<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Cindy Ord/Stringer</span></p><p class="caption">Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul><li><strong>On Tuesday, Slack announced a new tool called Actions, which make it easier to update outside applications without leaving the Slack window.</strong></li><li><strong>Actions let users complete tasks like approving an expense report that's stored on Expensify, or assigning a task stored on the project management tool Asana, from within the Slack app.</strong></li><li><strong>The launch of Actions also reveals a pivotal shift in how <keyword id="6356323" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="enterprise">enterprise</keyword> tech works. Competing companies are choosing to work together to improve the customer experience.</strong></li></ul><p> </p><p>Slack wants to be a central communication hub for all-things work related, and its latest update does just that.</p><p>On Tuesday, the workplace messaging tool launched Actions, a new feature that lets Slack users engage with other business applications like Atlassian, Zendesk, and HubSpot without leaving the Slack interface.</p><p>Consider Asana, a project management platform that helps teams manage and organize projects. If you're trying to take stock of what your obligations and assignments are, it may be useful to open up Asana and take it all in. But if you're in Slack when a coworker asks you to take responsibility for a specific element of a project, it will save you both time and focus to add this new task to Asana without leaving Slack at all.</p><p>By simply right clicking on your colleague's request in Slack, you'll now be able to update your information within Asana. </p><p>It's through alliances like this, which Slack has brokered with some of the most popular office software companies, that the company is enabling people to have a single continuous workflow within the Slack platform. </p><p>While Actions add a layer of convenience to Slack, such integrations weren't possible in the corporate landscape of yesteryear. It's a marked shift in how business software partnerships work.</p><p>Historically in enterprise tech, there was what's known as vendor lock-in. If you bought hardware or software from a vendor like Oracle, for example, you could only use their products. And since many enterprise tech contracts involved thousands of dollars investments, companies were hesitant to switch vendors just to get a specific piece of software.</p><p>There was no way to make products from different companies talk to one another - primarily because companies weren't incentivized to give up their competitive advantage. </p><p>But today, competing companies are a lot more comfortable integrating their products with one another if it improves the customer experience. Slack has over 1,500 applications in its app store including strategic partnerships with <span>Google, Workday, SAP, Salesforce, Oracle and</span><span> ServiceNow. And 94% of the paid teams on Slack use applications. </span></p><p>While companies don't need to have a partnership with Slack to build an application or Action integration, it is up to system administrators to enable the tools for their staffs. So you may have an Expensify account, but the integration won't work unless your company enables it. </p><p>Here's how actions work: </p>

Slack's latest update may seem small, but it could make your work day way more efficient

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Brex</span></p><p class="caption">Pedro Franceschi (left) and Henrique Dubugras are the cofounders of Brex.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li>Brex, a startup that issues corporate credit cards to early-stage companies, plans to launch a new offering in April with more mature accounting features.</li><li>The new card, which has yet to be named, will allow companies' financial departments to review and approve purchases made on the card.</li><li>With the launch of the product, Brex is aiming to meet the evolving needs of its startup client base, some of which want more accounting controls.</li></ul><p>Startups' needs evolve quickly. </p><p>Brex understands that better than most. The San Francisco-based startup <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/brex-unicorn-billion-2018-10">built a $1.1 billion business</a> in just over two years catering specifically towards young companies.</p><p>Brex offers corporate credit cards to startups with no personal guarantee or credit history required, instead setting a credit limit based on companies' available cash balance.</p><p>But <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/brex-series-b-pitch-deck-fundraising-2018-8">just as Brex has grown</a>, so too have its clients. Companies Brex served in its infancy now have more mature financial needs.</p><p>That's why Brex has plans to launch a new card in April geared specifically towards more established startups, according to people familiar with the matter.  The new card, which has yet to be named, will feature more detailed accounting controls, including the ability to review and approve purchases, and better integration with firms' accounting software like QuickBooks, Expensify, Xero, and NetSuite. </p><p>A Brex spokesperson declined to comment on the new offering. </p><p><em><strong>Read more:</strong> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/brex-unicorn-billion-2018-10">It took only a year and a half for these 22-year-olds to build a billion-dollar company. Here's how they did it.</a></em></p><p>Brex's current offering has become popular among startups in Silicon Valley, where obtaining a corporate credit card can sometimes be a painstaking process due to the company's lack of credit history. The card functions as a charge card, meaning users need to pay their balance in full at the end of each billing cycle. </p><p>However, as Brex's client base matures, spending needs become more complex. Often times, a company's CFO would prefer to move spending off a card and instead deal with invoices, which are easier to maintain and oversee from an accounting perspective. </p><p><em><strong>See more:</strong> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/brex-series-b-pitch-deck-fundraising-2018-8">A buzzy startup raised $57 million from Peter Thiel and Y Combinator using these 19 slides</a></em></p><p>The newest offering allows Brex to keep pace with some of the evolved needs of its clients, according to a person familiar with the matter. A separate card will be created, as opposed to updating the current card, in an effort to avoid overwhelming startups with less sophisticated needs, the person added. </p><p>There is already an appetite for the new card. Between 50 and 100 of Brex's current clients will migrate to the new card upon its launch, the person said.</p><p>Brex has already had a busy 2019. In February, the startup launched a card <a href="https://brex.com/posts/ecommerce">specifically for ecommerce</a>. Built to help firms manage the ebbs and flows of inventory costs, clients using the ecommerce card have 60 days to payback each expense, as opposed to a bills being consolidated to one payment due every 30 days.</p><div><div data-piano-inline-content-wrapper=""><p><em><strong><a href="http://newsletter.businessinsider.com/join/4np/wall-st-insider&amp;hash=f4e91136c13f3c40c496d77bc7347502">Sign up here</a><span> </span>for our weekly newsletter Wall Street Insider, a behind-the-scenes look at the stories dominating banking, business, and big deals.</strong></em></p></div></div>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/best-9-things-to-do-in-puerto-rico-2019-1">Puerto Rico was named the No. 1 place to travel this year. Here are 9 of the best ways to see the island</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

Brex, the billion-dollar startup backed by Peter Thiel and Y Combinator, plans to launch a new card for more mature fintechs

