Purposeful Travel

It was widely considered when the world locked down that business would fail, and commerce would grind to a halt. It did not. Business reimagined workspace strategies and challenged itself with new practices. The lexicon of business changed bringing unfamiliar words such as Teams and Zoom into the daily vocabulary. Home working, then hybrid working became part of workplace culture.

Now, we are moving again.

But why? We managed for such a long time without travelling and survived.

No matter what your business, there are aspects of virtual working that does not seal the deal. The nature of business makes us conscious for the need to travel. We have now started working from the zero-travel base line in February 2022 to almost normal levels of business travel again.

But now travel should be with purpose.

Travel Managers and travellers themselves must start to think strategically about travel relevant to their sector. Looking for true value of travel versus virtual. This should now be at the forefront in the mindset of business. This value will also have to consider sustainability alongside time and not just money. Purposeful travel must include key metrics to justify time and budget and show benefits to a business through its overall T & E spending impact.

A simple meeting can be held virtually but to get the big deal through, share group experiences, and work through things collectively, meeting in person is the only way it can be achieved.  Buy in by senior management is imperative to achieve budgets and compliance to policy but must give travellers the freedom to be purposeful.

Planning travel with purpose can be challenging.

The travel industry is forecasting that with sustainability high on the agenda, longer but fewer trips will become the new norm. Another key metric from this type of purposeful travel is to deliver value to the business. Longer trips build frameworks and create more connections.

Allowing trips to encompass trade shows and other shared group experience will use time and resources to be more productive whilst travelling. Also, downtime should factor on extended trips, as it allows travellers to rejuvenate and be at the top of their game. It is a shift in culture but worth it.

Traveller experience is another factor when planning purposeful travel.

Another aspect of purposeful travel must be welfare of the traveller. Travellers need the best support around them. Be it tools, technology, or people. Employee health, safety and risk management need more focus. Duty of care must consider health and wellbeing of the workforce.

A digital workforce like to do things their way, so working with a TMC who can bespoke systems to fit your culture is priceless. A sole source of booking and information is key to this being successful.

How can we see the fruit of this new way of looking at travel?

Data is the key.

Historical data can be used for forecasting and benchmarking. Working with Account Managers within a TMC can help devise new policies. Systems that allow cross functional pre-trip reporting can alleviate the necessity to send two people to the same or near locations at the same time and using online reporting functions that can deliver visual value to the company are all key factors when considering purposeful travel going forward.

Selective Travel Management have the expertise to help any company develop and manage a purposeful travel strategy. We have the bespoke tools to supply data and a highly qualified account management team who can add value to your business. 

If you would like to partner with Selective Travel Management for purposeful travel, then speak with a member of our team on (028) 9038 9007 or email hello@selective-travel.co.uk