporate travel program for the benefit of their expense policies and risk management.

1. Travel policy guidelines that protect your travellers, make them happier and grow your bottom line. All at the same time.

Rather than being constrictive or punitive, a good travel policy should guide travellers to make decisions that align with your company’s values, needs, and goals while taking care of the traveller’s well-being.

In today’s world—especially with the complex needs specific to manufacturing—travellers need more guidance than they ever have to feel at ease. To successfully compete in the global marketplace, manufacturing companies should show genuine empathy and concern for their employees’ well-being, which means considering new factors beyond basic corporate travel safety and business purposes to give their travellers peace of mind.

Learn how to increase your policy compliance by downloading the guide: Five steps for an effective travel policy.

Which destinations are off-limits? How much can I spend on a hotel? Will I have to wear a mask? A travel policy that answers those questions—and builds them right into the booking process—makes it easier for travellers to feel confident about their allowable options.

Highlighting options that align with company goals and traveller well-being—and visually flagging ones that do not—make it easier for travellers to make choices they feel good about while also benefiting the company.

2. It’s easier and faster to book complex travel.

Manufacturing is unpredictable. Timelines shift. Plans change. On top of the need for flexibility, there is the added complexity of moving not just people but equipment and prototypes. This means an offline travel agency isn’t the best fit. Finalising trip details can take hours of back-and-forth, and by that time, the opportunity may have passed, or travel plans may have changed.

Contrast that experience with a corporate booking tool that uses machine learning to prioritise search results based on the intelligent weighting of air travel variables like layover time, bag costs, and even a traveller’s preferences based on previous choices. Seeing the best choices first saves significant time for your travellers and travel arrangers.

For instance, on average, Egencia customers book their airline tickets, car rentals, or train tickets in five minutes and their hotel room in four minutes. ^[i]

3. When travellers book through a single platform, you can track the status of their business trip.

Not all online booking experiences are equal. If employees can book on whatever site they want, duty of care is severely compromised. There is no central way of locating employees if something goes wrong.

With the right online booking experience, you can easily locate travellers and receive news updates every 15 minutes through a single platform.

Learn more from our customer success story with Coca-Cola Consolidated, Inc.

4. Access built-in savings mechanisms to save your company money without extra effort.

How can a TMC help you save? Let’s count the ways. A large TMC can negotiate special savings and perks from travel providers. These savings are passed on to customers when they book travel.

Machine learning can also increase savings. Egencia Savings Finder, for instance, continues to search for lower rates after booking, saving an average of 7% on air and 14% on hotel, with no additional action required by the traveller.^[ii]

There’s also data to help make smart decisions, guide negotiations, help find and redeem unused tickets, and much, much more. You’ll more than likely start to notice your travel budget going further.

5. Consolidating travel through a single platform gives you insightful data to use in various ways.

Top leaders in the manufacturing industry understand the importance of data. Data can allow them to recognise patterns that enhance processes and boost production. Travel data is just as important.

Without a consolidated travel program, you don’t have data to action. But when all travel spend flows through a single travel management software system, you can easily spot trends and savings opportunities to minimise travel costs.

You can also use various travel reporting dashboards to surface ways to serve your travellers better. For instance, if you see certain travellers booking higher-rate flights, use it as an opportunity to start a conversation. You may find that group of travellers is on the road significantly more, needs more flexibility, or has projects with in-flux timelines.

Armed with answers, you can adjust travel requirements or benchmarks for that group to better accommodate their needs (and make them feel heard and appreciated).

Discover how to improve your manufacturing travel program with our Request for Proposal (RFP) toolkit.

6. Utilise a robust, easy to access, person-to-person support network in place.

No matter how effective your technology, there are still times when travellers want the reassurance of speaking to a human being. This is crucial to providing peace of mind to less technologically inclined travellers.

A TMC like Egencia has a global network of travel counsellors ready to respond at the tap of a button, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, no matter where in the world they are (which means no more middle of the night calls to administrative assistants or travel coordinators).

7. Book and manage travel easier for everyone, even old-school stalwarts.

Some online booking tools are clunky and frustrating to use. Others are streamlined and intuitive. To get everyone on board, you’ll want to choose the latter.

The right TMC will be user-friendly. It should be as comfortable and familiar as booking a vacation or other personal travel, so everyone – from millennials who are glued to their phones to generation X who prefer printed itineraries – will want to use the tool for employee travel services.

Another benefit is access to supplier-specific health and hygiene information during the travel booking process. Because informed travellers are happier employees.

While it may initially be a transition, we find that our customers end up preferring online booking for airfare and hotel rooms over traditional offline (especially with the reassurance of live phone customer support if they need help during a trip). Egencia customers see an average of 95% online adoption rate globally across industries.^[iii]

8. Streamline your entire travel and expense process, saving your employees hours each week.

Let’s face it, no one likes tracking down receipts and manually compiling expense reports (plus, it’s time consuming).

Corporate booking tools can automate the expense process for travellers, travel arrangers, and finance teams by passing all transaction data – offline, online, and even data with custom fields – directly to an expense management system.

A digital TMC can go beyond expense consolidation to become a streamlining genie for your company. A managed travel program is a game-changer, from automated help implementing approval processes to fast and easy trip approval on any device to one-click expense reporting and payment. Your travellers can get their reimbursements promptly.

9. Support your travellers throughout their trip in real time.

The role of a TMC doesn’t end once the trip is booked. Today’s travellers want to feel supported throughout the journey. With a mobile app driven by a robust platform, field workers can use virtual chat to answer questions about their trip – from whether the hotel has breakfast to what gate change occurred.

When they land, they’ll also have information on ground transportation at their fingertips to decide on the best option once they arrive. Ride shares, car rentals, and public transportation—with costs, schedules, travel time, and booking ability—are all right there in the mobile app.

10. Acquire tools to better manage your sustainability goals. 

With the manufacturing industry moving swiftly towards sustainable practices, you need tools that make the impact of your travel choices transparent. Look for features like carbon impact equivalents right on the booking screens and diagnostics to suggest how to make your travel program greener.

Travel has changed. The complex travel needs of the manufacturing industry – and the intrinsic desire to do things better and more efficiently – have not.

To help be successful in manufacturing today, businesses must be more flexible, inclusive, and responsible than ever before. Corporate travel management can help you achieve that through innovative technology and traveller-specific support.

^{[i][ii][iii] All information represented comes from Amex GBT Egencia internal reporting, 2023.}