News

Process costs now the target for savings

HAVING CUT TRAVEL COSTS to the bone, companies are increasingly turning their attentions to reducing process costs, according to a new report from BCD Travel's consulting arm Advito.

An analysis of the Travel Program Survey 2008 (formerly known as the Client Benchmark Survey), published last month as part of Insight on Corporate Travel, shows that companies are increasingly focused on reducing process costs.

More than 10 per cent of BCD clients who responded to the survey say they have increased their use of online booking tools. A further 27 per cent now use automated expense management systems.

Of those who have yet to adopt online booking tools, nearly half (47 per cent) say they plan to introduce one within the next two years. Similarly, two out of five companies who have not yet automated their expense processing say they intend to do so by 2010. However, an analysis of the findings reveals that travel policy compliance is slipping.

The number of companies claiming policy enforcement is either "strict" or "moderate to strict" has shot up from 36 per cent in 2007 to 59 per cent this year. But the proportion of companies boasting more than 70 per cent compliance with air travel policies has slipped from 65 per cent to 57 per cent.

BCD suggests companies are "struggling to secure space on preferred carriers", partly because of airline capacity cuts.