Corporate travel: Pre-Lockdown, Lockdown, and Post-lockdown...

According to recent research from SAP Concur, Corporate travelers expect companies to implement enhanced health and safety measures as travel resumes.  Travelers also expect new policies and procedures around taking business trips, with 96% highlighting at least one action they consider to be critical for their employer to put in place.

The study also reveals that 65% of Corporate travelers put personal health and safety in their top three considerations for a return to travel, with concerns about infecting family also cited by 55% and concerns about being infected themselves, 53%.

Meeting clients and suppliers, has long been seen as a sign of commitment; many of those meetings never needed to happen in person. But there is a sort of expectation attached to a handshake. According to the history channel, one of the earliest depictions of the handshake was the sealing of a deal. In a ninth-century B.C. sculpture, Assyrian King Shalmaneser III is depicted shaking the hand of a Babylonian ruler to seal an alliance.

A handshake not only joins the two main participants but also links their respective businesses, signaling cooperation. In medieval times, the up and down motion of the handshake was performed aggressively to dislodge any hidden weapons. The shake was done with the right hand, as the scabbard, which held the sword, was slung across the left side.

In modern times, we often observe handshakes to see if they are soft, firm, or long, and whether or not eye contact is held or posture is slumped. These characteristics of "the shake" have come to show us different things about a person, especially in business. A firm handshake represents that you’re confident in your ability to execute, a firmer more aggressive handshake can imply that you are likely compensating for something while looking away or offering a “limp hand” can suggest that you may not be up for the task, there are hundreds of variants and micro-gestures. The handshake may have temporarily been replaced with an elbow bump or a virtual wave, but a face to face meeting remains an integral part of doing business.

Pre-lockdown, there was over 4 billion air passengers globally, business travel accounted for 22.2% of the contribution of travel and tourism to Europe’s GDP, 94% of corporate travel managers relied on a TMC or travel agency for reporting. The United Kingdom spent USD 50bn on business travel, 60% of companies had a corporate travel policy in place, and 50% of companies allow travelers to book using any method they choose (Lodging).

Lockdown, 100,000`s of employees, have been furloughed, or worse still lost their jobs, travel resources/budgets have been reallocated to issues such as risk management and continuous investment on automation and Carbon offsetting. One industry that has thrived during lockdown is Puzzle manufacturers, reporting sales increases of more than 150%!  Over the last six months, Consilio.io has helped several companies across the UK & Ireland review the way their invoice, travel and expense processes work, putting an end to the replication of inefficient paper processes in a digital environment.

Post-lockdown, two things are for sure, face to face meetings will be as important as ever, and no travel ban is absolute; global supply chains mean businesses will continue to trade, travelling, transporting goods and services, driven by data post-lockdown employees will be able to use the most carbon-emission efficient mode of transport available for any journey.

Businesses around the world can still make travelling for commerce work. Restrictions are being eased, and 89% of travelers are merely waiting for the green light from their companies before making travel plans, as the world prepares for tomorrow, what will life after lockdown look like? Try and be flexible, adapt to change and embrace automation, buy shares in puzzle manufacturers NOW, when necessary travel, the sooner we accept this “new reality” and rebuild our businesses accordingly, the better things will be.

Who are Consilio.io? Consilio.io is an SAP CIP / CCP systems integration, and we are apt at helping businesses evaluate, transform, and maximize expense, travel and invoice solutions, by realising the benefits of connective spend management.

Why SAP Concur? Research shows that finance teams typically save 20+ hours a week after their company implements an automated T&E and Invoice management solution (AMI Report). With over 46,000 customers in more than 150 countries, SAP Concur provides expense, travel, and invoice solutions that meet the unique needs of businesses of all sizes. SAP Concur is a complete spend management platform that provides a single, powerful end-to-end solution for preapproval and ongoing management of your invoices, expenses, and other spending.

You don’t need to run SAP to take advantage of Concur, as SAP Concur is infinitely customizable and tailored to exactly the way your business runs. Additionally, through Consilio.io`s partnership with Susterra, post-travel footprint analysis allows for accurate carbon emission reporting and offsetting, ensuring company environmental and sustainability goals are reached while reducing overall travel spend.

Stay safe.