Pulse 2.0 Results Released
The challenge has moved inside
Festive Road’s Pulse 2.0 T&E Benchmark Report finds the biggest constraints on travel, meetings and expense programmes are no longer external ones.
A year ago the pressure sat outside the organisation: suppliers falling short, technology not where it needed to be. This year it has moved inside, and what replaced it comes in two parts.
Pulse 2.0 has now benchmarked T&E leaders across 12 countries and 13 industries.
Here is the 2026 snapshot.
The challenge has moved from external to internal.
Two gaps now exist: The Strategy Gap and The Capacity Gap.
The Strategy Gap
T&E leaders shared only:
- 1 in 3are executing strategy well
- 1 in 5are AI ready
- 1 in 6can meet stakeholder needs
The Capacity Gap
Good news: all these gaps are addressable.
Focus for the next 12 months
Top three priorities named by T&E leaders – three foundations, one story. You can't realise the value of one without alignment across all three.
Watch out! Focus on strategy and stakeholders is needed too.
What does this mean for your programme?
Two gaps. One fix. Get the plan right, then build the capacity and capability to deliver it.
Assess your programme, capacity and capability
If half or more of the team's time goes on day-to-day ops, the bandwidth to deliver strategy isn't there.
Design the future state
Build a blueprint for the programme you want in three to five years' time, then work back to what has to be true by the end of this year.
Build the plan
Sequence the quick wins, lock down the long-term moves and put accountability next to each.
What our team sees in the data
”“The story this year is two gaps: the plan and the people. Those two things feed each other. The encouraging part is that leaders are not pessimistic about it, they are impatient. The bar has moved, and they want to get on with the work.”
Caroline Strachan
CEO and Founder, Festive Road
”“The pattern is almost always capacity before anything else, and Pulse 2.0 puts a number on it. If that is where the bandwidth goes, there is no room to deliver strategy. So, the first move is not a grand plan, it is an honest look at where the time actually goes. Foundation first, then the ambitious work.”
Lora Ellis
Head of Consulting, Festive Road
”“The most telling number in this year's Pulse 2.0 is the one that fell. Supplier performance was the biggest constraint in 2025 at 60 percent, and it has dropped to 37. The friction has moved from outside the organisation to inside it, and that changes what good support looks like.”
Mike Orchard
GM APAC & Global Operations, Festive Road
Both gaps are addressable, and the order matters: assess, then design, then build. We work alongside teams on all three, through consulting, outsourcing and fractional or retainer support. The focus is freeing up the capacity to deliver the programme you already know you want.
PULSE 2.0: 70% OF T&E LEADERS ARE PRIORITISING AI.
ONLY 1 IN 5 SAY THEY’RE READY FOR IT.
Is your programme ready?
Find out with the Al Illuminator – a free AI Readiness Check for the Travel & Expense Buyer Community.
Around 9 minutes · Free