<p><em>Hello everyone! Welcome to this weekly roundup of Business Insider stories from co-Editor in Chief Matt Turner. </em><strong><a href="http://newsletter.businessinsider.com/join/4np/insider-weekly"><em>Subscribe here to get this newsletter in your inbox every Sunday.</em></a></strong></p><p><em>Read on for more on the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/yachting-sexual-harassment-abuse-investigation-2020-10">dark secret at the heart of the yachting industry</a>, a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/profile-of-rolling-stone-magazine-owner-jay-penske-2020-10">profile of playboy turned pragmatic media mogul Jay Penske,</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nxivm-survivor-india-oxenberg-on-keith-raniere-mlm-style-tactics-2020-10">an interview with Nxivm survivor India Oxenberg</a>. </em></p><p>Hello!</p><p>I want to start by highlighting three in-depth stories we published in the past 24 hours. </p><ul><li>Rob Price, Meghan Morris, and Becky Peterson described the 199 days that doomed Quibi, and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/inside-quibis-175-billion-rise-and-six-month-fall-2020-10">explain how $1.75 billion couldn't save the most hyped app of the year from a pandemic and apathetic users</a>.</li><li>Patrick Coffee and Tanya Dua published the inside story on the biggest independent ad agency, The Richards Group, where <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/old-school-advertising-agency-richards-group-faces-claims-racism-sexism-2020-10">some say an old-school culture that included all-male retreats fueled racism and sexism</a>.</li><li>Melia Russell and Dan DeFrancesco talked to insiders at Coinbase, who <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coinbase-brian-armstrong-bitcoin-cryptocurrency-profile-2020-10">detailed the communication quirks of controversial CEO Brian Armstrong that contributed to an employee exodus. </a></li></ul><h2><strong>Yacht crew members describe rampant <keyword id="6367610" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="harassment">harassment</keyword></strong></h2><p>From Hillary Hoffower:</p><p style="padding-left: 40px;"><em>At the core of the <keyword id="154770" type="SPORT" weightage="60" keywordseo="yachting">yachting</keyword> industry, which portrays a glamorous lifestyle of working in paradise on multimillion-dollar vessels, may be a dark secret: a rampant sexual-harassment problem.</em></p><p style="padding-left: 40px;"><em>About 65% of yacht crew members who responded to a 2018 survey by the Professional Yachting Association said they had witnessed or been aware of an incident of physical or verbal sexual harassment on board. Nearly 40% of the 870 respondents in the survey — whose findings were presented at the Monaco Yacht Show — said they had experienced unwanted physical contact, and half said they had received unwanted sexual or sexist comments.</em></p><p style="padding-left: 40px;"><em>Only 22% of respondents who said they experienced sexual harassment also said they reported it.</em></p><p style="padding-left: 40px;"><em>Business Insider spoke with 15 current or former yacht crew members. Of those, 11 came forward with firsthand allegations of sexual harassment while on board. Many asked to remain anonymous for fear of repercussions within the industry. Another four former and current crew members told Business Insider that they experienced verbal abuse, bullying, and discrimination on board.</em></p><p>Read the full story here:</p><ul><li><strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/yachting-sexual-harassment-abuse-investigation-2020-10">Superyachts, night shifts, and nowhere to hide: 15 current and former yacht crew members describe rampant harassment in one of the world's most seemingly glamorous industries</a></strong></li></ul><h2>From playboy to pragmatic media mogul</h2><div type="image" title="Media mogul, Jay Penske (right), pictured with his wife, Elaine Irwin." height="1453" width="1938" msid="78861371" hostid="261"></div><p>From Julia Black:</p><p style="padding-left: 40px;"><em>He has movie-star good looks, a former Victoria's Secret model wife, and a billionaire father.</em></p><p style="padding-left: 40px;"><em>Now Jay Penske can lay claim to the second-largest audience in digital publishing in the US.</em></p><p style="padding-left: 40px;"><em>On September 23, Penske Media Corporation, or PMC, which owns Rolling Stone, Variety, and Women's Wear Daily, announced it would take control of The Hollywood Reporter, Billboard, and Vibe as part of a joint venture with the entertainment company MRC. The new entity will be called PMRC. The move will create a near-monopoly on Hollywood industry <keyword id="6355005" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="news">news</keyword> — and put PMC ahead of publishers like Meredith, Condé Nast, and BuzzFeed, with a <a href="https://www.comscore.com/Insights/Rankings" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Comscore ranking</a> second only to Hearst's.</em></p><p style="padding-left: 40px;"><em>Business Insider interviewed more than 30 of Penske's current and former executives, editorial staffers, and media industry peers about the press-shy CEO. Many requested to remain anonymous for fear of repercussions from the company. These conversations revealed an eccentric and dynamic entrepreneur determined to defy the odds in publishing and to prove himself outside of his family name.</em></p><p>You can read the full story here:</p><ul><li><strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/profile-of-rolling-stone-magazine-owner-jay-penske-2020-10">Jay Penske, owner of Rolling Stone magazine, has transformed from playboy to pragmatic media mogul</a></strong></li></ul><p>Also read:</p><ul><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/kushner-talking-up-trump-branded-media-outlet-gop-sources-say-2020-10">Jared Kushner floating launch of a new Trump-branded media outlet, GOP sources say. It's another sign of a looming 2020 defeat.</a></li></ul><h2>India Oxenberg speaks out</h2><div type="image" title="India Oxenberg courtesy of STARZ" height="1845" width="2461" msid="78861374" hostid="261"></div><p>From Melkorka Licea:</p><p style="padding-left: 40px;"><em>When India Oxenberg dropped out of college at 19, she had dreams of starting her own catering company in Los Angeles. </em></p><p style="padding-left: 40px;"><em>But despite her passion for the culinary arts, she felt she was lacking a kind of business acumen. </em></p><p style="padding-left: 40px;"><em>"I felt like I was missing a lot of skills," Oxenberg, now 29, told Business Insider. "And I felt like I was missing the confidence that I needed to even just pursue something like that ... Something entrepreneurial is hard regardless, let alone being 19." </em></p><p style="padding-left: 40px;"><em>Oxenberg's ears perked up at a business opportunity raised by her mother, the former "Dynasty" star Catherine Oxenberg. It was a new training program called the Executive Success Program, run by a group called Nxivm. The pair soon attended an in-person introduction put on by the group.</em></p><p style="padding-left: 40px;"><em>Little did she know, it would launch her on a seven-year journey into one of the most notorious cults in American history, where she said she was psychologically and physically tortured and abused, and even branded with another human being's initials.</em></p><ul><li><strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nxivm-survivor-india-oxenberg-on-keith-raniere-mlm-style-tactics-2020-10">Nxivm cult leader Keith Raniere used 'multilevel marketing' tactics to lure members who eventually became branded 'slaves,' according to survivor India Oxenberg</a></strong></li></ul><h2>Hear from the CEOs of Netflix, Nasdaq, Mastercard, Lululemon, Vice, and more</h2><p>The <a href="https://trendsfestival.com/">Business Insider Global Trends</a> event took place last week, bringing together speakers from Asia, Europe, and North America for a five day digital event. Here are some of the highlights:</p><ul><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/netflix-reed-hastings-interview-on-co-ceo-model-competition-covid-2020-10">Netflix co-CEO Reed Hastings compares the company's new dual leadership model to a family with 2 parents: 'It can be incredibly powerful'</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasdaq-ceo-adena-friedman-public-cloud-trading-venues-adoption-interview-2020-10">Nasdaq's CEO says the cloud is the 'future of the industry' and the tech could be used to conduct actual trading within the next decade</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mastercard-incoming-ceo-michael-meibach-payments-economic-recovery-2020-10">Mastercard's incoming CEO explains how the card giant is trying to level the playing field for SMBs competing with big-box retailers</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/4-ways-lululemon-thrived-during-the-pandemic-according-to-ceo-2020-10">4 ways Lululemon outsmarted a potential pandemic downfall and kept business booming while other retailers struggled to stay afloat, according to CEO Calvin McDonald</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/vices-nancy-dubuc-talks-about-platforms-revenue-diversification-2020-2020-10">Vice Media's Nancy Dubuc explains why publishers should be wary of Google and Facebook's news-funding efforts</a></li></ul><p>Here are some headlines from the past week you might have missed. </p><p>— Matt</p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/apparel-workers-forced-return-to-office-face-firing-pay-cuts-2020-10">'We're terrified': The company that makes Calvin Klein and Guess jeans is forcing workers to head back into a full-capacity office or be fired</a></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/twilio-salaries-revealed-engineers-product-managers-2020-10">Twilio salaries revealed: Here's how much engineers, product managers, and more make at the $48 billion cloud communications company that's skyrocketed amid the pandemic</a></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/headhunters-technology-industry-ceo-board-c-level-2020-10">Meet 9 headhunters that top technology companies turn to when they need to hire a new CEO or board member</a></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/blackstone-careers-hiring-process-interview-questions-analyst-recruiting-how-to-2020-10">Blackstone president Jon Gray reveals how to stand out to land a job at the ultra-competitive firm, which hired just 0.5% of applicants for 2020 analyst jobs</a></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/founder-wrote-a-blunt-email-to-investor-when-cutting-ties-2020-10">A founder wrote a brutally honest email to one of his VCs when he severed the relationship, and Silicon Valley can't stop talking about it</a></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/expensify-ceo-david-barrett-vote-against-biden-vote-against-democracy-2020-10">'Anything less than a vote for Biden is a vote against democracy': Expensify's CEO tells us why the company emailed 10 million customers urging them to vote for Biden</a></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/millennium-israel-izzy-englander-network-family-tree-alumni-hedge-fund-2020-10">Inside the alumni network of billionaire Israel Englander, the founder of $46 billion hedge-fund behemoth Millennium</a></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pitch-deck-thirty-madison-earns-47-million-investment-from-jj-2020-10">How 2 former Googlers convinced Johnson &amp; Johnson to bet on the hottest part of healthcare and raised $47 million in the process</a></p>

15 current and former yacht crew members describe rampant harassment in one of the world's most glamorous industries

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"><html><body><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>These days, work doesn't end because you're away from the office - even if you're thousands of miles and a few time zones away. As business travel becomes more common for employees at all levels, it's important for people to stay connected with colleagues and be productive while they're on the road.</p><p>Of course, if you have a smartphone, there are tons of apps out there that can help you manage work while away from home.</p><p>Here are five that will help business travelers get as much done on the road as they could at the office.</p><p><strong>1. </strong><strong><a href="http://help.expensify.com/mobile/" target="_blank">Expensify</a></strong></p><p>Expense reports are a necessary part of business, but they're so time consuming that most of us put off doing them as long as we can. Expensify helps with this by putting the ability to track mileage and time, as well as organize receipts, instantly at your fingertips. The SmartScan feature allows you to snap a photo of your receipt, and the app will do the rest of the work that's usually done manually, such as attaching the receipt to the related credit card expense. </p><p><strong>2. <a href="http://adfarm.mediaplex.com/ad/ck/21224-213092-26523-12?mpt=%5BCACHEBUSTER%5D" target="_blank">join.me</a></strong></p><p>Even though you're away from the office on business, you still need to participate in meetings. The <a href="http://adfarm.mediaplex.com/ad/ck/21224-213092-26523-12?mpt=%5BCACHEBUSTER%5D" target="_blank"><strong>join.me</strong></a> app offers a virtual meeting space that lets you share files, brainstorm via the Mobile Whiteboard, and even hold audio conferences. The app's one-touch feature makes it really easy to start or access online meetings.</p><p><strong>3. <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/ph/app/easilydo-assistant-for-email/id481881465?mt=8">EasilyDo</a><a href="http://www.splashtop.com/" target="_blank"><br /></a></strong></p><p>Avoid traffic when leaving for your next meeting and get a reminder when you're supposed to reply to emails you've missed. With EasilyDo, you can also access your travel itineraries and automate tasks such as merging contacts.  </p><p><strong>4. <a href="http://www.ulmon.com/#discover-more" target="_blank">CityMaps2Go</a></strong></p><p>Many people end up traveling to the same cities for work so often that they become a home away from home. Using CityMaps2Go can make it feel even more like that. This app will help you navigate areas, save existing places (like your hotel or favorite restaurants), and add notes for future visits. </p><p><strong>5. <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/wi-fi-finder/id300708497?mt=8" target="_blank">Wi-Fi Finder</a></strong></p><p>Not every city has reliable and easy-to-find Wi-Fi, but it's essential for doing work if you're in between your "away" office space and your next destination. Use Wi-Fi Finder to locate the closest free and paid Wi-Fi hotspots near your current location so you can carry on like it's business as usual.</p><p><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;"><a href="http://adfarm.mediaplex.com/ad/ck/21224-213092-26523-12?mpt=%5BCACHEBUSTER%5D" target="_blank">Click here to download join.me for free now.</a></strong></p><p><em>-<em>Written by Jonha Revesencio</em></em></p><p><em>This post is sponsored by <a href="http://adfarm.mediaplex.com/ad/ck/21224-213092-26523-12?mpt=%5BCACHEBUSTER%5D" target="_blank"><strong>join.me</strong></a>.</em></p><p>Find out <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/sponsor-posts">more about Sponsored Content</a>.</p></body></html><p class="tagline"><strong>Follow BI Studios on <a href="https://twitter.com/bi_studios_" target="_blank">Twitter</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/BusinessInsiderStudios" target="_blank">Facebook</a>.</strong></p>

