Amadeus reported (27-Sep-2022) modernising business travel "will yield tens of billions in economic value", according to a study commissioned by the company. Amadeus commissioned the Centre for Economic and Business Research (CEBR) to model the economic benefits should the industry apply the latest digital spend management technology. Based on research with corporate travel and finance teams from large companies in the US, UK, France and Germany, Amadeus stated CEBR's work highlights the economic opportunities of digitally transforming travel and expense. According to the study, end-to-end digital spend management delivers economic benefits in the following areas:
- Productivity improvements for travellers, managers and finance teams from digitalising expenses save 147 minutes per expense claim, equating to 188,000 full time equivalent employees and USD20.6 billion in gross economic value across the four economies;
- Direct travel spend efficiencies result in savings of USD31.4 billion or 8.2% of direct travel spend made by large companies across the four markets. Savings are achieved through reductions in fraud and error and more consistent application of company travel policies;
- End-to-end digital spend management enables travellers to be provided with a virtual card containing a pre-agreed budget for the trip. Travellers no longer need to submit expense reports and finance teams also gain efficiencies in accounting, auditing, reimbursement, control, budgeting, forecasting and international VAT reclaim. [more - original PR]