Best business travel & expense management software in Singapore
Most companies will have travel and expense policies in place already. Those that don’t are likely to need to establish some as business operations get bigger. However, having policies established is only step one. They’re only as effective as you can enforce them.
One way of ensuring that your expenses don’t get out of hand is by utilizing travel & expense management software.
As your business grows, you’ll find yourself making more and more business expenses, particularly for business travel. Whether that’s for meeting investors, entertaining clients, attending training, or simply overseeing business operations in overseas entities, it’s no shock that you’ll begin to spend more money on travel for the sake of growing your business.
With the right travel & expense management software, you’ll guarantee that all your business spending is manageable.
Business travel expense management challenges
There are several options to fund your employees’ business trips. You can give them cash in advance to use for their business expenses or reimburse their out-of-pocket trip spending. Some companies will also have one corporate card that can be used and shared by the whole team. All these options come with their own sets of problems.
Cash provided in advance may not be enough for emergency expenses during the trip. Employees may also not want to spend a lot of their own money and have to wait around for reimbursements.
Even a corporate card has its issues if it’s being passed around by employees, especially when someone has to make a time-sensitive payment. Each employee will need their individual corporate card for business travels.
It’s difficult to compile all your business travel expenses, especially when you have multiple employees making trips to several different locations frequently. The more spending there is, the more likely you’ll end up with low spend visibility, which could result in poor budget controls.
To get a high level of visibility, it’s difficult to rely on manual work. Even if your finance team attempts to track every one of the business travel expenses that occur in your company, it’d take up way too much of their time. Not to mention that they’ll still run into the possibility of errors and missing data.
One thing that can help you monitor your budgets better is by using travel & expense management software.
It’s not uncommon that employees are forced to make out-of-pocket expenses for business travel. While some companies might provide cash advances for certain trips, you never know when your employees need to make expenses that weren’t accounted for in the budgeting. In those cases, they’ll have to rely on shilling money out of their own pockets and wait to be reimbursed.
One of the big issues with reimbursements, however, is that the processes are complex and tedious. More often than not, they take a long time to process from start to finish.
Not only will your employees be discouraged when they have to wait weeks—or even months—to settle their reimbursements, but having to process plenty of reimbursements is also time-consuming for your finance team.
6 Best travel expense management software
1. Volopay
Set-up process and requirements
Volopay is a solution for corporate travel and expense management, meaning that only businesses are eligible to use the platform. If you have a business entity in Singapore that wants travel & expense management software, you can get started with Volopay by filling up a signup form through the website.
Fees and pricing
You can start using Volopay as your travel & expense management software in Singapore for free. Instead of a fixed monthly subscription fee as a one size fits all model, Volopay allows you to tailor your fees based on your business usage. Each physical corporate card you issue, for example, costs you SGD 5.
Key features
Volopay is an all-in-one financial management tool, with features like corporate virtual cards, accounts payable automation, reimbursements, expense reporting, and accounting integration. With corporate cards issued to employees and the ability to file and settle reimbursement claims through the platform, business travel expenses don’t have to be a hassle.
Pros & cons
Equipping your employees with corporate cards makes making necessary expenses during business trips easy. At the same time, you’ll also have control over employee spending. Similarly, if employees have to make out-of-pocket expenses, reimbursements don’t have to be complex and time-consuming with Volopay.
Eventhough Volopay is not a dedicated travel expense management tool, you’ll instead be able to integrate TruTrip with Volopay for more streamlined travel and expense management.
Ratings
On G2, Volopay has an average rating of 4.3 out of 5.
2. SAP Concur
Set-up process and requirements
To get started with SAP Concur, you will have to submit a form through their website complete with your company details to request pricing. You can also do the self-guided demo on their website before deciding to request pricing.
Fees and pricing
The only way to get a quote is to request one from the SAP Concur website. You’ll have to fill out details about your company and your spend volume and you should receive a quote suited to your business needs.
Key features
SAP Concur offers a mix of features that classifies it as travel & expense management software. They have a solution for just expense reporting, with features like streamlined expense reports, auto-categorization for expenses, and settling reimbursements. However, SAP Concur also has travel management features that allow employees to book their business trips while making sure they adhere to company policy. With their TripLink feature, you can have a complete view of different employees, trips, and itineraries.
Pros & cons
You can get the best of both worlds with SAP Concur. They offer a range of tools for better expense management, including the ability to settle reimbursements through the platform. They also have a comprehensive suite of travel features. However, while SAP Concur offers both travel and expense management, travel is not included in their basic plan expense management-only plan, meaning that it’s likely the addition of it will cost more.
Ratings
On G2, SAP Concur has an average rating of 4.0 out of 5.
3. Expensify
Set-up process and requirements
Expensify offers a free plan that you can get started with first to familiarize yourself with the platform. You have to fill out details like your email and phone number to receive more information on the platform, but the Expensify website states that their product applies to both businesses and self-employed individuals.