5 apps to help you manage your work on the road

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Intercom</span></p><p class="caption">Intercom CEO Eoghan McCabe</p></div><p></p></div></div></span></p><ul class="summary-list"><li><strong>Eoghan McCabe is the CEO and cofounder of Intercom, one of the fastest growing startups in Silicon Valley.<br /></strong></li><li><strong>Intercom offers services that help companies communicate with their customers.</strong></li><li><strong>McCabe and his partners formed Intercom after being inspired by the personalized service they got at a Dublin coffee shop.<br /></strong></li><li><strong>Intercom is now offering chatbots that can handle customer service.</strong></li></ul><p>Eoghan McCabe, CEO and co-founder of Intercom, first came up with the idea for his business in a coffee shop.</p><p>In Dublin, where McCabe is from, he and his coworkers would frequent a hipster coffee shop called 3fe and chat with the owner, Colin Harmon. There weren't many other coffee shops with that vibe in the city, and McCabe appreciated how Harmon connected with his customers. The personalized service Harmon offered ended up inspiring McCabe and his partners. </p><p>"We got to meet and appreciate the guy, feel the passion for his craft," McCabe said. "We built a relationship with him and paid more for his overpriced coffee."</p><p>He continued: "When we looked at every internet business, they didn't get to connect with us the way Colin connected with us."</p><p>McCabe started thinking about how internet businesses aren't great at interacting with customers. Typically they send customers emails from "donotreply" addresses and then route them through not always helpful "help" desks when they need more support.</p><p>"All these products were really impersonal," McCabe said. "With Colin, if you went into his store and asked, 'We have a question about Colombian roast,' he'd say, 'What is it?'"</p><p>McCabe and co-founders Des Traynor, Ciaran Lee, and David Barrett, soon got to work on a messaging service for companies that became the foundation of Intercom.</p><h2>Intercom has become a billion-dollar company and is growing fast</h2><p>Fast forward seven years to today, and the company has become a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/messaging-startup-intercom-worth-1-275-billion-funding-kleiner-perkins-2018-3">$1.3 billion business</a> headquartered in San Francisco with offices in four other cities. It's one of the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/intercom-is-on-track-to-be-one-of-the-fastest-growing-startups-2017-2">fastest growing startups</a> in Silicon Valley. In March, it raised $125 million in new funds. And just this month, it launched its new product, the Answer Bot.</p><p>When Intercom first began, it focused on creating an instant messaging system to connect companies' customers with their sales, marketing, and support employees. Its next step is to use machine learning and artificial intelligence to create bots that can offer customer support.</p><p>"The first chapter was about getting people back into the mix," McCabe said. "This next chapter is to facilitate automation, bots, to achieve the same vision and mission."</p><p>That may seem contradictory. After all, Intercom's original goal was to make businesses more personal, and bots are literally not persons at all.</p><p>But McCabe says the apparent contradiction goes away if you think about the meaning of "personal."</p><p>It's "all about treating the customer as an individual," he said. "It's about respecting their time and their dignity. It's all about getting them to their ideal outcome.</p><p>"We started to realize these bots and automation technology could do all that - sometimes better than humans."</p><h2>Intercom's bots are designed to help out human workers</h2><p>Intercom's bots aren't pretending to be humans; they're open about being bots. They're also not intended to completely replace human workers. Instead, they're meant to assist them and allow companies to help more customers than they could before.</p><p>If a company only has human workers to handle customer service questions, customers can end up having to wait long periods for someone to handle their queries. Intercom's clients can use Answer Bot to handle some of those questions instead.</p><p>The service uses machine learning, relying on previous conversations between employees and customers to figure out how to answer new queries. Intercom clients can even build their own chatbots using Custom Bot, a product the company released in August.</p><p>While their bots are handling routine questions, companies can route more complicated ones to their human workers.</p><p>"Answer Bot has a deep bank of the questions people ask about that business," McCabe said. "The next time people ask that question, it doesn't get sent to your support team to answer that question for the 2000th damn time. Answer Bot can answer that and say, 'let us know if you need anything else.'"</p><p>McCabe predicts that bots will soon become commonplace. Intercom has over 30,000 paying customers, including <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/banksys-shredded-artwork-girl-with-balloon-value-2018-10">Sotheby's</a>, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/atlassian-is-blowing-up-jira-to-evolve-with-modern-software-developers-2018-10">Atlassian</a>, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/shopify-ceo-explains-his-decision-to-keep-the-company-in-canada-2018-6">Shopify</a>, and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/expensify-is-proud-to-use-humans-in-its-automated-service-2017-11">Expensify</a>, and its service facilitates 500 million conversations a month. To improve its bot technology, the company is doubling down on research and development and expanding its product development team.</p><h2>McCabe and his team learned from past mistakes</h2><p>But leading a company hasn't always been easy, McCabe said. Intercom isn't his first startup - he had previously founded two other ones with the company's other cofounders. Those experiences helped, since he and his partners made a lot of mistakes along the way in their prior ventures.</p><p>"A lot of the dumbest mistakes we got out of the way," he said.</p><p>McCabe and his cofounders learned that to be successful, they needed to figure out how to have their companies do what they're best at while continuing to innovate. Having learned that lesson, he's ready to face the next chapter in automation. And he thinks his company is primed for a major transition in the industry.</p><p>"In the next couple of years, every single business that has invested in trying to accelerate their growth will have simple bots working alongside humans," he said. That will allow them "to have higher quality and faster response to allow humans to do what humans do best."</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wikipedia-founder-jimmy-wales-donald-trump-backlash-is-coming-2018-9">Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales: There's going to be an 'enormous backlash' against Donald Trump's lies</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

This Irish CEO explains how a barista in a hipster coffee shop inspired Intercom, a $1.3 billion startup

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>Nine months ago, Y Combinator graduate <a href="http://realm.io/">Realm</a> launched a mobile database and the world went instantly nuts for it.</p><p>Today the company says its database is already running on 100 million devices.</p><p>That makes it the second-most deployed database in the world, by the calculations of Alexander Stigsen, co-founder and CEO.</p><p>That's because this is an "embedded" database that runs on your mobile device. The databases built by companies like Oracle, Microsoft or MongoDB, are far bigger and more powerful and service millions of applications and billions of people, but they run on fewer devices. They run on computer servers.</p><p>Such traditional databases "run on at most a few dozen million servers," Stigsen tells us. So that makes Realm No. 2 to SQLite, another embedded mobile database, which "runs in every phone and web browser."</p><p>Realm wants to take down SQLite, which is the mobile database recommended by Apple for iOS and Google for Android. SQLite is a rare form of software. It is even more "free" than free and open source software because its code was donated to the public domain. No one needs a license of any kind to use it. It is maintained by volunteers at the <a href="https://sqlite.org/">SQLite Consortium</a>.</p><p>But SQLite is clunky to use. "SQLite was designed over 15 years ago for use on board the US Navy's guided missile destroyers," Realm investor and new board member Andy Vitus <a href="http://www.scalevp.com/a-database-for-your-pocket">wrote in a blog post</a>. (Vitus is a partner with Scale Venture Partners.)</p><p>Realm is not only easier to learn but also up to 100-times faster, Vitus says.</p><p>It was the brainchild of Stigsen and his childhood friend Bjarne Christiansen from Denmark from their days when they were engineers at Nokia. While at Nokia, they discovered a way to make data use less memory on a phone, so apps would work faster. That discovery led them to take on SQLite and invent a new mobile database.</p><p>And some of the biggest names in the Valley noticed. On Tuesday Realm announced that it raised $20 million led by Khosla Ventures and Scale Venture Partners ($29 raised to date).</p><p>Realm's customers include Groupon, Buzzfeed, Intuit, Rite Aid, Zynga, Coinbase, Expensify, Wahoo Fitness, and Fortune 500 companies like banks and hospitals.</p><p>Other investors include Andreessen Horowitz, Greylock, Redpoint, Ignition, SVAngel, Data Collective <a href="https://www.crunchbase.com/funding-round/d3385360b37547eef1f8e93f952307b0/investors">and more</a>.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/going-clear-sundance-premiere-scientology-bombshells-2015-1">6 Crazy Things Revealed In HBO's Explosive New Scientology Documentary 'Going Clear'</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="o5dzJpczpndV8YG9M7cnoa3JXgQXBqja" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

