If your company uses an outside agency to book business travel, it may be worth taking a second look at how cost-effective it really is. According to a recent survey by T&E magazine, more than 60% of business travelers don’t use the designated agency to book trips – and the vast majority of them say it’s because they can find cheaper fares online.

Agencies – and the special expertise their agents possess – have their place: They can be a godsend for employees with complicated itineraries, travelers going to remote locations or large companies with dozens to hundreds of business trips taken each year.

But for many companies, especially smaller ones, agencies may not be the best solution.

If your companies’ typical business trip is, say, one salesperson going between New York and Chicago, the fees an agency charges may not be buying you much. In those cases, you may want to recommend to upper management that they take a second look at the cost/benefit of using a travel agent.

One caveat: If your company does decide to ditch the agent, you’ll want to put some kind of policy in place to limit traveler spending. Depending on your company, that might mean having a designated  point-person in-house to book/approve travel plans. Another option: setting guidelines that encourage travelers to book the cheapest flight — and spelling out reasonable exceptions, such as how much more can be spent to avoid red-eyes, multiple-stop trips, etc.

Tags: A/P, Communication, Cutting costs, T&E