Managing Faculty Travel Costs with Electronic Solutions

No matter what the industry, it’s always good news when someone finds a new way to optimize the operating budget. But in education, where resources are spent to deliver high quality (not necessarily high margin) services, a savings opportunity is a particularly sweet discovery.

Getting Schooled In Expense Management on PYMNTS.com explores the budget concerns facing parochial secondary educational institutions and how technology is helping finance and accounting departments streamline their processes and cut costs. In the article, Dennis Toohey of procurement consultancy Xperience, Inc., identified travel expenses as an area for potentially significant savings for schools, as many students today come from abroad and more students and faculty take trips for educational purposes.

Savings Opportunity: Faculty Travel Budgets

Beyond even these travel experiences, faculty members at secondary and, especially, tertiary educational institutions usually have a travel budget for professional development. They may travel to conduct research, share research findings or writings, or to attend industry conferences and events.

Granted, their travel budgets aren’t as wide and deep as those for the average corporate business traveler who’s on the road strengthening business relationships and making revenue-boosting deals, but they’re budgets, nonetheless, that have to be managed. And because the school’s funds are being used for purposes that probably don’t expand the bottom-line, it’s even more imperative that they’re managed carefully and with an eye on cost-savings.

Managing Budgets the Traditional Way

Many schools continue to rely on manual processes for managing procurement expenses, and these include travel-related spends. PayStream Advisors’ recent Purchase to Pay in Higher Education report reveals that educational institutions are less likely to have made significant investments in automation technology when compared with those in other industries (17% vs. 31%). That means their workflows are slower, more error-prone, and less transparent when compared with today’s automated alternatives. Without a clear view into spending, it’s harder for decision-makers to uncover areas for improvements in process optimization or make updates to travel policy guidelines.

Embracing Strategic Automation

The good news is that educational institutions are starting to adopt at least some advanced automation technology, which might include expense management solutions, electronic invoices, and electronic payments. In doing so, they’re reducing paper (and using less resources) and speeding up their processes thanks to digital efficiency. Plus, it’s easier on the teachers, whose time is better spent in the classroom than piecing together expense reports. Get more insights in Streamlining Payables in Higher Education.

This helps explain why more leaders in the education are using virtual card solutions to pay suppliers. They’re already a proven way to better manage travel expenses, as travel payments made via virtual cards offer enhanced security, greater controls, and easier reconciliation. See 3 Reasons Virtual Credit Cards Will Become A Leading Corporate Travel Payment Option in 2016. Virtual card numbers (VCNs) are also an excellent solution for making international travel payments, so schools sending faculty members to far-away destinations with any degree of frequency can save money on cross-border fees and other costs associated with making international transactions.

Technology is helping educational institutions better manage their operating budgets and related travel expenses—and VCNs are gaining traction. Learn more about this solution in Travel Payment Analytics and the Power of Virtual Card Numbers (VCNs) and Facts & Stats for Building A Business Case for Virtual Payment Tech.