In today's rapidly evolving travel industry, business travellers have access to multiple booking channels, with mobile devices transforming purchasing habits and how trips are managed on the go. Greater choice, and even generational preferences, have led to more business travellers choosing to go 'off-piste' and book outside the preferred travel management company or corporate purchasing programme.

Organisations cannot be bystanders in these process changes. They need to strike a balance between the flexibility more corporate travellers want through off-channel bookings and the preferred travel policy. Not addressing this demand can cause significant issues around duty of care and non-compliance and severely impact the organisation's travel budget. The digitalisation of booking channels and improving the choices within the travel policy can help to boost employee compliance, but this is just the start.

Here are six steps to manage off-channel bookings and changing behaviours:

1 Review the travel policy

Each business trip has a different purpose, and each corporate traveller has different things they value when travelling, but travel managers need a process which saves time and a travel policy that works for most situations. So, when creating or reviewing the travel policy, engage with key stakeholder groups and outline priorities for both sides ¡ª making it clear from the start what's needed ¡ª and then build a travel programme to support it.

Next, consider how employees are introduced to the company travel policy. To get business travellers engaged from the start, and to minimise off-channel adoption, be sure they are well-informed about the travel policy during their induction process, and that any incentives for using the programme are well-communicated. Be sure to revisit basic guidelines and refresh the policy accordingly to remove outdated restrictions to clear the way for alternative bookings, communicating any changes to the team. Also, consider where the travel policy is kept; it should be easily accessible to everyone in the organisation so no one is left in the dark about procedure.

2 Find the right travel management platform

When it comes to the travel booking platform, it is important to have one that allows corporate travellers to book within policy automatically through the platform or, for more control, a system which allows you to bookmark trips that can later be finalised by an approved administrator. Selecting a platform that is adaptable to the travel policy (rather than vice versa) means it can be reflective of the company culture.

3 Find out why the "grass is greener"

What is it that is driving corporate travellers to go outside the preferred booking channel and/or hotel programme? If they bypass the approved booking process, is it simply because it's too cumbersome and slow? Would they be happy to use preferred hotels if only the mechanism to do so were easier? Or are they deviating from the process because they don't like the options it offers (if they get options at all)? By understanding thewhy you can provide options to help keep travellers within the proper channels. For instance, mobile devices are driving demand for more intuitive, simple-to-use digital travel tools. Is your travel platform conducive to mobile use? If not, can you make changes? Alternative lodging is a very attractive option for many travellers; is this a category that is available within the company travel programme? What could you include to expand the variety of accommodation without compromising on your budget or their welfare? Hotels and airlines encourage travellers to book directly on their websites by offering a range of perks from discounted rates to value-added packages and reward schemes. Are you negotiating incentives that won't leave your corporate travellers feeling out of pocket? When it comes down to it, greater choice and added value are ruling factors which are encouraging travellers to make rogue bookings. By offering better rewards and more choice, your travellers will be more likely to book within policy parameters.

4 Highlight missed opportunities

How many business travellers know that by "going rogue," travel managers are at a disadvantage and are unlikely to gain all the benefits of the managed travel programme? The marketing strategies used by suppliers to promote direct bookings are omnipresent. Corporate travel managers need to ensure they "market" themselves to their team and highlight the missed opportunities including better rates and incentives that are negotiated by leveraging travel volume. By going direct, corporate travellers could end up paying more than they should and miss out on specifically negotiated added-value rewards only available to company employees.

5 Address risks

The safety and security landscape has changed as terror attacks are an increasing concern, in addition to petty crime and theft, medical and health situations, and acts of nature. The major issue with booking outside the official travel programme is that it impairs the ability to track travellers and offer support in the event of an emergency. As threats are an ever-present concern, it falls to companies to acknowledge the rise in off-channel bookings and have processes and plans in place to track employees who select to go that route. Companies have the upper hand here as they are able to tell employees they must comply to tracking policy as, no matter which avenue they choose to take, they are still travelling on company time and duty of care applies.

6 Win-win

"Less stick and more carrot" is the approach to take to encourage corporate travellers to use the approved programme. Coming down hard on non-compliance often doesn't remedy the situation. The landscape has changed and it will likely always be the case that some travellers will book outside the official travel programme. The key is to be prepared for this. Are there additional processes or technologies you can deploy to capture appropriate data of travellers' intended whereabouts before their trips start and/or whilst they are travelling? It is also important that all spend is captured, regardless of where it is spent, as insight into travel spend is vital in making informed decisions and updates to future travel policy and process.