A startup launched 9 months ago by these former Nokia engineers is going absolutely bonkers

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table lead-image-small"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>The Points Guy</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li>The Brex Card is a corporate card that doesn't require a credit check or any personal guarantees. It connects to your corporate bank account, and offers a number of benefits tailored to businesses. </li><li>There are two versions of the card: the <a href="https://oc.brcclx.com/t/?lid=26663747">Brex Corporate Card for Startups</a> and the <a href="https://oc.brcclx.com/t/?lid=26663748">Brex Corporate Card for Ecommerce</a>. There are a few small differences, but neither card charges an annual fee.</li><li>If Brex isn't your exclusive corporate credit card, you'll only earn 1 point per dollar on all purchases. Otherwise, it can earn you up to 7 points per dollar depending on the spending category. So it's really only a rewarding option if it's your company's exclusive card.</li><li>Brex allows you to transfer points to seven airline partners, including JetBlue, and for a limited time you'll earn 75,000 points upon sign-up.</li></ul><p>The <a href="https://oc.brcclx.com/t/?lid=26663747">Brex Corporate Card for Startups</a> and the <a href="https://oc.brcclx.com/t/?lid=26663748">Brex Corporate Card for Ecommerce</a> have both been making the headlines lately, and for good reason. Brex recently added the ability to transfer points to airline partners, making its rewards much more valuable - and it just added a seventh partner, JetBlue.</p><p>As a business card with no personal guarantees and the ability to earn a ton of bonus points, it's definitely worth considering for your business. Here's what you need to know about both versions of this unique card.</p><p><em>Keep in mind that we're focusing on the rewards and perks that make these credit cards great options, not things like interest rates and late fees, which can far outweigh the value of any rewards.</em></p><p><em>When you're working to earn credit card rewards, it's important to practice financial discipline, like paying your balances off in full each month, making payments on time, and not spending more than you can afford to pay back. Basically, </em><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/which-is-better-credit-vs-debit-cards-2018-3"><em>treat your credit card like a debit card</em></a><em>.</em></p><p><em><strong>Read more: </strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/best-small-business-credit-card">The best small business credit cards available now</a></em></p><h2>Brex card details</h2><p><strong>Annual fee:</strong> None</p><p><strong>Sign-up bonus:</strong> 75,000 points upon sign-up</p><p><strong>Points earning:</strong> Up to 7x points when you make Brex your exclusive corporate card</p><p><strong>Foreign transaction fee:</strong> None</p><h2>Fees and spending limit</h2><p>There's no annual fee or startup fee for the Brex cards. You'll only have to think about fees if you need more than five employee cards. Authorized user cards over five will cost $5 per card, per month.</p><p>The Brex card is a charge card without a spending limit, which means you'll have to pay your balance in full each month. While there's no spending limit, Brex may limit how much you can have outstanding on your card at any time.</p><h2>How to sign up</h2><p>How will Brex know if it's your only corporate card, you ask? The Brex card is the only corporate card that doesn't require a credit check, personal guarantee, or a security deposit. Instead, you'll have to link your bank account so that Brex can know what your cash situation is like. (This also allows Brex to know whether you have any other corporate credit cards linked to your bank account.) You'll generally need at least $100,000 in your corporate bank account to be approved for a Brex card.</p><p>With the <a href="https://oc.brcclx.com/t/?lid=26663747">Brex Card for Startups</a> and the <a href="https://oc.brcclx.com/t/?lid=26663748">Brex Card for Ecommerce</a>, there isn't a long process to get approved. In fact, you'll get approved instantly if you qualify. You can use your virtual Brex card as soon as you're approved, and your physical card will arrive in three to five days.</p><p><em><strong>Read more:</strong> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/business-credit-cards-small-business-2019-5">4 credit cards that earn the most value for my small business</a></em></p><h2>Welcome bonus</h2><p>From September 24 to October 31, 2019, you'll earn 75,000 bonus Brex points when you sign up for the <a href="https://oc.brcclx.com/t/?lid=26663747">Brex Card for Startups</a> or the <a href="https://oc.brcclx.com/t/?lid=26663748">Brex Card for Ecommerce</a>. (Previously, the card was offering 30,000 points.) </p><p>Better yet, Brex doesn't stop at a traditional welcome bonus. It also offers welcome credits that can be redeemed with other companies during your first year as a cardmember.</p><p>Here are some of the offers available:</p><ul><li>Amazon Web Services - $5,000 in credit to be used over one year</li><li>Google Ads - $150 credit</li><li>WeWork - 15% off the list price for a six-month membership at a US location</li><li>DocSend - three free months</li><li>Expensify - 50% discount for your first six months</li></ul><h2>Earning rewards with Brex</h2><p>The Brex card offers great rewards, as long as you're willing to make it your exclusive corporate card. Here's what you'll be able to earn for purchases:</p><ul><li>7x points on rideshare, including Lyft, Uber, taxis, and scooters</li><li>4x points on Brex <keyword id="6354692" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Travel">Travel</keyword>, including flights, hotels, and Airbnbs</li><li>3x points at restaurants and coffee shops</li><li>2x points on recurring software charges</li><li>1 point per dollar on all other purchases</li></ul><p>If you don't make Brex your exclusive corporate card, you'll only earn 1 point per dollar spent on all of your purchases. In this case, you'd be better off putting your business spending on a card like the <a href="https://thepointsguy.com/card-details/ink-business-preferred%e2%84%a0-credit-card/?utm_campaign=bi_09172019_cl_brex-card-review&amp;utm_source=referral">Ink Business Preferred Credit Card</a> or the <a href="https://thepointsguy.com/card-details/american-express-business-gold-card/?utm_campaign=bi_09172019_cl_brex-card-review&amp;utm_source=referral">American Express® Business Gold Card</a> to earn bonus points.</p><h2>Redeeming Brex points</h2><p>Brex offers a number of options for redeeming your rewards points. You have the ability to redeem your points for cash back or for travel through Brex Travel, but now that Brex has partnered with seven different airlines for transfers, you have even more flexibility.</p><p>You can transfer your Brex points to the following airlines at a 1:1 ratio:</p><ul><li>AeroMexico Club Premier</li><li>Cathay Pacific Asia Miles</li><li>Avianca LifeMiles</li><li>Air France/KLM Flying Blue</li><li>Qantas Frequent Flyer</li><li>Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer</li><li>JetBlue TrueBlue</li></ul><p>The newest transfer partner is JetBlue, which Brex just added. To celebrate the addition of JetBlue, <a href="https://brex.com/legal/jetblue_contest/">Brex is offering free round-trip flights on JetBlue</a> to employees of the five Brex customers that redeem the most Brex points with the airline. This promotion is running until October 24.</p><h2>Brex Card for Startups vs. the Brex Card for Ecommerce</h2><p>While most of the features of these two versions of the card are the same, there are a few minor differences.</p><h3><a href="https://oc.brcclx.com/t/?lid=26663747">Brex Card for Startups</a> features</h3><ul><li>Brex says that it offers 10 to 20 times higher credit limits than competing cards.</li></ul><h3><a href="https://oc.brcclx.com/t/?lid=26663748">Brex Card for Ecommerce</a> features</h3><ul><li>Interest-free, net-60 payment terms</li><li>Credit limit of 50-100% of your projected monthly sales, up to $5 million</li></ul><h2>Is the Brex card right for you?</h2><p>The Brex card is a great option for two main types of businesses: the business that commits to using the Brex card exclusively and/or the business that can take advantage of the welcome offers that are available for the first year.</p><p>If you're not able to commit to using the Brex Card exclusively, it doesn't make sense to spend money on this card and earn only 1 Brex point per dollar for all purchases, but it could still make sense to sign up and use some of the welcome offers.</p><p>Introducing transfer partners has made the Brex Card a serious corporate card player. If you're considering a new corporate credit card and can commit to Brex exclusively or want to test out some of the services offered with the welcome bonus, take a look at the Brex Card now.</p><h3><a href="https://oc.brcclx.com/t/?lid=26663747">Click here to learn more about the Brex Card for Startups.</a></h3><h3><a href="https://oc.brcclx.com/t/?lid=26663748">Click here to learn more about the Brex Card for Ecommerce.</a></h3><p><strong>More </strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/credit-cards"><strong>credit card</strong></a><strong> coverage</strong></p><ul><li style="font-weight: 400;"><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/best-airline-credit-card-comparison-delta-united-american">What's the best airline credit card?</a></li><li style="font-weight: 400;"><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/best-cash-back-credit-cards">The best cash-back credit cards</a></li><li style="font-weight: 400;"><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/southwest-credit-card-comparison-which-to-get">Southwest credit card review</a></li><li style="font-weight: 400;"><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/best-rewards-credit-cards">Best Rewards Credit Cards</a></li></ul><p class="tagline"><p style="font-size:14px;"><em>Disclosure: This post is brought to you by the Personal Finance Insider team. We occasionally highlight financial products and services that can help you make smarter decisions with your money. We do not give investment advice or encourage you to adopt a certain investment strategy. If you take action based on one of our recommendations, we get a small share of the revenue from our commerce partners. This does not influence whether we feature a financial product or service. We operate independently from our advertising sales team.</em></p><p style="font-size:14px;"><em>Business Insider may receive a commission from The Points Guy Affiliate Network, but our reporting and recommendations are always independent and objective.</em></p><p style="font-size:14px;"><em>Please note: While the offers mentioned above are accurate at the time of publication, they're subject to change at any time and may have changed, or may no longer be available.</em></p></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/area-51-american-conspiracy-theories-aliens-history-animation-video-2017-7">How Area 51 became the center of alien conspiracy theories</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

Brex is a unique corporate credit card with strong rewards and discounts, but it's not for everyone.

