There’s a good chance you’re reading this because you own, operate or are employed by an SME and you engage in some form of business travel. If this sounds like you, you may be asking yourself why do SMEs have such high comparative expenses when it comes to business travel? Furthermore, what can SMEs do to reduce costs?
According to the SME Association of Australia, 97% of actively trading businesses in Australia are SMEs. On top of that, SMEs employ roughly 70% of the Australian workforce.
As an SME, your business and its offerings are valuable and unique. We believe the solution to your travel management needs is just as unique, and that’s how your business travel should be approached.
Let’s look at one of the key issues stopping SMEs from reducing costs
Business travel these days is predominantly referred to as Corporate Travel. Businesses who frequently engage in corporate travel often minimise expenses by engaging a corporate travel management firm. But what if you’re not a corporation? What if you don’t travel as frequently as a corporation? What if you don’t spend $5 million per year on travel expenses?
In an industry which houses the word ‘corporate’ in its name, it can be a bit daunting to engage corporate travel services if you don’t consider yourself a large ‘corporation’. The problem is corporate travel providers are designed to deliver services that reduce costs. Granted some do a better job than others but we don’t want you to give up if you don’t wish to outsource this service.
We’re dedicating our blog to helping Australian SMEs get the best possible value out of their business travel spend, whether that be through reducing costs or increasing your efficiency to achieve more valuable outcomes.
We’ll be covering travel topics such as:
- Travel reward and loyalty programmes
- Accommodation and ground transport
- Claiming travel expenses once you’ve returned home
- Leisure travel – saving on holidays once the business trips are over
To kick things off next week we’ll be taking a look at the travel research and buying process, including how SMEs can maximise that most valuable of resources – time.
If you’d like to know more, contact us directly for additional information on how Australian SMEs can reduce the cost of their business travel.