Where do we find T&E spend? What is T&E spend? Most call it Travel and Entertainment; some call it Travel and Expense. Regardless of what you call it, most organizations spend millions of dollars on it annually. And, look beyond corporate card data to truly understand your organization's buying behaviors.
When I help our clients manage the T&E spend, it isn't enough to only look through the T&E corporate card data. Transient, or business, travel is usually found in the T&E spend, yet Accounts Payable includes a fair share of airline, hotel, ground transportation and other ancillary spend data. Strategic sourcing leverages the total spend. This diagram helps describe the complexity of this category:
A recent Aberdeen Group report shows that out of the top five challenges in managing T&E expenses, "visibility into T&E spend data" was the second greatest concern surpassed by "enforcing policy compliance." .
We can affect strategic sourcing successes with only T&E corporate card data, although if we have all of the data, we may be more successful in negotiating lower prices by moving market share with a greater volume of spend.
Does anyone else get that exhilarating feeling when they open a database that includes all of the spend data, or is it just me? If you want help corralling your spend, contact me.
For more information on the Aberdeen Group, please visit: http://www.aberdeen.com/
Debi Scholar, CMM, CMP, CTE, CTT
Thank you for visiting the T&E Plus Blog on expense management, travel management, business meetings, events, incentives, strategic meetings management, entertainment, virtual meetings, tickets, hotels, airlines, ground transportation, T&E policy, plus more...
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