Two reasons to digitalise travel and expense data

Finance teams handle countless invoices, transactions, and expenses daily, most of which are traditionally paper-based.

In many businesses, manual processing, filing, and storage processes are increasingly becoming digitalised and automated.

Workplaces that embrace automation and digitalisation in their accounting, accounts payable, and data management practices can reap major cost and time-saving advantages, particularly when processing travel and expense (T-E) data, according to SAP Concur.

"Manual and repetitive data filing and tracking slows down and frustrates staff members, and makes it harder for organisations to focus on what's important," says SAP Concur ANZ managing director Matthew Goss.

"When employees are away and travelling for work, it makes it harder for managers and accounting departments to track their spend activity, and to verify the validity of a wide range of purchases. Making smart choices about T-E can save time and money, help managers ensure compliance, and improve the employee experience.

Reduce paperwork

Employees on work trips often have many physical receipts and invoices to look after and track.

They need to collate and bring home transaction data for meals purchased, taxis and transport used, and hotel bookings, so their company can see where their money has gone.

Employees are at a risk if they lose, or forget to take a receipt, and, even if they bring all transaction evidence home with them, managers are left processing everything retrospectively.

Managers require immediate, digitalised visibility to see real-time, accurate activity across company spend data.

This is effective over a cloud-based app, shared between managers and employees.

This helps managers understand where company money is going when it happens, and means staff members don't need to juggle physical documents.

Save money

Business leaders can't control what they can't see.

With increased visibility, managers can make informed decisions on where money is being overspent, where higher volumes of money can be redirected, and what budget solutions suit their organisation best.

While managers can save money from increased visibility, staff travelling for work also benefit from a faster expense claim process, instant notification if planned spending falls out of policy (and, therefore, likely to be denied or questioned), and streamlined travel booking processes integrated into the T-E platform.

Goss adds, "The top automated T-E solutions can collect and connect spending and other data, so managers know where their money is going, no matter how far away it's being used.

"Business travel opens up a wealth of avenues for organisations, and it shouldn't come with the burden of increased financial tracking and monitoring for managers, or employees on important business, real-time visibility and digitalised T-E data is a critical next step for organisations that want to optimise the outcome of business trips and to smarten and improve their travel and spend processes.