Do We Still Need to Make Business Trips in a World of Virtual Meetings?

We all know what a powerful tool virtual meetings have become for collaboration and communication in the corporate world, but there are still scenarios where business trips provide unique business value. The decision on whether to travel to another location for an in-person meeting or, indeed, to work with a team at a different location on longer-term projects, really depends on the specific objectives that you hope to achieve. The type of interaction (one-off meetings or long-term team collaboration), the nature of the business, and the potential benefits of in-person engagement will all impact this decision. One advantage for many businesses is that they have now experienced these interactions both in-person and also virtually. This should help an individual business to make the right decision about business travel according to their specific circumstances.

Let’s take a look at some of the reasons we still need to make business trips

The Benefits of Business Travel

Face-to-face interactions foster trust and rapport, which are essential factors in business relations in all industries, but especially in consulting or high-value discussions. Depending on the country in which the business is located there is also cultural sensitivity around in-person meetings and they are required in order to demonstrate respect.

Building Stronger Business Relationships

By meeting in-person you will build deeper relationships which support internal collaboration and a better understanding of individual team members strengths and weaknesses. This can enable better team building which, in turn, encourages innovative thinking and improves morale, and, hence, productivity. When onboarding new team members, the in-person interactions will accelerate integration with the rest of the team.

In-person interactions also provide informal networking opportunities with other people in a company who might not attend the formal meetings.

Handling Complex Discussions

In complex business situations, resolving issues can often benefit from the immediacy and non-verbal cues of in-person meetings. In-person meetings are also more likely to veer off the stated agenda, which can lead to innovative ideas or innovative solutions to problems.

Collaborative brainstorming in order to solve complex problems is easier when people are in the same room and can more easily describe the problems or proposed solutions and provide clarifications in a way that is not so easy when, say, sharing a screen on Zoom or Teams.

On-Site Requirements

Certain business interactions can only be completed on-site, such as inspections and audits in industries like manufacturing, construction or retail. Ensuring quality and compliance with local regulations requires a physical on-site evaluation.

In some industries hands-on demonstrations of equipment setup also need to be done in-situ as they cannot be fully replicated virtually.

The Challenges with Business Travel

So it’s clear what the benefits of business travel are but the challenge is balancing those benefits with the downsides — the main downside being the financial cost.

The financial cost

It’s no surprise that the financial cost of corporate travel can vary widely depending on the destination, duration and purpose of the trip. First, there are the transport costs with air travel still being the most common form of making business journeys whether domestically or internationally. You also need to add the local transport costs of taxis, public transport or rental cars, which can mount up for longer trips. Costs obviously vary based on location and frequency of travel within the destination.

Another major expense is accommodation. For short-term stays, business travellers usually opt for hotels, where costs are influenced by location, star rating and amenities. Increasingly, though, for stays over a week, business travellers prefer the freedom and space of serviced apartments or aparthotels. Instead of a single hotel room with only a choice of dining out or room service when it comes to meals, serviced apartments have a fully equipped kitchen, and a living/dining room in addition to hotel standard bedrooms and bathrooms. All at a more cost-effective price which delivers cost savings for the business and results in happier employees.

Daily expenses for meals, snacks and drinks during the trip also contribute to the cost but, as mentioned above, these can be minimised by booking serviced accommodation (whilst also giving people the freedom to eat healthier home-prepared meals).

Other one-off expenses include travel insurance, sometimes visa fees for international travel, currency exchange fees, parking and tolls if using a rental car for local travel.

By monitoring and managing these costs effectively, companies can ensure that business travel delivers a good return on investment while maintaining budgetary control.