Under control

With corporate travel policy controls expected to be more important than ever in the post-Covid-19 landscape – for both employee safety and budgetary reasons – expense management could become a key channel through which companies can proactively enforce corporate travel policy and monitor traveller behaviour.

With that concept in mind, a number of expense management providers are emphasising how their platforms can give clients visibility into – and control over – traveller behaviour through the lens of spending.

That value proposition is particularly resonant for companies with unmanaged or lightly managed travel programmes, many of whom don’t have a TMC or official online booking tool through which to enforce policy and track travellers. But expense providers are touting control and visibility to companies with fully managed travel programmes too, pitching expense as a uniquely effective lever for ensuring policy compliance, data visibility and traveller safety.

BANKING ON AN UPSIDE
In late July, TravelBank, which operates across North America and EMEA, began offering its expense management platform to users of unmanaged and lightly managed corporate travel booking specialist Upside Business Travel – the first phase of a planned strategic partnership between the companies.

Under the agreement, travellers booking trips through Upside’s booking tool are prompted to enrol in TravelBank’s expense service, which the company touts as offering policy and approval controls along with enhanced “visibility into business spend”.

The idea behind the alliance is to enable Upside’s unmanaged and lightly managed travel buyer clients to craft what essentially acts as a unified travel and expense solution. That concept, which already had been gaining traction even before the onset of Covid-19, is particularly well-suited to serve the evolving needs of buyers in the wake of the pandemic, according to proponents of that approach, including TravelBank CEO Duke Chung.

“As the industry struggles from the impact of Covid-19, there’s a lingering demand for an all-in-one expense and travel solution,” says Chung.

The partnership with Upside will evolve over time to “address the new administrative challenges involved in managing corporate spend, such as reconciling unused airline ticket balances and supporting contactless payments with virtual cards,” Chung noted.

For TravelBank, Chung adds, the pact helps “broaden our client base” by providing access to a new potential audience for its expense management service; Upside’s focus on serving companies with unmanaged or lightly managed programmes means many of its clients don’t already have a dedicated expense management provider.

THE PAYMENT PIECE
Another expense provider doubling down on control and approval capabilities is building its strategy around a different combination of services: expense and payment.

Emburse – the parent company for expense platforms including Chrome River, Certify and Abacus – has stressed the integration of expense management and payment cards since rebranding early this year, adopting the Emburse moniker from that of a small business-focused payment card provider the company had acquired in 2019. 

In early August, Emburse rolled out a new physical and virtual payment card that works within the Chrome River platform to enable pre-approval of expenses. Users submit requests for particular expenses within Chrome River; once the expense is approved, the employee is issued a virtual or physical card, which can be restricted to certain spending amounts, date ranges and merchant categories. That means booking attempts that are out of policy – whether a trip to a Covid-19 hotspot or simply one in violation of spending parameters – can be nipped in the bud before the purchase is completed.

“Until now, policy enforcement has taken place after the transaction is already complete, making it hard to unwind out-of-policy purchases” for Chrome River users, says Ted Power, chief product officer for Emburse. “The integration of policy-backed [cards] with Chrome River expense enforces policy before spend occurs.”

When an approved card is used to make a purchase, spending details are verified against company policy, and the transaction is approved – or declined, if it’s outside of corporate policy.

The user gets a real-time alert on their mobile phone, prompting them to capture and upload an image of the merchant’s receipt. Once the transaction is completed, the receipt is automatically reconciled with the card data, and an expense line item is created.

“The real beauty of this is that spend can be approved in advance with company policy enforced at the point of purchase, so there’s no requirement for any type of review after the fact,” says Power.

There are advantages for the employee too, including no need to save receipts, manually fill in expense reports or reconcile expenses against card statements. Meanwhile, employees who don’t have permanent corporate cards avoid having to front costs by using their personal cards and waiting for reimbursement.

“With finance leaders even more focused on cost control than before, effectively enforcing policies is critical, but that doesn’t mean putting a huge administrative burden on spenders, approvers and finance teams,” says Power.

Emburse plans to expand the pre-approved cards across the company’s other expense brands and in the coming months will roll out additional payment-related products and services “which will further simplify, automate and control corporate spend,” Power adds.

Meanwhile, Expensify recently took steps towards uniting all three elements – expense, payment and booking – under one a single roof. After adding a companion payment card to its expense management service in October 2019, Expensify completed the hat-trick in June 2020, rolling out a virtual assistant through which travellers can book flights, hotels and rental cars via chat or email.

Dubbed Concierge Travel, the service is available at no additional cost to holders of the Expensify Card. Rather than charging a per-booking or subscription fee for the booking service, Expensify earns a percentage of the interchange fee paid by the supplier accepting payment via the card.

Policy controls are central to Concierge Travel’s value proposition, with travel managers able to set parameters and policy controls based on risk assessments and other factors, such as fare classes and star ratings for hotels.

The service also includes Covid-19 alerts and risk assessment services from travel security and medical specialist Global Rescue to help travel managers and other decision-makers set and update policy using the most up-to-date and relevant data, according to Expensify.

WHAT ABOUT TMCs?
But even as expense management providers bolster their control-related offerings and target the unmanaged and lightly managed travel programmes, TMCs – including one of the biggest names in the industry – are also setting their sights on serving T&E management and control needs for that sector.

In July, American Express Global Business Travel launched Neo1, a service targeted toward helping SMEs manage employee expenses, including travel bookings. GBT is positioning the expense tool, currently available in the UK, as a potential pipeline through which to gain new SME clients for its traditional travel management services. Companies that sign up for Neo1 get access to Amex GBT’s online booking and travel support services.

“Travelling now requires more careful planning to stay safe and healthy, but also to manage the return on investment of a trip,” says Fiona Hastings, Neo1 general manager for American Express GBT.

“Companies will need to proactively manage expenses and feel confident with their travel plans. TMCs are uniquely positioned to help with that,” she adds.

Since launching, Neo1 has drawn significant interest from companies with unmanaged travel programmes seeking more control over their expense programmes – and, by extension, travel activity – amidst the pressures of the current environment, according the Hastings.

“[Neo 1] has proven to be a quick and easy way for them to go from unmanaged to managed travel, without needing a big investment of time and resources to get set up on the platform,” Hastings says.