Uber for Business Steps Up its Mobile Payments, Expense Management Functions
Uber for Business has proven itself a sound idea in the past, and with good reason. After all, why not take a process that was formerly cumbersome—tracking mileage and maintaining fleets—and reduce it to a simple deductible expense? It’s everything that was good about Uber, including the mobile payments connection, and even better because it’s more closely tailored to small businesses’ needs. Now, it’s about to get even better, as France’s Expensya firm will be incorporating its own systems into Uber for Business.
With Expensya, Uber trips will be automatically added into the Expensya expense management system, which will make for better, smoother record keeping as well as report reconciliation. Since Expensya reported processes up to 200 expense reports per second, and processes about $11.4 million in corporate travel expenses per week anyway, Expensya should be more than able to keep up with the extra load provided by Uber for Business.
That’s not the only place that Uber’s collaborating, however; reports also suggest that India’s Happay, a corporate expense firm, is also building systems into Uber for easier reporting in India.
Uber has even recently added new options like the ability to set up specific rules for when and how Uber trips can be used for employee use, and customization options have also made an appearance. Now, other travel programs can include Uber for Business options, improving the chance it will be called on when needed.
In a field where Uber’s facing a lot of competition from not only Lyft, but also from a growing array of smaller competitors like the e-scooter concept as well as the self-driving car, if only eventually, things like this can only help. Uber’s making itself just a little more valuable, and making customers—especially business customers—just a little more likely to turn in their direction for rides. In a field where just about anyone could theoretically hang out their shingle and say they’ll give you rides for pay, Uber’s got to stand out, and on more than price.
Tools that make Uber more attractive to businesses definitely can’t hurt here, and with the expansion of Uber for Business, it’s well on its way to being the go-to source for business travel.