What should be audited for T&E optimization? How do you know if you are paying too much for a service? What are the best practices in the industry? If these are questions you've asked recently, you're not alone. Companies are unlocking opportunities in pricing, discounts, policy, risk/reward service level agreements, security, and outsourcing.
In today's economy, should your organization traipse along or uncover new methods to increase revenue and identify gaps? Leading organizations choose the second option. Thirteen "audits" or "reviews" will increase your opportunity to uncover value.
By definition, an "audit" is a methodical examination and review. In my experience, the most cost savings result from a financial, policy, controls and compliance review. Next, a thorough supplier review, often part of strategic sourcing, will aid in cost reduction. To gain efficiency and reduce risk, companies choose an operations, automation, risk and security review.
Let's use a few examples:
1. A T&E expense monitoring review identifies fraud. How much can be saved by reducing fraud?
2. A financial review uncovers higher prices for services compared to other companies. How much can you reduce the price? How much should it cost?
3. A policy review highlights that the travel booking language is not clearly defined. How many travel bookings are costing too much?
4. A controls and compliance review finds that pre-approvals are not standard for travel or entertainment expenses. How much is spent on entertainment for each of your clients?
5. An operations review identifies that numerous executive assistants, human resource staff, marketing staff and meeting planners are all planning meetings and events. How many headcount are really needed? Should this non-core service be outsourced?
6. A risk review identifies that meetings are held and contracts are signed without the company approved language and legal review. What language could harm your organization and where are those contracts stored?
7. A security and personal identifiable information review finds that meeting planners are sending names and credit card numbers to hotels and other suppliers via email. What happens to the data at each end? Do you know the laws about sending personal identifiable information?
8. A supplier contracts review uncovers key business terms missing regarding hotel penalties. How much was spent on attrition and cancellation penalties?
9. A supplier fulfillment review identifies that your car rental company was not available or did not provide the service they agreed to in their contract. How much did it cost to use a different service? How satisfied are the travelers with the service?
10. A supplier satisfaction review finds that it usually takes 3-4 phone calls to get to the right person. How much productivity was lost? The review finds that the outsourced provider does not provide the high quality service they promised during negotiations. How is this tracked so that a risk and rewards service level agreement can be put into place?
11. A technology review finds that all of the executive assistants, marketing, human resources and meeting planners are using Excel to track their thousands of meeting attendees annually. How much productivity can be gained by automating? The review identifies that agent-assisted travel reservations are costing 4-5 times more than an online booking tool. Why is an agent being used for domestic reservations? How much can be saved? The review finds that expense reporting is handled by the a) traveler, b) approver c) the finance person. How much does this cost in paper handling?
12. A global distribution system review shows that the negotiated rates were not loaded into the GDS system properly and therefore, travelers are not paying the negotiated rate. How much money has been lost?
13. An air audit finds that agents are not offering the lowest fare. Why not?
The savings and efficiencies gained far outweigh the cost of performing the review. See below for a list of the 13 areas to review for T&E Optimization.
If you want assistance, please contact me.
Debi Scholar, CMM, CMP, CTE, CTT
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