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As business travel expenses nose upward, companies are realizing that better cost-management techniques can really make a difference

The US. Ruta chorrera de los litueros corporate travel expenses rocketed to more than $143 billion in 1994, in accordance with American Express's most recent survey on business travel management. Private-sector employers spend an estimated $2,484 per employee on travel and entertainment, a 17 percent increase in the last four years.

Corporate T&E costs, now the third-largest controllable expense behind sales and data-processing costs, are under new scrutiny. Corporations are realizing that a savings of 1 percent or 2 percent can translate into an incredible number of dollars added to their bottom line.

Savings of that order are sure to get management's attention, which is a requirement for this type of project. Involvement begins with understanding and evaluating the different parts of T&E management to be able to control and monitor it more effectively.

Hands-on management includes assigning responsibility for travel management, implementing a quality-measurement system for travel services used, and writing and distributing a proper travel policy. Only 64 percent of U.S. corporations have travel policies.

Even with senior management's support, the trail to savings is rocky-only one in three companies has successfully instituted an inside program that will help cut travel expenses, and the myriad areas of travel are very overwhelming, and most companies don't know where to start. "The industry of travel is based on information," says Steven R. Schoen, founder and CEO of The Global Group Inc. "Until such time as a traveler actually sets foot on the plane, they've [only] been purchasing information."

If that's the case, information technology seems a practical place to hammer out those elusive, but highly sought-after, savings. "Technological innovations in the commercial travel industry are allowing firms to appreciate the potential of automation to control and reduce indirect [travel] costs," says Roger H. Ballot, president of the Travel Services Group USA of American Express. "Furthermore, many companies are embarking on quality programs offering sophisticated process improvement and reengineering efforts built to substantially improve T&E management processes and reduce indirect costs."

As companies check out technology to create potential savings a fact, they can get very creative about the techniques they employ.

Centralized reservation systems were long the exclusive domain of travel agents and other industry professionals. But all that changed in November 1992 each time a Department of Transportation ruling allowed most people to use systems such as Apollo and SABRE. Travel-management software, such as Trip Power and Travel Net, immediately sprang up, providing corporations insight into where their T&E dollars are being spent.

The program tracks spending trends by interfacing with the corporation's database and providing the use of centralized reservation systems offering immediate reservation information to airlines, hotels, and car rental agencies. These programs also allow users to generate computerized travel reports on cost savings with details on where discounts were obtained, hotel and car usage, and patterns of travel between cities. Actual data gives corporations added leverage when negotiating discounts with travel suppliers.

"Whenever you own the data, you don't have to return to square one every time you decide to change agencies," says Mary Savvier Stephens, travel manager for biotech giant Chiron Corp.

Sybase Inc., a client/server software leader having an annual T&E budget in excess of $15 million, agrees. "Software gives us unprecedented visibility into how employees are spending their travel dollars and better leverage to negotiate with travel service suppliers," says Robert Lerner, director of credit and corporate travel services for Sybase Inc. Ruta chorrera de los litueros we have better use of data, faster, in a real-time environment, which will be expected to create us big savings in T&E. We have no control over our travel information and no more have to depend exclusively on the agencies and airlines.