Attendees at Infiniti Software's annual meet talk about how online travel and expense management tools help improve revenue

(TRAVPR.COM) INDIA - May 6th, 2013 - Taking travel and expense management processes online helps cut costs and improves a company’s financial health in the long term, clients attending Infiniti Software Solution’s first client meet in the capital, said.

Forty-two delegates from Delhi and NCR region attended ‘Bottom Line Basics’, the seminar held on Friday, April 26, at the Radisson Blu Marina, Connaught Place.

Mr Anand Bansal, vice-president, facilities and administration, Info Edge (Naukri.com), New Delhi, Mr Sanjay Pai, head – travel, Larsen and Toubro, Mumbai, and Mr Shirish Bhandari, ICICI Bank, were among the speakers for the evening, which saw clients share their views on automated management tools.

Mr Bansal shared his experience with Infiniti’s range of services available online such as access to airline distress inventory, data analysis and pre- and post-trip travel approvals. He said Infiniti’s products have motivated employees to raise self-travel requests and has ensured an optimisation of expenses through better negotiation capabilities and more efficient work flow.

He also highlighted the positives of automated expense management solutions, especially the bird’s eye view it offers of various expense heads and the scope for minimising the outlay under each. “The basis of expense management is getting rid of wastage and saving every rupee but not at the cost of quality,” Mr Bansal said.

Mr Gautam Ramanujan, Infiniti’s chief commercial officer, shared tips on how to create an accurate travel policy. He used data gathered by Infiniti’s research team to make the following points:

·        Travelling by low-cost carriers (LCCs) can save up to 20 per cent on travel costs

·        Booking seven days ahead on LCCs can save up to 33 per cent and booking three days ahead on full-service carriers (FSCs) can bring about 15 per cent savings

·        Round-trip fares are 10 per cent cheaper than one-way fares for LCCs and 15 per cent cheaper for FSCs

According to Mr Ramanujan, keeping this data in mind while framing a travel policy can give corporates more control over travel costs.

Mr Ananth Narasimhan, managing director and CEO of Infiniti, spoke about the role of automation in travel and expense management. He talked about how traditional systems may have loopholes that allow fraudulent expense claims to slip through. Automating these processes not only saves time, it also ensures higher policy compliance among employees and quick reimbursements thus reducing employee attrition rates, Mr Narasimhan said.

Mr Sanjay Pai talked about the need for a technology solution that fits each company’s culture. “It is absolutely important that companies choose a solution that has the flexibility to replicate their current offline processes and bring them online,” Mr Pai said.

He also compared corporate and retail fares, mentioning that in some cases the former are higher, defeating the purpose of choosing them over the latter. “The true benchmark of savings would be to know your ATP [average ticket price] and negotiate with suppliers and airlines to ensure that corporate fares are lower than your ATP for the previous year,” he said.

The symposium was co-sponsored by ICICI Bank.

Mr Shirish Bhandari, product head corporate and travel cards at ICICI Bank Ltd, explained the features of the bank’s corporate payment solution options. Using a case study and past reports, Mr Bhandari showed how corporate payment solutions such as the ICICI CTA card help achieve increased savings through reduced costs.

If you have any questions or need clarifications, you may call Gautam Ramanujan, chief commercial officer, Infiniti Software Solutions, on +91 99209 84120.

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