<p><div class="image-container float_right"><div class="image"><p class="source"><a href="http://prezi.com/about/peter-arvai/">Prezi</a></p><p class="caption"><keyword id="1598410" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="prezi">Prezi</keyword> CEO Peter Arvai</p></div></div>Get hired. Travel the world. At the same time.</p>
<p>Tech startups have fallen in love with sending employees on fantastic international trips.</p>
<p>For instance, hot San Francisco startup Prezi, the company responsible for all those cool "Prezi" <a href="http://prezi.com/explore/ideas-matter-finalists/">presentations used by Ted Talk speakers</a>, promptly sends every new employee on a trip to Budapest, Hungary.</p>
<p>Prezi was founded by three Hungarian founders, Peter Arvai, Szabolcs Somlai-Fischer and Peter Halacsy, as part of an incubation program called <a href="http://www.kitchenbudapest.hu/">Kitchen Budapest</a>.</p>
<p>"As part of onboarding, everyone goes to Budapest to experience what it's like where we started from," Arvai, Prezi's CEO, told Business Insider.</p>
<p>Plus, the whole company meets up in Budapest twice a year. They call it "Power Week," and they spend the time strategizing about the future.</p>
<p>That's no small task. Prezi has 170 employees, Arvai says, most of them in San Francisco. It still has a Budapest office, home to about <a href="http://prezi.com/jobs/">about 25 workers.</a></p>
<p>Other startups offer their employees international travel as a perk, too. For instance:</p>
<ul>
<li>At Automattic, the company responsible for the blogging platform WordPress, employees work from home and<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/automattics-awesome-remote-work-culture-2013-8"> have meetups in any exotic location they want,</a> like Greece, Kauai, Amsterdam.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/10-awesome-ways-startups-have-hacked-their-company-culture-2013-5#maptias-founders-moved-the-whole-company-to-morocco-1">Maptia, a tiny startup</a> moved all five of its employees to Morocco to live in a picturesque surfing town called <span>Taghazout,</span> ten feet from the Atlantic Ocean.</li>
<li>San Francisco-based <a href="http://www.crunchbase.com/company/expensify-com">Expensify took its programmers </a>to Istanbul for a month to write one of its apps. When the time came to write another app, the staff went to the Philippines.</li>
</ul>

Hot Valley Startup Prezi Sends Every Employee To Budapest 

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>Exactly a year ago, Y Combinator graduate <a href="http://realm.io/">Realm</a> launched a mobile database.</p><p>The developer world immediately devoured it, and hasn't stopped binging on it every since.</p><p>In March, <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=1&amp;cad=rja&amp;uact=8&amp;ved=0CCIQFjAAahUKEwji1MGixdvGAhXONogKHR4EBoE&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.businessinsider.com%2Frealm-started-by-former-nokia-engineers-is-going-bonkers-2015-3&amp;ei=zXulVaK6Ds7toASeiJiICA&amp;usg=AFQjCNFVzuL7llhRqWbemHx1kJ8JltutqQ&amp;bvm=bv.97949915,d.cGU">when the company was just nine months old</a>, Realm was already running on 100 million devices.</p><p>Today, the company says, it is powering 500 million.</p><p>That's because Realm has attracted the attention of some of the most popular mobile apps around including Pinterest, Groupon, and the BBC - "apps that millions and hundreds of millions of people use," Alexander Stigsen, co-founder and CEO, tells Business Insider.</p><p>"One out of every 10 apps being built today are being built on Realm and that's increasing, very soon it will be closer to 2 in every 10," according to Stigsen's calculations.</p><p><span>Other companies using Realm include Buzzfeed, Intuit, Rite Aid, Zynga, Coinbase, Expensify, Wahoo Fitness, and Fortune 500 companies like banks and hospitals.</span></p><h2><strong>So what does Realm do, anyway?</strong></h2><p>The product is an "embedded" database that runs on your mobile device. These databases are hidden from users' view, but work closely with individual apps to let them store and read data created through the app.</p><p>Realm has zoomed to popularity as an alternative to a SQLite, another embedded mobile database, which also runs in every phone and web browser, and is a popular choice for iPhone and Android apps.</p><p>SQLite is popular in part because its a rare form of software that's even more "free" than free and open source software. It's code was completely donated to the public domain. No one needs a license of any kind to use it. It's maintained by volunteers at the <a href="https://sqlite.org/">SQLite Consortium</a>.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>But <a href="http://www.sebastiandobrincu.com/blog/5-reasons-why-you-should-choose-realm-over-coredata">some developers say </a>that Realm is easier to learn and runs much faster.</p><p>Its popularity has skyrocketed in the past few months in particular because companies are "moving to mobile very fast," Stigsen says.</p><p>Every company these days is creating mobile apps and bigger companies <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/oracle-nabs-xamarin-as-a-cloud-partner-2015-7">are building up to 30</a> apps apiece to be used by customers, employees, and business partners.</p><p>This is great news for companies that cater to mobile app developers, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/oracle-nabs-xamarin-as-a-cloud-partner-2015-7">from Realm to Xamarin (which provides easy tools for traditional developers to write to mobile platforms).</a></p><p>Stigsen created Realm with his childhood friend Bjarne Christiansen  when they both worked as engineers at Nokia. At that time, they discovered a way to make data use less memory on a phone, so apps would work faster, which eventually led them to build a new database.</p><p>Realm last spring raised $20 million led by Khosla Ventures and Scale Venture Partners. It's raised $29 million to date, and other backers include Andreessen Horowitz, Greylock, Redpoint, Ignition, SVAngel, Data Collective <a href="https://www.crunchbase.com/funding-round/d3385360b37547eef1f8e93f952307b0/investors">and more</a>.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/going-clear-sundance-premiere-scientology-bombshells-2015-1">6 Crazy Things Revealed In HBO's Explosive New Scientology Documentary 'Going Clear'</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="o5dzJpczpndV8YG9M7cnoa3JXgQXBqja" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

A startup launched a year ago by these former Nokia engineers is already powering half a billion smartphones 

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right"><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/michalo/2094505702/">Flickr/michalo</a></span></p></div><p></p></div>Are you leaving money on the table when you travel for work?</p>
<p>There are plenty of hidden costs associated with traveling that rookie business travelers end up overpaying or having to pay out of pocket for. But there are also some simple tricks that will save them time and money.</p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">We've rounded up a few of the most common mistakes travelers make that could wind up costing them. </span></p>
<p><strong>Leaving expense reports to the last minute. </strong><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Waiting to file expense reports is an accident waiting to happen. You could easily lose cab or meal receipts and wind up footing the bill out of your own pocket. Plus, there are often cash-only expenses that aren't as easy to keep tabs on without a physical receipt. To make your life easier, use an organizational app like </span><a href="https://www.expensify.com/" target="_blank">Expensify</a><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> or </span><a href="http://lemon.com/plans/business/" target="_blank">Lemon</a><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> to snap photos and download receipts along the way. When you've finished your trip, it takes only a few minutes to categorize expenses and organize them into a shareable spreadsheet.</span></p>
<p><strong>Forgetting to deduct expenses at tax time</strong>. If your company's per diem for food and lodging isn't ample enough for your tastes, don't forget that you can still get a <a href="http://biztaxlaw.about.com/od/taxdeductionsatoz/a/travelexpenses.htm" target="_blank">tax break for business-related expenses</a>. Just do your homework first to find out what qualifies. (Hint: That dinner cruise or sight-seeing expense probably won't fly with Uncle Sam.) </p>
<p><strong>Forgetting to let your bank in on your itinerary. </strong>There's nothing worse than swiping your credit card overseas only to be denied because you just tripped your bank's anti-fraud detector. It takes a few minutes to call up your bank before traveling to let them know your destination and to be ready to see some international transactions.</p>
<p><strong>Using currency exchange counters. </strong>No matter what the glossy currency exchange counters tell you, they won't offer the most competitive rates. Take out cash from ATMs to get the most bang for your buck, or simply use your credit card when possible. </p>
<p><strong>Using the wrong credit card. </strong>Foreign transaction fees are any traveler's worst nightmare. That's the fee your lender will slap on every transaction you make in a different country. Do yourself a favor and be sure to carry a card that either waives these fees - or better, doesn't come with them in the first place. <a href="http://www.cardhub.com/best-travel-credit-cards/">Cardhub</a>, <a href="http://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/top-credit-cards/nerdwallets-best-travel-credit-cards/">Nerdwallet</a>, and other credit rating sites often come out with lists of the best travel cards on the market. The <a href="http://www.capitalone.com/credit-cards/venture-rewards/?Log=1&amp;EventType=Link&amp;ComponentType=T&amp;LOB=MTS%3A%3ALCTMMQC4S&amp;PageName=31&amp;TargetLob=MTS%3A%3ALCTMMQC4S&amp;TargetPageName=Venture+Card+Details&amp;external_id=WWW_RZ317_ZZZ_ONL-SE_ZZZGO_ZZ_ZZ_T_SEM2_ZZVC_Z18_450727581_12546836112" target="_blank">Capital One Venture Card</a> topped both their lists for 2013.</p>

