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Now that there is an app for nearly every conceivable function, companies have realized that their second largest expense, travel, can be fully automated – bringing a new level of insight, analysis and negotiation to the ubiquitous expense report. Gone are the days of paper, calculators and spreadsheets for the tedious yet mandatory task of reimbursement. In their place are flashy smartphone apps that track the traveler’s location and purchases and create expense transactions automatically. These mobile solutions are linked to cloud-based expense management systems that provide immediate feedback to the employee when policies have been breached. They also provide high-visibility notification for approvers when compliance conditions are not met, allowing firms to exert greater control over their operating expenses to adhere to client requirements and firm policies. Requiring employees to manually complete expense reports, which not only wastes time but also drives up costs through lost productivity and increased staffing, is no longer a viable option. In today’s economy, it’s either increase productivity or suffer reduced profitability.

After many years as a road warrior, I have noticed that I’ve developed patterns and routines in my business travel to help maximize my efficiency and minimize my stress. If you asked my wife, she might just chalk it up to my being OCD in nature, but these simple tips are now part of my business travel routine:

It seems like every day I hear about a new travel technology, a new pitch from a travel start-up, or a tale of a future where traditional travel-related technology (e.g., expense reporting tools, online booking tools, TMCs) is replaced by a “new-wave,” “Google-ized,” “Big Data,” and/or “artificial intelligence” solution. These new travel technologies are designed to save travelers money and make them more productive, informed, smart, happy and mobile. But quite often, they violate current corporate travel policy. Even I sometimes ignore my company’s policy by using a car service app on my iPhone (my guilty pleasure).

Few would argue with the truism “Numbers don’t lie,” but inaccurate numbers can and do lie all the time. A good example is the vast number of inaccurate numbers that can enter an organization’s financial system via expense reports. Organizations that allow employees to write or type expenses into a form that is manually reviewed and re-entered into the accounting system by a staff member have introduced several opportunities to enter inaccurate information for each transaction.

The quality of your expense reporting speaks to the type of worker you are.  Do evaluations reflect frugal or flighty spending, careful or careless tracking, a dinged or distinguished history? Too many tallies in the wrong category can echo negative opinions about professionalism and work ethic. When it’s read in black and white, what do expense reports say about you?

For many business travelers, airline travel is the fastest way to get from Point A to Point B, unless a flight delay upsets a perfectly crafted schedule, leaving unplanned downtime in place of progress. Use the interruption to your itinerary to get a head start on pre- or post-travel agendas by putting these efficient business-travel tips into practice.

Although it is often essential to the success of a business, employee travel can be very expensive. Whether professionals are traveling through the United States or to destinations overseas, they will inevitably incur costs for meals, hotels and transportation. Through expense management and by limiting these costs as much as possible, businesses can save more money for other travel activities, like impressing potential clients. 

International business travel is accompanied by a slew of challenges for both travelers and financial managers. Language barriers, jet leg and jam-packed itineraries only scratch the surface for this breed of travel. Luckily, there are corporate travel tips all over the Internet to help guide international jetsetters. Here are a few things you'll want to know before you go.

A finger tap is all that’s needed to take advantage of these top business travel tips. Plan, organize, track and process information anywhere, anytime. And with these savvy smart phone apps, you'll look cool, calm and collected while doing it.

It is difficult to determine a business budget without first looking at the spending trends that help to create it. Being aware of business travel expenses is imperative to trip planning, and careful tracking is an infallible method of keeping those travel budgets on the right course. A little tracking can go a long way! After all, travel and expenses makes up about 10% of your operating budget.