Most corporate travel solutions only solve half the problem
Most corporate travel solutions only solve half the problem
The challenge with traditional T&E approaches.
Travel and spend aren’t just connected, but rather travel is spend. That means when travel is inefficient, costly, or difficult to manage, travel and expenses (T&E) together become a combined problem — and this can be a big issue. From flights to rideshares and hotels to dinners, T&E can make up as much as 10% to 15% of an organization’s annual budget. So it’s extremely important to get it right.
At Brex, we believe that companies will thrive more with a holistic and disciplined — but unmistakably consumer-grade — approach to travel and expenses that is unified across corporate credit cards, expense management, accounting, as well as corporate travel booking, management, and duty of care.
Other technology providers have tried for years to manage travel and expenses holistically, but many of those began as travel solutions and are desperately trying to catch up on the expense side.
Sure, these providers might deliver the "T" in T&E, but nearly half of travel managers aren't happy with the experience of their online travel booking tool. And if they also fall short on the "E" due to limited expense management capabilities, you might say they aren't doing any part of T&E all that well.
The business travel environment has evolved so much in the past few years. To begin, we’ll talk about the context of where things stand today, then how modern travel and expense management software solutions are built to support the entire process.
New workforce norms have increased the need for an effective T&E program.
New working models and increasingly dispersed teams, as well as rising travel costs, shrinking travel budgets, and added emphasis on safety and risk management make an effective T&E program even more important. Additionally, users’ expectations have changed with the evolution of personalized and simplified apps, so providing a consumer-like experience is mandatory for widespread adoption.
Unfortunately, most travel and expense management solutions have not kept up with the changing needs of modern businesses. With some solutions, problems abound at every level and create ripple effects throughout the system.
Travelers book on one platform, submit expenses on another, and use a corporate or personal card to pay for it, then wait weeks to get reimbursed. Travel managers might lack visibility into where employees are at any given time. Accounting teams waste hours each month reconciling expenses and chasing receipts. And finance leaders can't keep travel spend under control or in policy, so it's difficult to accurately plan budgets.
With those pain points in mind, we built Brex travel by partnering with Spotnana to create a global, all-in-one solution that allows for total control and greater visibility over all your spend.
Travel and expenses are better together.
Brex travel was built as an integrated solution from the ground up, because with discrete systems — such as one for travel, one for expenses, and so on — it becomes difficult to share data between them. When this is the case, even basic things become difficult to do, like changing itineraries or getting support when something goes awry.
When you want the best possible experience, API integration can help. Some of the best and most modern technology in the world leverages APIs. For example, Uber didn’t build their own mapping system — they employ the Google Maps API. The benefit of such integrations for consumers of these solutions is a robust set of capabilities from technologies that work together seamlessly.
It’s exactly that type of integration that allowed Brex and Spotnana to revolutionize travel and expense management.
Spotnana reimagined and rebuilt the travel tech stack for modern businesses and offers a completely unbiased global inventory of flights. Brex is the leading global spend management software for today's businesses and offers credit cards, expense management, budgets, reimbursements, bill pay, and now travel booking. Together, they are a complete and seamless solution for global T&E, which creates more value for customers.
“Brex travel brings together and integrates not only travel, but global cards and global spend management, to create a modern all-in-one T&E solution,” says Doug Adamic, Chief Revenue Officer at Brex. “And what’s different about this is that Brex travel is an integrated full-stack solution that is provided from the ground up — it has been built with this end goal in mind.”
“What’s different about this is that Brex travel is an integrated full-stack solution that is provided from the ground up — it has been built with this end goal in mind.”
— Doug Adamic, Chief Revenue Officer at Brex
An all-in-one solution for global T&E.
Other travel solutions are very travel-forward while relegating their spend management to a secondary or tack-on feature. With Brex travel, businesses can deploy one instance of Brex travel across all countries worldwide, allowing them to optimize all spend in a unified platform, automatically gather receipts and memos to streamline expense approvals, as well as create custom granular spend controls with support for more complex spend use cases.
On top of that, it presents an employee-delighting experience that lets them book and manage the itinerary they want without the added frustration of disconnected systems. “That is the beauty of what Brex travel has created here,” says Sarosh Waghmar, founder and CEO of Spotnana. “It’s a single offering where the traveler doesn’t even realize there’s something else behind the scenes — it’s just seamless.”
Spotnana and Brex recently hosted a virtual event that dives deeper into the integration of our technologies, the business value of a global T&E solution, and the tangible benefits for your employees. Watch the recording of “Why business travel will never be the same” to learn more today!
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