5 Business Travel Mistakes That Are Costing You Money

<div style="padding: 15px; border: 1px solid #999999; margin-bottom: 10px; font-size: 15px!important; line-height: 25px; overflow: auto; vertical-align: middle;"><em>This is part of the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/category/checking-in"><em>"Checking In"</em></a> series, which offers expert tips, tricks, and advice for savvy business travelers. "<keyword id="1742571" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Checking-In">Checking In</keyword>" is sponsored by Four Points.</em> <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/category/checking-in"><em><strong>Read more posts in the series »</strong></em></a></div><p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right"><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/michalo/2094505702/">Flickr/michalo</a></p></div><p></p></div>Taking an extended trip away from the office is often a necessary step in getting your business to the next level, but doing so can get expensive. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">That's where expense reports come in.  </span></p>
<p>"For traveling business people, not going overboard is really good advice," says Pauline Frommer, who travels often in her role as publisher of <a href="http://www.frommers.com/">Frommers.com</a>. "There's nothing more embarrassing than turning in an expense report with the wrong information."  </p>
<p><span>The key is to know your company's expense policies, since they differ from business to business. But for <keyword id="6380337" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="expenses">expenses</keyword> that may not be entirely covered by your company, it helps to be familiar with <a href="http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc511.html">IRS tax code</a>. </span><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">Most business <keyword id="6354692" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Travel">travel</keyword>ers know that they can write off their flights, hotels, and meals as necessary travel expenditures. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"></span><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">Here are some things you might not have known were tax-deductible: </span></p>
<ol>
<li>
<p><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;">Dry cleaning: </strong><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Sometimes trips last longer than expected. </span><a href="http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc511.html">According to the IRS</a><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">, expenses for dry cleaning and laundry are tax-deductible as a business cost, so there's no excuse for not looking presentable at meetings when you're traveling. </span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;">Calls and other forms of communication: </strong><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">It may be obvious to charge long-distance calls to your expense account, but you may not know that faxes and Internet connection fees could also be deducted. </span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;">Convention travel (even on cruise ships):</strong><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> Travel for workshops, conferences, and seminars are deductible if you can prove that it has a direct business purpose. You can even attend </span><a href="http://www.bizfilings.com/toolkit/sbg/tax-info/fed-taxes/deducting-business-related-travel-expenses.aspx">a convention on a cruise ship</a><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> if it takes place on a U.S.-registered vessel that doesn't make any stops outside of the country. </span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;">Shipping work material:</strong><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> If you're </span><a href="http://smallbusiness.chron.com/shipping-charges-business-tax-deductible-14331.html">traveling for a trade show</a><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> and need to display your products to potential buyers, you can get a tax deduction for the cost of shipping your materials to your destination ahead of time.</span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;">Stenographer fees: </strong><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">If, for example, you'll need to hire a stenographer to transcribe legal documents or keep official records of shareholder votes, you can write off any associated fees as travel expenses. </span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;">Computer rental: </strong><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Things happen, and you may need to rent a computer in a hurry. Computer rental services like services like </span><a href="http://www.rentacomputer.com/press/2007/09/why-lease-computer-and-av-equipment">Rentacomputer.com</a><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> or </span><a href="http://www.rushcomputer.com/solutions_events.aspx">Rushcomputer.com</a><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> will take care of it, and you can write off the cost. </span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;"><keyword id="52765" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="business-travel">Business travel</keyword> by RV</strong><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;">:</strong><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> If you can prove that traveling by RV is ordinary and necessary for your business, any expenses associated with </span><a href="http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc511.html">maintaining and owning a house trailer</a><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> are tax-deductible. </span></p>
</li>
</ol>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p><span>Keeping track of expenses incurred on your trip is essential to getting reimbursed by your company. <span>Apps like XpenseTracker, Expensify, or Mileage Tracker can help keep you in check and make sure you're not charging anything that goes beyond tax code or your company's policies. </span></span></p>

7 Business Travel Expenses You Never Knew You Could Write Off

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"><html><body><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>The modern business traveler needs to be both organized and super tech savvy for maximum productivity and efficiency gains. From choosing the right place to stay to packing smartly and being switched on at the airport, the most experienced business travelers never miss a trick. </p><p><a href="http://www.booking.com/?utm_source=business_insider&amp;utm_campaign=PR_Q4&amp;utm_medium=article&amp;aid=1192194" rel="nofollow">Booking.com for Business</a> suggests some of the best <keyword id="6354692" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Travel">travel</keyword> hacks to help you travel smarter and enjoy stays in the simplest and most rewarding way.</p><h2> 1. Be an accommodation guru</h2><p>The last thing you need on a business trip is to arrive at an apartment, villa or hotel without Wi-Fi, or be stuck in the middle of a hectic hen-do when you're trying to prepare for an important presentation. That's why it's worth finding a destination that has been recommended by other business travelers. <a href="http://www.booking.com/?utm_source=business_insider&amp;utm_campaign=PR_Q4&amp;utm_medium=article&amp;aid=1192194" rel="nofollow"><u>Booking.com for Business</u></a> provides access to more than 700,000 properties with verified reviews from millions of business travelers, with 10% off selected properties for account holders.</p><p>As business travel evolves beyond the one-size-fits-all approach of the past, you can find a different, unexpected place to stay on your next business trip. <a href="http://www.booking.com/?utm_source=business_insider&amp;utm_campaign=PR_Q4&amp;utm_medium=article&amp;aid=1192194" rel="nofollow">Booking.com for Business</a> also has a range of diverse properties from apartments and homestays to boats and treehouses and more, everywhere from major cities to mountains and coasts. </p><h2>2. Get smart with your air miles and airport time</h2><p>If you travel frequently for business, then it's really worth being loyal to one airline. Not only will you have access to more perks, but it's more likely that you will get an upgrade. You could also consider signing up for a rewards credit card. This will also let you earn points and save miles regardless of which airline you choose.</p><p>Arrive at the airport early and make use of the airport lounge, which can be a great place to unwind or get some extra work done for a small sum - which you can claim as a legitimate business expense. </p><h2>3. Find the right travel tech apps </h2><p>Keeping a record of and claiming expenses, as well as keeping on top of boarding cards and schedules, is one of the main headaches of business travel. Air miles tracking apps can be a lifesaver, such as AwardWallet, a one-stop shop for tracking miles from all of your accounts or TripIt, an invaluable app to keep your entire travel itinerary in one place. </p><p>There are also plenty of apps that can help, letting you track any kind of expense as well as billable time and mileage, too. Wi-Fi app finders are also great and will direct you to the nearest zone and you will avoid paying those expensive roaming charges. </p><p>Don't get caught unaware by currency rates again. XE is the go-to place for currency conversions. It also functions offline by saving the last updated rates, which is great if you're in a place with limited connectivity or trying to save on data.</p><p>Because business trips aren't always predictable, the <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/booking.com-worldwide-hotel/id367003839?mt=8" rel="nofollow">Booking app</a> from Booking.com helps you find a room at a moment's notice. Stand on any street anywhere in the world and the app will use your personal preferences to automatically suggest accommodation choices based on your current location, as well as provide a step-by-step route map to get you there quickly.</p><h2>4. Be on top of your packing game </h2><p>Remember: Frequent fliers never check their luggage.</p><p>David Barrett, founder and CEO of Expensify, only carries a bag slightly larger than a tennis racket case. He <a href="https://www.azeusconvene.com/jetsetting-ceos-best-travel-tips/" rel="nofollow">says:</a> "Aim to travel light enough that you can carry everything with you at all times - to the conference, to dinner, to the meetings, everywhere. It's a business trip, after all, and to make the most of it you need to be out shaking hands, not ferrying back and forth to your hotel room."</p><p>If you do lots of back-to-back business travel, save time by keeping a partially packed suitcase, suggests Gillian Tans, president of <a href="http://www.booking.com/?utm_source=business_insider&amp;utm_campaign=PR_Q4&amp;utm_medium=article&amp;aid=1192194" rel="nofollow">Booking.com</a>. "Replenish toiletries and essentials as soon as you return," she says. "Then, next time you have to pack, you've only got to add some business clothes and you're ready to go."</p><h2><strong>5. Think about all of the little details</strong></h2><p>Call your credit or debit card company before heading abroad. This will make sure you're authorized to spend abroad or even in another city within the country. The last thing you want is to be reported for suspicious activity and not have access to your money.</p><p>Also, make sure to have all of your travel documents on email. Scan your passport, ID, and itinerary and email it to yourself so you have a digital copy in the event of loss or theft.</p><p>Make sure you charge up all your devices. Having full power will stop panic at the gates when you need to scan your boarding pass. Remember if you forget to bring a suitable plug adapter, you can always charge your devices through the USB slot on a TV in your hotel room, suite, or apartment.</p><p>Finally, delays are bound to happen so do take time out to check before you leave. "There's no point being at the airport longer than needed," says Tans. "But, remember things change so don't cut it too fine!" </p><h2>6. Find time to enjoy yourself</h2><p>Once the work that originally brought you to the destination is over, extend your stay by a day or two and switch it over to a trip of leisure. In 2016, 49% of business travelers already extend their business trips to further enjoy the destination, while three-quarters (75%) intend to do so the same or more in 2017. (Booking.com collected data from 12,781 respondents aged 18+ across 13 markets in September 2016). If you can't extend your trip, fit a little leisure into your business trip by sampling some of the local cuisine at area restaurants. Most major cities offer free walking tours, which is another great way to see the city from beyond the windows of an office or convention center and learn about the history and culture of the area.</p><p><strong>When next traveling for business or leisure, access more than one million diverse properties at <a href="http://www.booking.com/?utm_source=business_insider&amp;utm_campaign=PR_Q4&amp;utm_medium=article&amp;aid=1192194" rel="nofollow">Booking.com</a></strong><strong>.</strong></p><p><em>This post is sponsored by <a href="http://www.booking.com/?utm_source=business_insider&amp;utm_campaign=PR_Q4&amp;utm_medium=article&amp;aid=1192194" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Booking.com for Business</a>. </em></p></body></html><p class="tagline">Find out <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/sponsor-posts">more about Sponsor Content</a>.</p>

