Travel Manager Takes Tech Lead With Web-Based T&E

More than three years after her search for an affordable web-based expense reporting system began, one travel manager's persistence is paying off.

More than three years after her search for an affordable, web-based expense reporting system began, Ann Schimelfenyg's persistence is finally paying off. The travel manager, who oversees corporate travel for a mid-sized company, has become an unlikely pioneer in the adoption of internet-based T&E tools — pushing her organization to embrace technology that many of her peers were still treating with skepticism.

Schimelfenyg's journey illustrates both the promise and the frustration of early enterprise software adoption. The products she evaluated in the late 1990s were often expensive, clunky, or poorly integrated with existing financial systems. But the landscape has shifted, and a new generation of web-based tools is finally delivering on the original promise: simpler expense submission, faster reimbursement, and better data for travel managers trying to understand and control costs.

Her experience offers a roadmap for other travel managers considering the leap to web-based T&E — and a reminder that the early adopters who push through the growing pains often end up with a significant competitive advantage.