TravelPerk partners with Divvy to provide the best T&E solution

Holmes had Watson. Wilbur had Orville. Now, TravelPerk has Divvy. 

The future of business travel is already here. TravelPerk and Divvy joined forces to bring that future closer within your grasp. Together, we combine Divvy’s seamless expense management software with our groundbreaking travel management platform to better serve small and medium-sized businesses in the United States.

The state of our union

Divvy combines seamless expense management software with the world’s smartest business card. TravelPerk is the fastest-growing travel management platform in the world, with continuous growth in the US market. You could say we’re a pretty good match. That’s why we formed an innovative partnership to offer our customers a best-in-breed service. Divvy chose us because our new and improved travel management platform represents a stepping-up stone into the world of efficient and seamless travel management. 

Enter Divvy Travel, powered by TravelPerk!

Going further together in a post-COVID world

We don’t just believe in the return of business travel in a post-COVID world. We know it’s coming back.

Small and medium-sized businesses will be the engine of that recovery in the United States. Why? It’s pretty simple really. An SMB’s size and agility mean that these businesses will be able to adapt quickly and effectively to a post-pandemic reality. As they get back to traveling for business and navigating the landscape brought on by the new normal, a new set of needs will arise. That’s why we came together to provide employees with a simpler way to book, manage, and pay for business travel. At the same time, we’re offering finance teams the opportunity to gain full visibility and control over business travel spend. All in one place. 

Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it? 

What’s in it for modern businesses?

So, you’re a small and nimble business. You’re ready to get back to business travel—no, you’re itching to get back to business travel. You’re ready to adapt. You’re good to go. 

What do you get out of this partnership? As it turns out, you get a whole lot: 

1. A centralized portal where business travelers in your company can book and manage their trips independently and easily
2. Exceptional access & visibility for finance teams to oversee business spend, including business travel, in real-time. No need to wait for end-of-the-month credit reports!
3. All trips booked within policy, without exceeding spending limits or incorrectly filing expenses 
4. Comprehensive travel and expense process for users that can be set up in just a few clicks
5. Save precious time and money for travelers, managers, and finance teams as they begin navigating business travel in a post-pandemic world
6. Greater flexibility and safety for travel in this new reality through services like FlexiPerk, which enables you to change or cancel any aspect of a trip anytime, or TravelCare, which gives you real-time information on travel restrictions worldwide!

Welcome to the future of travel & expenses

T&E, or travel and expenses or travel and entertainment, boils down to an employee’s expenses when traveling for work. That can include anything from entertaining a client to paying for a hotel room, to renting a meeting space.  

The COVID-19 pandemic changed our world as we know it. There’s no denying that. Many businesses were affected by the health crisis, and what was the norm up until 2019 is now the “old way of doing things”. Business travel, including T&E, is no different. In order for companies to successfully adapt to this new reality, the time has come to embrace change and seek new ways of shaking things up. 

So, what does the future of T&E hold? What are some of the basic needs that will need to be filled? What trends have we identified that will mark the way we manage travel and expenses? Let’s find out. 

Scaling business travel management

Fast-growing businesses need to evolve their travel management policies to enable employees to independently book and manage their own trips. This will mean setting clear guidelines and budget limits to ensure compliance with their company policies. It'll result in more effective and efficient travel management, both in terms of time and cost.

Forget everything you think you know about what a business trip should be

Business trips going forward won’t just be about client or sales meetings. These trips will continue to exist, they’ll just be joined by a new type of business trip—the one where distributed teams come together to form human connections. As “work-from-anywhere” becomes more commonplace, teams living in different hubs will need to travel to meet up and build personal and professional relationships. 

Costs will come under the microscope

Alright, so this one seems obvious since costs have always been under the microscope. But as the economic aftermath of the pandemic becomes more apparent, costs associated with any business expense (travel included), will be more scrutinized. That’s where real-time tracking of business travel spend will come in. Such reports will help companies keep their business travel spend in check by providing actionable insights to help them take their budget further. 

It’s all about flexibility

No, not the yoga kind. Flexible fares for tickets and hotel bookings, for example, will rule the day. Trips will be affected by changing travel restrictions as governments ease or tighten regulations in response to potential outbreaks. The ability to change travel plans without incurring astronomical costs (like we did before the pandemic any time we needed to change a flight) will become a staple of business travel going forward. 

Wave goodbye to the paper

Expense reimbursement will need to go paperless for two main reasons. First, to help companies walk the talk of sustainability by cutting down on the environmental costs of printing on paper. Second, digital expense reimbursement will need to become the norm to accommodate distributed teams working in different hubs worldwide. You can’t expect a traveler based in New York to come file a paper expense claim at HQ in LA now, can you?

Teams will all use the same T&E tools

The days of different offices in the same company using different tools are gone. Standardizing and unifying data across company locations will take over as the more efficient way for travel managers to implement their travel policy. This will give them greater visibility over business travel spend and will empower them to take their tracking and reporting to the next level.

Don’t be afraid of digital transformation

We’re 21 years into the 21st century. It’s time to accept the inevitable—everything is going digital. So should your company’s travel and expense processes. Cloud-based platforms make all of this data and information more accessible, easier to manage, and can provide more actionable insights on how to take your travel budget further. 

Transportation won’t rely so heavily on planes

Alternative modes of transport like trains and rented cars will take over from planes at least on short-haul journeys. Trains are the more sustainable option to flights and a preference towards more environmentally-friendly options will be a major trend in a post-pandemic world. Rented cars also offer travelers a social distancing option when traveling as they will be doing so largely on their own. 

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