For Greg Knight, a machinery company executive, being on the road is a key part of doing business. But in the last year, he and his colleagues have pondered every trip and asked: Would it be worth it?
“We really needed to look at, is this trip the difference between closing business?” says Knight, a vice president with AMT Machine Systems in Columbus, Ohio. “Is this necessary for some reason?”
Sometimes the company’s employees would decide that a phone call or e-mail would do. “But … there are times when nothing works as well as sitting in front of someone talking to them,” he says. “We really rely on our people to be the best judge of when that is the case.”
Companies are sending more of their workers back on the road this year after having slashed travel budgets and halted trips to save money during the recession. But even as the economy slowly rebounds, many business analysts and advisers say businesses will continue to carefully weigh when travel is necessary and when it makes more financial sense to have a staff member stay put and connect with a client or colleague by video screen or conference call.
“Right now, the focus for our members is looking at whether that trip brings value back to the company,” says Megan Costello, executive director of the Association of Corporate Travel Executives, whose membership comprises the people in companies who oversee travel. “There’s a shift, a new way of doing things that I don’t think will go away.”
To make that first sales call, launch a product or close a deal, corporate travel experts such as Costello say businesses will probably decide a staff member needs to travel and see a client face-to-face.
But internal meetings are increasingly taking place through video conferences or webcasts.
American Express Business Travel…