Benefits of using corporate credit cards to manage travel expenses
Corporate travel and expense management is no easy task to undertake. When you have multiple employees going on many different business trips, it gets difficult to track, control, and ensure that every single expense is accounted for and in compliance with company policies.
Luckily, there’s a good solution that will help you manage your travel expenses more efficiently. Using corporate cards for travel will enable your employees to make payments easily while you’ll get a guarantee that every expense is tracked and recorded correctly.
What are corporate credit cards?
As their name suggests, corporate credit cards are cards used by corporations to make business expenses. Often, these cards will be assigned to different employees to allow them to spend on behalf of the company.
All corporate credit cards issued to employees are the company’s responsibility to pay and manage. Assigning cards, setting credit limits, as well as clearing the billing cycle are to be done by the company rather than by employees.
Many companies will use corporate cards for travel, entertainment, and other expenses.
There are plenty of benefits to using corporate cards, as they not only make employee expenses easier, but they also offer great security and better visibility of your company expenses.
Benefits of using corporate credit cards to manage travel expenses
1. Simplifies expense management
Say goodbye to paper receipts and mountains of files to search through. Get the benefits of having corporate credit card by linking your cards to an automated management system that can track all your spending.
Instead of having to pile up their travel receipts and manually file reports once they return from their trip, your employees’ expenses can be automatically reflected on your system as soon as they’re made.
Your finance team can track them in real-time and approve expenses from anywhere.
2. Manage and track spends
Not only is keeping paper receipts and manually keying in expenses tedious, but it also opens up more room for error. You could end up losing or misplacing your receipts.
There’s also the possibility of inputting the wrong data or missing some data that needed to be keyed in. You can reduce those errors and track your business spending better by using corporate cards for travel.
Every travel expense made on your card will be accounted for and recorded, meaning that both the cardholder as well as your finance team will accurately know how much has been spent exactly.
3. Rewards and cost savings
Corporate cards often do come with fees, but they could also be very effective in helping you save money. You can get rebates, discounts, cashback, and airline miles from making company expenses.
In fact, there are some great options when you’re looking at corporate cards for travel. By using a corporate credit card with a good rewards program, you could actually end up paying less for a lot of your business trips.
You could even end up with a free airplane ticket if you’ve accumulated enough points from past expenses.
4. Increased security and fraud prevention
The best thing about your employees using corporate cards for travel is that you have controls and security measures implemented into the cards.
Starting from the ability to set individual limits to freezing and blocking cards, you won’t have to worry about fraud and misuse. If an employee loses a card during a business trip, they can simply report it and get the card blocked.
Not to mention that expenses made on the cards will be reflected as they are on the card dashboard. There’s no chance for fake or doctored receipts.
5. Easy for employees to us
Making payments doesn’t get any easier than swiping a card. One of the benefits of having corporate credit card is they’re easy to carry around.
Most places worldwide also accept card payments, making it a solid payment method for travel expenses. All your employees have to do is swipe or tap their card or fill out their card number for any travel expenses incurred online and the payment will be instantly processed.
With a card management dashboard linked to their cards, expenses will be automatically reflected on the system as soon as they’re made. Expense reporting becomes hassle-free!
6. Streamlined reimbursement process
Everyone knows the reimbursement process is a hassle. Employees will have to shell out their own money for business travel expenses and the finance team needs time to review these travel reimbursement claims and process them for payment.
By the time all these steps are done, it could very well be weeks after the trip. The good news is using corporate cards for travel eliminates all these steps.
Employees can instead swipe their corporate cards, snap a photo of the receipt, and send it off to a backend system for review. Once it has been approved, there’s no waiting around necessary.
Furthermore, most providers lets you have the option to seamlessly integrate your corporate credit card with a travel and expense management software, unlocking a range of benefits for a more streamlined travel expense process. Explore our comprehensive guide on the best travel and expense management software to select the ideal solution tailored to your specific needs.
7. Spends controls and visibility
Your finance team will get real-time and accurate updates on when, where, and how every penny is spent on business travels. With a card dashboard, reviewing expense reports is simpler than ever.
You can get full visibility of all your expenses and never miss a single thing. Not only that but linking your cards to a dashboard also allows you to control your spending.
From setting limits to ensuring that any requests or reports go through a multi-level approval workflow, you can easily avoid any out-of-policy expenses.
8. Standardize your expense process
Instead of going back and forth with inconsistent expense policies for different business trips, equipping your employees with corporate credit cards for travel will let you standardize your expense process. There’s no confusion involved.
All you have to do is issue the cards to your employees, activate them, and they can start spending. You can apply a general expense and reporting policy while being able to adjust card limits and toggle authorized transaction categories according to specific business trips and their needs.