6 tricks the smartest business travelers know

<p><div class="image-container float_right" style="width:400px"><div class="image"></div><p class="source">Milo.com</p><p class="caption"><keyword id="1766522" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Jack-Abraham">Jack Abraham</keyword>, Milo cofounder, led the team that redesigned <keyword id="6357395" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="eBay">eBay</keyword>. (We like to think his dog helped, too.)</p></div>We've <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ebay-new-homepage-walkthrough-2013-2">dinged eBay's redesign</a> for being incomplete—right now, it looks like a new layout on top of an aging marketplace.</p>
<p>But it's actually a big accomplishment that sets eBay up to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ebay-new-homepage-ugly-photos-lack-of-personalization-2013-2">really bring the site into the future of shopping</a>.</p>
<p>Amazingly, the whole redesign took less than a year, from start to finish. </p>
<p>In fact, the core work took place over a two-week period, in secret, and far away from eBay's headquarters in San Jose, Calif.</p>
<p>The project was led by Jack Abraham, the founder of Milo, a local-shopping startup he sold to eBay in 2010. Abraham and eBay haven't spoken much about the development of the new homepage—called the "Feed."</p>
<p>But in tweets and an <a href="http://tamebay.com/2012/10/how-the-new-ebay-feed-was-invented.html">interview Abraham gave to TameBay</a>, an eBay-focused blog, we get a picture of how it went down.</p>
<p>In February 2012, eBay CEO John Donahoe and Abraham sat down for an agenda-free conversation about how eBay could innovate. Abraham pitched the idea for the Feed. Donahoe gave him the go-ahead.</p>
<p>The next day, Abraham flew a team of six people to Australia to develop it. He expressed admiration for <a href="http://t.co/RWMEUE31">Expensify's practice of taking its team abroad for a month</a>, which lets team members bond while keeping them highly productive. With an ocean between the team and headquarters, they were able to avoid politics and just ship code.</p>
<p>The group continued to work on the redesign after proving out the concept. <span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">In October, the redesign rolled out in a test to 10 percent of eBay's users, then progressively expanded; today it became available to all of eBay's users.</span></p>
<p>With the project complete, Abraham is leaving eBay while remaining an advisor to Donahoe. </p>
<p>Now the Feed project is led by Tom Pinckney, a New York-based engineering director who came to eBay through its acquisition of Hunch.</p>
<p>Here are Abraham's tweets:</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p>1 yr ago I pitched John Donahoe on the eBay feed, got the go ahead and flew a team of 6 the next day to Australia. We built it in 2 weeks!</p>
— Jack Abraham (@jackabraham) <a href="https://twitter.com/jackabraham/status/303656748563177473">February 19, 2013</a></blockquote>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p>@<a href="https://twitter.com/sriramk">sriramk</a> partially. We were definitely afraid of politics killing it. Also highly productive that way: <a href="https://t.co/FHo7OTLU" title="https://mobile.twitter.com/jackabraham/status/280423011323084800">mobile.twitter.com/jackabraham/st…</a></p>
— Jack Abraham (@jackabraham) <a href="https://twitter.com/jackabraham/status/303659876436025346">February 19, 2013</a></blockquote>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p>Remote working trips can be incredibly productive. 1) isolation -&gt; focus, 2) time is a forcing function, 3) glues team <a href="http://t.co/RWMEUE31" title="http://read.bi/U2RE85">read.bi/U2RE85</a></p>
— Jack Abraham (@jackabraham) <a href="https://twitter.com/jackabraham/status/280423011323084800">December 16, 2012</a></blockquote>

A Renegade Innovator Inside eBay Took A Team Of Six Halfway Around The Planet To Revamp Its Homepage

