Your ultimate guide to Uber for Business

In just over a decade, rideshare pioneer Uber has ballooned to a global network now available in more than 10,000 cities in 70 countries. Built around a single user-friendly app, today Uber is universally recognised, with its drivers moving millions of people across cities and suburbs every day.

Building on this is Uber for Business – an exciting platform enabling companies to easily manage the movements and expenses of its roving employees, wherever they may be in the world and all from one centralised dashboard.

We’ve prepared a handy go-to guide to get your company moving with Uber for Business.

Uber for Business: What is it?

Whether meeting clients or colleagues, a lot goes into a successful corporate trip.

Making this easier was the driving inspiration behind Uber for Business. From simply arriving at your destination through to automatic expense reconciliation, its aim is to make business travel a seamless process for companies.

Built into the existing Uber app, companies create an account and gain access to a user-friendly portal that allows them to manage the movement of their staff through pre-set travel programmes. It could also help businesses win favour among employees and customers by subsidising rides. But more on that later.

Uber for Business: How does it help me get around?

Already used by nearly five-million Australians, the Uber app is highly recognisable.Once your company and employees are set up, users can easily switch their app between

business and personal use, with the process of booking rides the same as the one you already know.

If you need a ride immediately, open the app, toggle to your business account and book. Know the exact time you’re going to travel later? Use Uber Reserve to book a ride up to 30 days in advance.

Don’t worry if you’re running a little late, as your driver can wait for five minutes, or 15 minutes if you’ve booked a Premier trip in a luxury vehicle. This includes Sydney Airport’s limousine pick-up zone.

Speaking of airports, and perhaps best of all, your team can even earn Qantas Points for each dollar spent on the fare, when travelling to and from eligible airports around Australia, such as the new dedicated Uber pick-up zone at Melbourne Airport.

Uber for Business: Booking for employees

Getting started is easy. Workers simply link their personal Uber account with the details set up by their business.

Businesses can either set up a payment method which, like regular Uber, is charged per trip. Or, if a certain amount is likely to be spent each month, trips can be billed to an invoice and sent to the company for payment each month.

Rides are not the only thing Uber for Business can help with. Naturally, your staff need to eat while on the move, so they can enjoy 780,000 restaurants around the world through Uber Eats, adhering to pre-set company budgets and policies, of course. So go easy on the champagne and caviar.

Uber for Business: Booking for customers

Repeat business and loyalty is everything these days. Uber for Business can help with this too.

You can book your clients a luxury ride to and from your office, potentially taking stress away from landing that contract, while Uber Eats could even have a bottle of champagne delivered in time for their return.

Have a loyal customer celebrating a personal or professional milestone? Imagine the look of surprise and delight on their face when a thoughtful cake or a gift turns up at their door. You can do that too.

Your customer doesn’t even need the Uber app themselves. They’ll receive text messages with information about their trip, with their progress easily monitored. And with no limit to the number of rides happening at once, you can have your team and customers moving about the world simultaneously.

Uber for Business: How can I manage my company account?

If setting up the account is easy, managing it is even easier with Uber for Business’ dashboard – Central – which helps keep you in control of your entire team’s use of Uber around the world.

From this interface, a company administrator can set rules on what time of the day travel can take place (such as only between 9am-5pm), offer subsidised travel under certain conditions, limit the type of vehicles that can be booked, or even allocate a certain number of rides for a particular project or department. It’s a game changer.

Whether your employees are travelling in all corners of the globe or just to the next suburb and back, Central can keep tabs on everyone’s journey progress, with full integration with SAP Concur and many other leading expense management systems.

Central also generates reports to help manage costs and keep transport budgets in check, whether you’re a team of one, a few dozen, or even thousands.

Get in touch with the Uber for Business team today to learn how you can move and feed your employees and customers.