The best solutions in the marketplace not only solve a specific business need, but also contribute to larger strategic goals. Take travel payments: The specific need is a safe, efficient, easy way to pay suppliers for your travelers’ bookings. The larger strategic goals are to reduce risks and control costs.
Virtual payment automation meets the business need by generating a virtual credit card payment for a supplier transaction without requiring a physical card. Virtual payments contribute to strategic goals because they cap traveler spending and restrict how the allocated money can be spent. Virtual payment automation also enables quick and simple travel and expenses reconciliation after each trip. Here’s an at-a-glance look at some strategic benefits virtual payments deliver to corporate travel programs:
But virtual payment automation has some challenges. First, virtual payments today work primarily with hotel bookings. Air and ground transportation are mostly uncharted territory, although that’s slowly changing. And A U.S. Bank-sponsored survey released by the GBTA Foundation in 2015 found that only 53% of suppliers accept VCCs, while 90% accept plastic corporate cards. So, there are cons alongside the pros, and virtual payment automation isn’t right for everyone.
How can you determine whether virtual payments will fit your corporate travel program? Start with these questions:
- Do you have a lot of travelers without corporate cards?
- Is matching booked and paid data a time-consuming chore?
- Would the ability to assign costs to specific cost centers or project codes be valuable to your business?
- Do your travelers visit countries where credit card fraud is especially high?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, then virtual payment is worth investigating for your corporate travel program. Talk to your TMC about the possibilities.
Learn more about how virtual payment automation works and download BCD Travel’s whitepaper A Virtual (Payment) Reality. Then ask your account manager for more details.