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/harriswalkerphotography/3363907175/in/photolist-5rMwqS-68fUpz-bjzSyT-6wPT2G-ndcjx-8pxeum-dSZe91-2fHiFN-79wyQ8-62Yv2h-aB95aZ-8N4AVD-2SgvEj-4zKzJ6-brBai4-5BYsA-6zKecu-7GaaTr-9ny4A9-9ny47U-9k6bsF-9vPgKL-e5dsC8-aeM6kp-53nMN6-kW5Dg-6fNMyT-5DCQy-7TP4Qv-4tLXeT-4TsAZ9-688xhQ-dgYo4g-3gfMn-adwaWV-dPrckv-4TQLMC-7E8fae-3Pa4V-8so8YD-dPxnRe-bo7acj-4C2qz4-aQbnoD-4ZfFBn-cudoZo-dpJGhH-bwLNPV-8un5Vg-67Af9U">Harris Walker/flickr</a></span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p>
<p>There's a ton of new investment going into changing the way we do payments.</p>
<p>We need it.</p>
<p>Most of our transactions rely on eons-old technology. Even newer innovations are starting to show their age, whether in the form of millions of people getting their credit card numbers stolen, or in the fight over how much a credit card company can charge a retailer to sign up for its network. </p>
<p>It ends up costing the economy billions in lost productivity.</p>
<p>At the forefront of the movement to up-end payments is Bitcoin, which has subtly begun morphing from an alternative currency aimed at taking down the dollar <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=1&amp;ved=0CCsQFjAA&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.businessinsider.com%2Fthe-future-of-the-blockchain-2014-4&amp;ei=uVBqU7q6NsTgsASNg4HACA&amp;usg=AFQjCNE_JIi01P6YADBXbcQZkAiKXCtvLQ&amp;sig2=yA6DLL1pcnk3Vxobfs2e7A&amp;bvm=bv.66111022,d.cWc">into a technology capable of addressing lots of payment problems in one go</a>.</p>
<p>But there are lots of other guys and gals in the space. Below is a list of 10 things about payments they've already begun targeting, or, we would kindly suggest, they redouble their efforts on.</p>
<h2>1)  Signatures on receipts</h2>
<p>No. 1 with a bullet. There is no justifiable reason for either buyer or seller to have to deal with this. The ostensible purpose is to <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92278323">indemnify a retailer in case of fraud</a>. But someone has got to come up with a way to enable verification that doesn't involve scribbling on a small piece of paper.</p>
<p><strong>Progress:</strong> Beginning late next year credit card companies <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/corporate-intelligence/2014/02/06/october-2015-the-end-of-the-swipe-and-sign-credit-card/">will introduce technology</a> that will someday allow us to enter a PIN instead.  </p>
<h2>2)  Paper receipts in general</h2>
<p>A few places these days ask if you want your receipt emailed, but this is a rarity. There has to be a more efficient, automated way to keep track of all your transactions without stuffing small small scraps in your pocket.  </p>
<p><strong>Progress:</strong> Jack Dorsey <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/sapna/jack-dorsey-says-the-receipt-is-untapped-canvas-and-publishi">wants to turn receipts</a> into a "full-blown application."</p>
<h2>3)  $10 minimum credit card usage</h2>
<p>You're working late. You're out of cash. All you need is a Coke. You run downstairs to your bodega. You go to pay for the can with your credit card and the guy hits you with a minimum. Project doomed; resentment solidified. </p>
<p>The reason for these minimums is swipe fees, which make the cost of processing small transactions exorbitant for your average retailer and one of the Bitcoin would help alleviate.</p>
<p><strong>Progress:</strong> Wal-Mart is now <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/27/us-walmart-visa-lawsuit-idUSBREA2Q2BJ20140327">suing Visa for $5 billion over swipe fees.</a></p>
<h2>4)  Cashing checks</h2>
<p>Yes, banking apps can now scan checks. But not all do. It would be better if we could simply get rid of checks in general, which are essentially a <a href="https://www.frbatlanta.org/filelegacydocs/er08no4_QuinnRoberds.pdf">centuries-old technology</a>.   </p>
<p><strong>Progress:</strong> <a href="http://www.yapstone.com/">YapStone</a> is slowly but surely working its way through Manhattan to offer check-free rent payments.</p>
<h2>5)  Checks in general</h2>
<p>Studies have shown checks impose enormous burdens on retailers. <a href="http://ideas.repec.org/p/reg/wpaper/247.html">One study</a> has put the all-in cost of a typical grocery store check payment  at $1.21 versus $0.78 for a debit card.</p>
<p><strong>Progress:</strong> <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=1&amp;ved=0CCsQFjAA&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fvenmo.com%2F&amp;ei=-FBqU5TFI8rhsAT70YKQBA&amp;usg=AFQjCNHUyLsk7ZDi-40tpBZzwKQ-baJbXQ&amp;sig2=K29D2nQzWAcqqXmYWPGB1A&amp;bvm=bv.66111022,d.cWc">Venmo</a> has obviated the need for you to write large checks to your friends for money they owe you.</p>
<h2>6)  Hackable retailers storing your credit card info</h2>
<p>It cost the CEO of Target his job, but we should really be blaming the plastic game in general.</p>
<p><strong>Progress:</strong> Blockchain cryptography could help alleviate this problem through the use of two-key encryption. As Ripple manager Alec Liu explained to us in an email, "I<span>f you are making a payment, you would personally access your private key, but the merchant never does-so it takes the merchant out of the equation as a potential vulnerability."</span></p>
<h2>7)  The card part of credit cards</h2>
<p>The physical aspect, at least. You shouldn't have to face a temporary financial crisis if you leave your credit card on the Champ De Mars. </p>
<p><strong>Progress:</strong> Mobile wallets, <a href="nytimes.com/2014/04/28/technology/few-consumers-are-buying-premise-of-mobile-wallets.html">although no one has quite cracked the code to get them to expand en masse. </a></p>
<h2>8)  Having to re-enter your credit card every time you go to a new shopping site</h2>
<p>I used to play a game as a kid where I would try to remember the longest string of numbers possible. I think I got up to about 80 - impressive maybe, but I know I am <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akira_Haraguchi">dwarfed by the capabilities of others</a>. </p>
<p>Now I can't even get to 16.</p>
<p><strong>Progress: </strong>Chrome, <a href="http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp">the world's most popular browser</a>, does have an autofill feature, but it doesn't work on all web pages. It's not clear whether FireFox, the world's second most popular browser, has a similar feature. </p>
<h2>9)  Keep tracking of business expenses</h2>
<p>One final example of the paper mess. Some offices still make you physically staple your receipts to a sheet of paper to turn in. This is like the AOL of filing. </p>
<p><strong>Progress:</strong> <a href="https://www.expensify.com/">Expensify</a></p>
<h2>10)  ACH</h2>
<p>98% of all electronic payment transactions in the U.S. currently go through  a 40-year-old network that began life in the Air Force. It's called ACH. It processes an average of 60 million individual transactions a day. It takes 24 hours, at best, for the transaction to clear both parties' banks. Even the <a href="http://fedpaymentsimprovement.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Payment_System_Improvement-Public_Consultation_Paper.pdf">Fed has called out ACH for being a dinosaur.</a> The goal is "real-time" payments that happen soon after you push go on the transaction. </p>
<p><strong>Progress:</strong> <a href="http://crypt.la/2014/03/28/ripple-aims-to-destroy-the-ach-system/">Ripple</a>, which uses a technology called "consensus" to process transactions instantly.</p>

The Way We Buy Stuff Is Totally Ridiculous - Here's What Needs To Be Fixed

<p><div class="image-container float_right" style="width:400px"><div class="image"></div><p class="source">Flickr via gapys</p></div>In October, the IRS announced it would freeze per diem rates for <keyword id="52765" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="business-travel">business travel</keyword> at 2012 levels –– <a href="http://www.us.kpmg.com/microsite/taxnewsflash/2012/Sep/n-12-63.pdf" target="_blank">$160 to $243 per day</a> for <keyword id="6354692" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Travel">travel</keyword> and just $52 to $65 for food.</p>
<p>That may seem like a fortune to budget travelers, but there are plenty of hidden costs associated with traveling for work that have nothing to do with food or shelter.</p>
<p>Like any craft, learning the ins and outs of saving on business travel takes time. To help, we've rounded up a few of the most common mistakes rookies make that could wind up costing them. </p>
<p><strong style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">Leaving expense reports to the last minute. </strong><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">Waiting to file expense reports is just an accident waiting to happen. You could easily lose cab or meal receipts and wind up footing the bill out of your own pocket, and there are often cash-only expenses that aren't as easy to keep tabs on without a physical receipt. To make your life easier, download an app like <a href="https://www.expensify.com/" target="_blank">Expensify</a> or <a href="http://lemon.com/plans/business/" target="_blank">Lemon</a> to snap photos and download receipts along the way. When you've finished your trip, it takes only a few minutes to categorize expenses and organize them into a shareable spreadsheet.</span></p>
<p><strong>Forgetting to deduct expenses at tax time</strong>. If your company's per diem for food and lodging isn't ample enough for your tastes, don't forget that you can still get a <a href="http://biztaxlaw.about.com/od/taxdeductionsatoz/a/travelexpenses.htm" target="_blank">tax break for business-related expenses</a>. Just do your homework first to find out what qualifies (Hint: That dinner cruise or sight-seeing expense probably won't fly with Uncle Sam). </p>
<p><strong>Traveling without your own WiFi hotspot.</strong> When you're on business, time is money. Don't waste precious minutes wandering around trying to find a working WiFi connection or cell phone reception. Ask your employer to outfit your computer with a WiFi hotspot<strong>. </strong>We're fans of <span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">the </span><a href="http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2402900,00.asp" target="_blank">Verizon Jetpack 4G LTE MiFi</a>. </p>
<p><strong>Forgetting to let your bank in on your itinerary. </strong>There's nothing worse than swiping your credit card overseas only to be denied because you just tripped your bank's anti-fraud detector. It takes a few minutes to call up your bank before traveling to let them know your destination and to be ready to see some international transactions.</p>
<p><strong>Using currency exchange counters. </strong>No matter what the glossy currency exchange counters tell you, they won't offer the most competitive rates. Take out cash from ATMs to get the most bang for your buck, or simply use your credit card when possible. </p>
<p><strong>Using the wrong credit card. </strong>Foreign transaction fees are any traveler's worst nightmare. That's the fee your lender will slap on every transaction you make in a different country. Do yourself a favor and be sure to carry a card that either waives these fees –– or better, doesn't come with them in the first place. <a href="http://www.cardhub.com/best-travel-credit-cards/">Cardhub</a>, <a href="http://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/top-credit-cards/nerdwallets-best-travel-credit-cards/">Nerdwallet</a> and other credit rating sites often come out with lists of the best travel cards on the market. The <a href="http://www.capitalone.com/credit-cards/venture-rewards/?Log=1&amp;EventType=Link&amp;ComponentType=T&amp;LOB=MTS%3A%3ALCTMMQC4S&amp;PageName=31&amp;TargetLob=MTS%3A%3ALCTMMQC4S&amp;TargetPageName=Venture+Card+Details&amp;external_id=WWW_RZ317_ZZZ_ONL-SE_ZZZGO_ZZ_ZZ_T_SEM2_ZZVC_Z18_450727581_12546836112" target="_blank">Capital One Venture Card</a> topped both their lists for 2013.</p>
<p><strong style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">Taking unnecessary trips for the sake of it.</strong><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"> This is 2013, not 1993. There's no reason to waste time and money to fly cross country for a meeting that could just as easily be conducted online or via web cam. Unless you're truly hankering for an excuse to get out of the office, you could win major points from your boss by trimming expenses and taking your business affairs into the digital age.</span></p>
<p><strong>Neglecting your body's needs. </strong>Business travel shouldn't be all work and no rest. Take care of your body along the way by giving yourself time to adjust to time differences and rejigger your sleep schedule. Bring an eye mask and splurge on first class reclining seats if you must. You'll be less likely to make rookie mistakes with a solid seven hours of sleep. That goes double for your diet. Because taste bud sensitivity diminishes with altitude, airplane food is often loaded with extra sodium and flavoring to make it more palatable. Do your gut a favor and bring healthy snacks along with you and try to find a solid meal outside of an airport terminal. </p>

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