Who to involve when choosing a corporate travel agent
Managing business travel is about more than just booking the best flights and hotels. As your company grows, your corporate travel requirements do too. It becomes really complex and starts to affect different parts of your business. The question is: who should you be talking to when it comes to picking a corporate travel agent?
While no business is the same, here are some of the key stakeholders and points of view that can influence the decision.
Management
Your management team needs to know that every business trip delivers real value and supports company goals. For senior and executive leadership, the big picture important. They’ll want answers to questions like:
- How can you keep our travel costs controlled?
- How do our employees stay productive while on the road?
- In what ways does travel support our company's growth?
- How does travel reflect our organisation's values and culture?
Getting senior management's input early and consistently will set your choice and programme on the right path and make it easier to get the rest of the business on board.
Finance
For your finance team, clarity and value are key. Finance needs to know about costs, flow of payments, and how it works with your accounting systems. Finance will be able to help you understand what the company is currently spending on business travel, which will be useful when you’re talking to potential partners.
When it comes to choosing a company to work with, Finance will appreciate the data they’ll be able to get. This demonstrates the value of business travel, and turns it into a strategic investment from a financial point of view.
But it's not just about tracking spend. You’ll want to tell Finance that a corporate travel agent can generate big savings through negotiated rates, will have more efficient booking systems, and can help drive consistent travel policies.
HR
A great business travel experience can be the difference between attracting and retaining top talent vs. losing them to your competition. This starts with a well-structured travel policy and using a company that has years of industry experience.
Your HR team will want input on policy guidelines that keep travellers happy, while maintaining controls that fit into your overall company policies, values, and culture. From an administrative point of view, HR will want to know how travel technology will interface with their personnel systems.
IT and security
If you've ever had a meeting with your IT team, you know they'll ask technical questions that you’ve never considered. They don’t just do it to sound smart. It’s their job. They're responsible for maintaining the security, data privacy, and technical function of the organisation.
That includes travel. They need to understand how your solution will connect and interface with existing systems, networks, and employees, ensuring that there are no breaches or vulnerabilities. New travel tech should be able to integrate with your company’s existing tech stack. IT's early involvement prevents technical headaches down the road and ensures that your company's sensitive data is safe.
Travellers and travel bookers
Don’t forget frontline users – you’re probably one yourself. Travellers and travel bookers will interact with your consultants and your overall travel strategy each day and will be your biggest, most consistent source of direct, real-world feedback.
Whether they're booking complex trips or making last-minute changes from the airport, travellers and travel bookers need tools, rules, and processes that make their lives easier. This includes access to flexible booking tech, clear approval processes, and reliable 24/7 support when plans change.
They may not always make decisions, but this group can be your biggest cheerleaders, and you’ll want them on your side.
Travel management company expertise and support
There are many key stakeholders to bring on board as your travel programme grows. It can be daunting to handle it all. This is where the expertise of a great corporate travel agent aka travel management company (TMC) proves its worth.
Though each business is different, TMCs have figured out what works and what doesn't when building a great programme. They know which stakeholders to engage at what times, and what kinds of information to share with them.
The right TMC will:
- Give Finance the visibility and control they need
- Keep IT on board with robust, secure tech
- Help HR manage policy and attract/retain great talent
- Provide senior management with insights for better decision-making
- Improve the experience for bookers and travellers with intuitive tools and 24/7 support
Your TMC can be a strategic partner that understands your business and helps every stakeholder achieve their goals. The result? A travel programme that's controlled, efficient, secure, and successful – leaving your team free to focus on what truly drives your business.
Are you ready to make business travel work better?
Let’s talk about Corporate Traveller can help make your business travel programme a success.