How and when travel for business is approved has become a hot topic during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Whilst some presume that all business travel was halted, this is not the case. Some organizations and sectors of industry had to continue to travel during the height of the pandemic in order to maintain the movement of essential goods and services.
The learnings from those organizations are important for every business.
Whilst immediate concerns around traveler safety are an absolute priority - and in this environment a given - it is essential to take a step back and look at how travel is planned and approved in the first place.
ATPI has seen a shift in focus to greater consideration placed on permission to travel.
In fact, organisations whose travel approval process was simple and quick with decisions centred on cost, are working with us to revise this.
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The travel approval system is evolving to become the process that gives permission – or not – as to whether any booking can be put forward for sign off.
Historically travel approval has commonly fallen into the silo of being mostly linked to cost control. Today, it cannot be cost alone that determines a trip.
In these early months of lockdown easing, cost is no longer the number one consideration. Keeping a keen eye on costs where possible is important, but it doesn’t take on the paramount status of traveler wellbeing.
Adding multiple, and even flexible, approval points to ensure that traveler safety and security is the priority is now a common requirement at global level.
In the past a traveler approval process could be a source of frustration, but today it is an essential tool in duty of care, and ultimately reassuring for everyone involved.
We used to find that clients with fairly straightforward point-to-point travel requirements requested one-step authorization.
Today our advice is to ensure that there is the ability to add in additional layers of authorization and an element of risk assessment.
In a world where COVID-19 remains present, all organizations have changed their criteria as to what is necessary travel.
This means that businesses need oversight from functions such as HR, finance and risk management to check that the right travel is happening, at the right time.
A robust travel approval system should also be able to layer in the appropriate government advice on travel to specific destinations, an organisations’ own guidelines on certain parts of world and risk assessment.
Approval ratings
It is essential that businesses re-evaluate their travel approval systems, or indeed how permission to even request a travel booking, is given.
Particular attention should also be given to the ability of technology and processes to apply multi-level approvals.
Consider different approval processes for requests to travel to different destinations. This allows certain trips to be evaluated by risk specialists rather than a line manager or budget holder.
The flexibility of a system is key as situations around the world – and even within specific territories – change quickly.
The ability to be truly customizable and flexible is also extremely important for all travel approval.
Being able to tailor components so that they clearly talk about permission to travel, rather than book, is one option to explore in order to reflect the consideration that needs to go into each request.
The approval, or permission, process should work hand-in-hand with the travel policy so that the policy remains in action within the everyday operations of a business.
A flexible system will also allow approval processes to change as worldwide restrictions ease, or tighten.
Adding important layers to authorization and new risk assessment elements shouldn’t make the process any more cumbersome for those involved.
Approving and declining permission to travel should be possible in one click, and all travel approval tools should be mobile device compatible to make it fast and simple.
Where possible automation can improve efficiency, for example only allowing the roles or departments where travel is permitted to even access the systems for seeking travel approval.
The ability to approve travel globally is key, without worrying about ‘what we do today’. It shouldn’t matter what online booking tool is used, which markets use it, or what the approval protocols built in are.
The priority is a robotic process, working consistently globally, that allows approval to become invisible so that duty of care can be the paramount consideration.
Re-framing the travel approval process to think of it as a permission-seeking exercise ensures that traveller wellbeing is at the forefront of all decisions.
The ability of the permission process to protect your organization and its people is one step to take in approaching business travel in this new world.
The fundamental changes to how we all work and travel mean that robust and flexible travel approval processes and systems have never been more essential to ensuring that duty of care and traveler well-being are at the heart of every granted permission to travel.