Combest

The problem

• Manual, paper-based expense reporting solution
• Lengthy expense report approval process for the accounting department
• Drawn-out process for employees to prepare and submit an expense report
• Lack of controlled corporate policies
• Inefficient means to validate billable expenses
• Inadequate expense and travel method to bill clients

The solution

• Web-based expense report and travel solution provides on and off-line access to employees
• Quick and easy implementation, with limited resources required
• Corporate policy automation
• Detailed reports tracking employee spend
• Expense reports stored in an organized manner

The benefits

• 76 percent decrease in time spent on the expense report approval process
• Increased visibility into on internal employee compliance
• Increased visibility into billable expenses
• Immediate customer service and technical assistance 95 percent reduction in time spent auditing past expense reports
• Expense report preparation time reduced for employees

Combest, Inc. understands that technology changes at a rapid pace and prides itself in providing clients with the best in class tools designed to enhance their business. Established in 1994, Combest has become nationally recognized as a leading provider of communication technology solutions. While Combest presents world-class technology tools to their customers – the technology their own employees used was extremely outdated, specifically their travel and expense reporting solution.

Combest's manual, paper-based expense reporting system negatively affected the organization's time management objectives. The lengthy process of filing an expense report included: manually filling out spreadsheets, gathering paper receipts, making photocopies, receiving written approvals from a manager, and physically delivering the expense report to the accounting department.

"It took hours for an employee to fill out and process one expense report," Broderick Smith, Combest staff accountant said. "Often, employees would let their expenses pile-up because the preparation and submittal process took so long. Not to mention, when accounting received expense reports, the manual auditing and approval process took days."

Like most companies, Combest has more important tasks than expense reporting to assign resources to. With approximately 30 percent of its employees traveling every month, Combest needed a more effective system to manage employee spend. Management knew it would take a serious solution to improve employee time management within the expense reporting process.

Combest looked to Concur with two goals in mind: 1) to save employees time, and 2) to make the travel and expense reporting process more efficient and cost-effective. Combest turned to Concur and found an expense management solution that met their needs – an on-demand service that delivers the convenience of an easy-to-use, automated solution every employee can use.

"Not only does Concur save us time, but it helps us with the organization and management of our expense reports," Smith said. "It's now easier for us to track the spending habits of our employees and manage spending upfront, which has increased our overall control in the travel and expense reporting process."

Combest saw a 76 percent reduction in time the accounting department spent to review, approve and file expense reports. Combest credits its success to Concur's automated, on-demand service, which has low-cost of ownership and makes the expense report submittal process quick and simple for employees. 

According to the Aberdeen Group, 44 percent of companies lack visibility into their employee spend and using an automated expense reporting solution reduces out-of-policy expenses by 40 percent. Savings continues as the cost of every automated expense report transaction is reduced by 37 percent compared to expense reports processed manually.*

Combest's billing department's old system of sorting through hundreds of file folders to find receipts is a thing of the past. With Concur's Web-based travel and expense reporting solution, receipts are available instantly online, which has enabled Combest to reduce the time it takes to pull receipts to bill its customers by 95 percent. Now, Combest can generate the reports they need for customers – and with the click of a button, have the receipt to the customer.

"Concur keeps us organized," Smith said. "The reporting that's available assures that our corporate policies are being followed. Now that we can automatically track expenses, we can spend more time coaching employees who spend significant amounts of money."

After using Concur Expense for a year with measurable success, including 100 percent employee adoption, Combest recently implemented Concur Cliqbook Travel, Concur's powerful and easy-to-use online travel booking solution. Not only does the tool allow employees to book travel online within Combest policy, but it's seamlessly combined with Concur Expense. With one-click, employees can book travel and have their expense report automatically pre-populated with both itinerary and credit card data.

"We wanted to have a tool that gave our employees one portal for all their needs – a place to book travel and also submit their expense reports," Smith said. "In addition, we wanted the same portal to house the reporting that our management would need to watch our business. With Concur Travel & Expense we have an online travel booking service that is integrated with the expense service."

Combest anticipates the combination of travel and expense to increase corporate compliance, make more employee travel booking and spending data available, and generate more favorable contracts with preferred vendors.

"Our relationship with Concur is priceless," Smith said. "We save significant amounts of time and money with Concur Expense, and the future looks just as bright with our recent implementation of the travel solution, Cliqbook. Our employee satisfaction is much higher, and traveling is no longer a burden."