Small and midsize enterprises represent a complex terrain of
travel management. While many take a laissez-faire approach to the issue,
others hew close to the best practices of their large-market counterparts—and
the latest BTN research suggests that more are moving in this
direction.
There has rarely—if ever—been a successful one-size-fits-all
approach for the SME market. Though many travel suppliers offer “small
business” solutions, few of the SME travel managers surveyed by BTN over
the past four years actually used them. Our most recent data shows that SME
travel buyers are more sophisticated than ever, as more organizations negotiate
for air, hotel and car contracts and keep an eye on market trends—like the
expansion of low-cost carriers and sharing economy startups—that could play to
their advantage.
Smart market analysis and a willingness to engage with
suppliers comes as no surprise. The big news for this segment is its steady
evolution toward the online tools and automation that provide SME travel buyers
with the compliance strategies and data capture that are elevating their
programs.
In the past three years, SME use of online booking tools and
off-the-shelf expense management systems has jumped 20 percent. That’s a huge
leap that signals the seriousness with which SMEs are approaching travel
management.
But they will continue to face perennial challenges: lack of
visibility within their organizations, lower volumes for negotiations and a
consolidated travel market overall. But opportunities are out there, and
suppliers are more eager than ever to tap SME business.
Methodology
BTN’s 2015 SME report includes a survey designed to
examine the behaviors and opinions of small and midsize travel buyers, defined
for the purposes of this survey as those organizations with annual air spend
between $250,000 and $12 million. BTN in April and May 2015 emailed a
SurveyMonkey online survey link to appropriate members of The BTN Group
Research Council and qualified subscribers of BTN Group publications, including
BTN and Travel Procurement. And in May, Equation Research
conducted a telephone survey of personnel involved in travel management within
small and midsize businesses.