Technology can help you make the most of your time and ensure business trips are as successful as possible.
Employees travelling for work often waste time managing their itineraries, organising transfers and keeping track of the various expenses they incur as part of their trip. This makes it difficult for them to be productive while travelling. However, there are ways to help employees improve their effectiveness while on business travel, according to Concur.
Time in transit and jet lag can make it hard to keep working at your peak. Technology can help you make the most of your time and ensure business trips are as successful as possible.
We recommend three simple tips for business travellers to boost their productivity.
- Process expenses as you go
Employees shouldn’t wait until they’re back in the office to start putting through their expense claims. Instead, they should process claims as they go to prevent administrative tasks piling up.
Businesses can offer employees mobile expense management systems where you simply snap a photo of your receipt and submit it. The system automatically processes the rest, meaning employees get reimbursed faster and save time on administration processes.
- Keep a mobile itinerary
Keeping the entire travel itinerary and tickets stored in a single mobile app means employees know exactly where they need to be and when. Mobile itinerary apps can deliver a single source of information, available anywhere, to save workers’ time looking for confirmations and boarding passes. It can send real-time notifications to let users know if things change, such as a gate change.
Itinerary apps will not only let you know if your flight is delayed or cancelled. It can also provide you with a list of alternative travel flights with open seats to save you the stress of manually checking.
Your entire trip should be a paperless experience. Technology means you can spend less time thinking about a trip and more time focusing on the job at hand.
- Avoid multitasking and take breaks
Business travel can often mean workers find themselves multitasking, such as checking in for a flight while on the phone and answering emails, all in the name of efficiency, but bear in mind that when trying to accomplish too much at once, the quality and accuracy of work often decreases. Focusing on the priority task at hand and taking breaks to stay alert can help boost productivity.
Keep in mind that quality is more important than quantity. Try allocating the first part of your flight to achieving work tasks and reserving the remainder to switch off.
Murray Warner, Director of Business Development – Asia Pacific, Concur
