Businesses are under increasing pressure to improve efficiency, control costs and make better-informed decisions. Yet for many organisations, travel and entertainment (T&E) remains a source of fragmented data, limited visibility and unnecessary administration.
The real challenge is no longer managing spend – it's unlocking the value hidden within the data behind it. “Travel and entertainment spend is no longer just something to reconcile after the event. The real opportunity is to use payment data to give finance teams clearer, earlier insight into what is happening across the business,” says Linda Weston, head of make and take payments at Lloyds.
When booking, payment and expense data are disconnected, finance teams are left piecing together the story after the event. Better connected data can help them move from hindsight to proactive control
For many finance teams, travel spend is one of the most difficult categories to control. Unlike procurement spend, which is often planned and approved in advance, T&E activity happens in real time. Employees book travel, make purchases on the move and incur expenses across multiple suppliers and channels. By the time transactions reach finance teams, opportunities to influence behaviour or improve decision-making may already have passed.
This often leaves organisations facing familiar challenges:
As organisations grow, these challenges can become increasingly complex, particularly where travel activity spans multiple regions, suppliers and business units. The result is that finance teams frequently spend more time understanding what happened than using data to shape future decisions. “When booking, payment and expense data are disconnected, finance teams are left piecing together the story after the event. Better connected data can help them move from hindsight to proactive control,” states Weston.
Travel spend generates a significant amount of information throughout the employee journey, from booking and payment through to expense management and reporting. When this information sits in disconnected systems, its value is limited. However, when data is connected and accessible, organisations can gain a much clearer view of how money is being spent and where opportunities for improvement exist.
This allows finance leaders to move beyond simply monitoring costs and begin answering broader strategic questions:
The ability to answer these questions is becoming increasingly important as businesses look for ways to improve efficiency while maintaining strong governance and oversight.
The value of a connected payment strategy is that it gives organisations the confidence to make decisions based on richer, more consistent information – not fragmented snapshots of spend
The most effective organisations are focusing on creating connected payment ecosystems that improve both visibility and control. Rather than viewing payments solely as a method of settling transactions, they are recognising their role as a source of valuable operational intelligence. Different payment solutions can support different objectives.
Physical corporate cards can help capture individual spend, support employee mobility and reduce reliance on personal expenses. Virtual cards can provide enhanced control over travel bookings and online payments through defined spending parameters and approval workflows. Centralised payment solutions can help organisations manage recurring spend, strengthen governance and simplify reconciliation.
When these payment methods operate as part of a connected strategy, organisations benefit from richer and more consistent data throughout the entire travel lifecycle. Weston notes: “The value of a connected payment strategy is that it gives organisations the confidence to make decisions based on richer, more consistent information – not fragmented snapshots of spend.”
The result is greater transparency, improved reporting and a more complete picture of organisational spend.
As technology continues to evolve, businesses are increasingly looking at how automation, analytics and artificial intelligence can help them gain more value from their data. The organisations generating the greatest returns from T&E programmes are often not those with the most restrictive controls. Instead, they are the organisations that understand how to use data to make better decisions.
By improving visibility, connecting systems and capturing meaningful information throughout the payment process, finance teams can shift their focus from administration to insight. This helps create stronger governance, more effective decision-making and a more efficient experience for employees and suppliers alike.
The future of travel and expense management is about more than processing transactions or controlling costs. It is about understanding what spend data can reveal about organisational behaviour, operational performance and future opportunities.
Businesses that can successfully connect and utilise that information will be better positioned to improve efficiency, strengthen resilience and support long-term growth. Because increasingly, travel spend isn't simply a finance challenge. It's a data opportunity.
Linda Weston is head of make & take payments at Lloyds
To find out how Lloyds Corporate Payment Solutions can help your organisation improve visibility, strengthen control and unlock richer insights from business spend, email commercialcardsenquiries@lloydsbanking.com or click here
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