The pandemic that we have been struggling with over the last several months has effectively prevented companies from travelling. The increased risk of virus infection, the restrictions imposed by governments and, consequently, closed hotels, restaurants and the need to undergo quarantine at the destination forced us to replace face-to-face meetings with clients or contractors with online meetings. We are slowly returning to face-to-face contacts, drawing conclusions and re-implementing the travel rules. Take a look at our analysis of how business travel has changed since the pandemic.
CAN AN ONLINE MEETING REPLACE A LIVE MEETING?
Due to limited opportunities for direct contact with other team members, contractors or clients, we decided to use online communication tools. The applications available on the market made it easy for us to stay in touch, organise video conferences and even larger events. But could they completely replace face-to-face communication? In our opinion, no. Although many Internet communication solutions will probably be with us for a long time, we are happy to return to traditional forms. First of all, live meetings give us the opportunity to build and maintain the kind of business relationships that we cannot do as well over the phone or online. Sales people, service engineers and people involved in development projects have already returned to regular, direct contact, but the frequency of travel for people in the back office is decreasing significantly.
ARE EMPLOYEES WILLING TO TRAVEL AGAIN?
The long inability to travel and the frequent need to work from home have resulted in many employees eagerly returning to business trips. The last few months have shown us that we need a change of environment and to renew or build new business relationships. We are more open and motivated to take on challenges during our business trips.
DOES THE LACK OF BUSINESS TRAVEL TRANSLATE INTO SAVINGS FOR THE COMPANY? NOT NECESSARILY.
In the first stage of introducing restrictions, many companies noticed significant savings resulting of not travelling. Companies did not incur costs related to hotel rental, transport or allowances. However, it is worth considering how the capital saved translated into the overall financial situation of the business. Did the savings really compensate for the loss of income? It is much easier to persuade our partner to make a purchase, sign a contract or change the terms of an existing contract when we visit them in person. We still prefer to make important decisions face-to-face.
Rather than completely abandoning business travel altogether, it is worth introducing new solutions to help optimize and reduce the costs associated with it. One way is to implement a business travel management system. Mindento is a flexible and easy to use tool. The application allows you to control the Travel & Expense process by:
- Providing a comparison service and the ability to book services needed during business travel
- Automating and digitising the company’s expense management
- Complete support for employees during business trips
We see both advantages and disadvantages in returning to regular business trips. However, in our opinion, there are definitely more benefits. Face-to-face meetings help to improve business relationships, introduce variety to daily routines, but also create new opportunities for the development of companies and employees themselves.
However, the resumption of business travel should be under control and business travel should be reasonable from a business perspective. Thanks to the Mindento application, you can easily monitor this.
Would you like to know more about how our application works and how we can help you to effectively manage your company’s business expenses?
Don’t hesitate to contact us!!