Easily manage business travel expenses with Volopay cards
Key features to consider while getting corporate travel credit cards
Implementation process
Getting started with corporate cards for travel can feel like a big decision, especially when you have to rework some of your processes and policies to fit their usage into your workflow. To ensure these all go smoothly, you want to consider the card implementation process before you pick your card provider.
Think about what your current business workflows are. If you have some accounting software in place, for example, you’ll want to get corporate credit cards that can be easily integrated with it. The simpler it is to implement the cards into your workflows and get started.
Ease of application
You don’t want applying for a corporate credit card to be tedious, especially when you’re doing it to make expense management easier. When you’re looking for a credit card provider, try to look for ones with short processing times, minimal documentation necessary, and online application options.
Good corporate credit card providers will make the application process as simple as possible for you. The easier and faster you can finish your application and get your cards, the sooner you can start reaping the benefits of having corporate credit card.
Types of cards offered
Not all corporate credit cards function the same way. While they’re all similar in their usage, there are different variations like secured corporate credit cards, unsecured corporate credit cards, and even prepaid corporate travel cards. You’ll also come across cards with more specific niches like travel cards.
You want to weigh your options and consider things like what your cash flow is like, how much you’re willing to pay in fees, and also what your card usage is going to be like. It’s also a good idea to look for providers who can give you both physical and virtual cards.
Compatibility
While all corporate credit cards can be used to make expenses, not all of them can take the burden of expense management off your hands. You want to be sure that you’re looking for a provider that can offer you cards that are compatible with an expense management system.
When your cards are linked to an expense management system, you’ll be able to view all your card expenses on one platform. No more manual data entry and stressing about your expense reports. With this compatibility you can manage all your expenses at ease.
Rewards program
Different card providers will have different reward schemes. Some may offer cashback, while others will have discounts. Some others will also have a points system that you can redeem as rewards. Always choose a provider that offers plenty of travel-related rewards.
Whether that’s discounts on hotel bookings or a good airplane miles scheme, be sure to enjoy the benefits of having corporate credit card by choosing cards with a rewards program in-line with your needs.
Travel benefits
Other than reward points and discounts, you could also get other travel perks with some corporate credit cards. Some card providers will offer cardholders benefits such as airport lounge access for business travelers, as well as travel insurance built into their cards.
If two card providers that you’re looking for are offering similar rewards programs, the one with additional travel perks may just have the edge over the other. Those benefits will make your employees business travel smoother!
How can Volopay cards help businesses to manage corporate travel?
You’ll be saving both time and money by using corporate cards for travel needs. Starting from booking transportation and accommodation to reporting expenses made on business trips, you and your employees will have a much easier time paying for and managing your expenses.
Volopay is one of the best business travel card choices in Australia, as it helps you take care of all your travel expenses from end to end. Not only is making payments during business trips as easy as swiping a card, but you also get discounts and rewards for hotel bookings and plane tickets.
Not to mention that any transactions made on your cards will be automatically recorded in real-time. All employees have to do is confirm the transaction details and snap a picture of their receipt. The finance team will be notified for easy and quick reviewing.
With Volopay, introducing corporate cards to your existing processes is hassle-free. Get access to a card dashboard that updates in real-time and can be easily integrated into your accounting software.
Complete with spend controls, you won’t have to worry about bad business travel expense management.
How Volopay revolutionized travel expense management for Incomlend and Blackpine
Companies can face a series of challenges and unique issues when it comes to travel expense management. In Incomlend’s case, their employees had to make out-of-pocket expenses during business trips and file reimbursement claims.
The process was both tedious and time-consuming, and they needed a better solution for managing travel expenses. Conversely, Blackpine chose to provide employees with advanced cash payments before their trips.
However, expenses made during those trips didn’t have proper tracking methods and policies. As a result, both companies struggle to track and manage travel expenses accurately. Instead of letting these issues impact their budgeting long-term, however, they chose to use Volopay.
Since then, Volopay has helped them streamline their travel management processes and spend smarter.
Streamline your companies travel expenses with Volopay cards
FAQ's
Many banks and other credit card providers offer corporate credit cards. Each company will have its own policies and requirements for their application. However, before you do apply for corporate cards for travel, make sure that you consider and compare all the different benefits, fees, and card plans.
Typically, yes. Each time an employee uses a card, they’ll get reward points that they can use for future purchases. While travel points, often referred to as ‘miles’, are not the only form of reward, you do get more reward points from spending more on your corporate credit card.
You’ll be able to see the amount of cashback, points, or miles that you earn on your credit card by viewing your online card management system. It’s important to keep track of all these reward points for your business expense reports.
If you have a lot of employees that frequently go on business trips, then it’s absolutely worth it. Corporate credit cards make travel expense management much easier. On top of that, you’ll get benefits from using your corporate cards for travel.