Fees and pricing
You can start for free with Expensify’s travel & expense management software. However, you’ll have a limited number of features. To access more advanced features like accounting sync and expense approval, your plan will start at USD 5 per user per month. If you want to add expense policies and custom reporting, the starting price goes up to USD 9/user each month.
Key features
Boasting itself as a solution for managing company spending, Expensify is primarily a payments management platform with features like expense reporting, corporate credit cards, vendor payment tracking, and business travel management. Users will have access to a virtual travel assistant called Concierge Travel, which can be used to book flights and hotels. Expensify also offers many integrations, from accounting software to travel platforms.
Pros & cons
One of the biggest advantages of using Expensify is that you’ll get most of the features you’ll need for travel and expense management. From corporate cards to travel bookings, you have it all on one platform. However, not only can Expensify be costly if you have a large number of employees, but some features also won’t have as much depth compared to other platforms.
Ratings
On G2, Expensify has an average rating of 4.5 out of 5.
4. Zoho
Set-up process and requirements
Available in over 150 countries for all kinds of businesses, Zoho’s answer to travel and expense management is the Zoho Expense software. You can set up a Zoho Expense account for free, with businesses from freelancers to enterprises being eligible.
Fees and pricing
At a glance, Zoho Expense seems like a cheap travel & expense management software. Not only can you get started for free, but the paid plans start at only USD 3 per month, with higher tiers being USD 5 and USD 8 per month respectively. However, note that these prices are for each active user on the platform. The more users you have, the more you’ll have to pay.
Key features
Made for business expense management, you can use Zoho Expense to automate and streamline your expense reporting process, implement a multi-level approval workflow, and also track all your payments. Zoho Expense also has travel-specific features like travel report and itinerary creation, travel approval policies, and the ability to make travel bookings through their platform thanks to integrations.
Pros & cons
Usable by all kinds of businesses of all sizes, most businesses can benefit from utilizing Zoho Expense as their travel & expense management software. Zoho Expense is also a part of the expansive Zoho suite, which will allow plenty of integrations with other tools under the umbrella. Despite not being a dedicated travel-only platform, Zoho Expense also has an extensive list of features for travel management. Compared to some other travel & expense management software, however, they may not have as many travel-related perks such as reclaiming VAT.
Ratings
On G2, Zoho Expense has an average rating of 4.5 out of 5.
5. TravelPerk
Set-up process and requirements
As TravelPerk is mainly travel & expense management software for businesses, your business will likely have to have many employees to start using the software, meaning that this isn’t a platform that freelancers can take advantage of.
Fees and pricing
TravelPerk offers a free plan to start with, with its paid plans starting at USD 99 per month. A higher tier is available at USD 299/month for more advanced features, along with the ability to customize plans for enterprises with larger budgets or specific requirements.
Key features
Managing your trips with TravelPerk is easy. From making the initial booking to making changes to your plans, you can do it all on the platform. Track your travel budget and spending in one place. You can also set travel policies and enforce them with TravelPerk. More than that, you can save up quite a bit of money by reclaiming VAT easily and choosing the best and cheapest options for your trips.
Pros & cons
Overall, TravelPerk is the full package for business travel management. With many features that support everything from booking and managing your trips to invoices and payments, your business travels can be stress-free. However, since TravelPerk is fully focused on travel, you won’t be able to manage other expenses, even if they may exist adjacent to travel.
Ratings
On G2, TravelPerk has an average rating of 4.6 out of 5.
6. Egencia
Set-up process and requirements
While Egencia’s website offers a product demo video to introduce you to the platform, you will have to fill out your details as well as your company’s to get to know more about the platform. When you get in touch with the team, you can request a live demo and pricing details. Egencia is only available for businesses and cannot be used by self-employed freelancers.
Fees and pricing
To find out more about Egencia’s pricing, you will have to fill out a form on their website to request pricing details. Egencia does not offer any free trials.
Key features
Egencia is a travel management platform with a comprehensive set of tools to support corporate travel. Offering travel expense reporting and approval workflows, you can build your company’s travel policies onto the platform to ensure that all bookings and expenses comply with existing policies. Business travelers can report expenses on the go, as well as link personal credit cards that they use on their trips.
Pros & cons
As an established travel management system, Egencia has detailed and customizable features to easily control business travel. With its mobile app, the platform is overall accessible and easy to use. The downside to Egencia is that because it’s a dedicated travel platform, you cannot do other sorts of expense reporting in tandem with travel-specific ones.
Ratings: On G2, Egencia has an average rating of 4.4 out of 5.
Which travel & expense management software should you use?
There are plenty of options for your travel & expense management software. Each platform will have its pros and cons. Depending on what it is that you’re looking for, one platform may suit you more than another.
Generally, however, the best travel & expense management software are the ones with a comprehensive suite of tools that enable easier expenses of all kinds and their respective reports.
With a platform like Volopay, you’ll be able to manage your bookings and business travel-related expenses through many different fronts. Whether that’s through corporate cards, faster reimbursements, or better expense reporting, Volopay can help you through it all. You’ll also get access to other features that’ll help you manage non-travel expenses as a bonus.
In short, Volopay is an all-in-one platform for all your business expense management needs.