Choosing a T&E Automation Solution That’s Right for Your Business

Many companies are using technology to automate their work, and all of us are immersed digitally in everday life. But is your business and its travel and expense management still navigating a paper trail and using processes like this?

• Employees must keep a pile of paper receipts and printouts from taxis, restaurants, flights and other expenses.
• Expense reports are filled in manually in spreadsheets or forms, with receipts stapled or taped for doublechecking and approval.
• Travelers use their own credit cards instead of company ones and must float the costs until you pay them back.

Managing T&E in those inefficient ways not only takes a toll on productivity but also frustrates employees, managers, and anyone else spending time on the process. Because they have better things to do, and you likely want them to be doing them.

The costs extend beyond time and frustration. Automated T&E management solutions can provide an accurate, up-to-date view of travel spending that manual methods cannot. It’s a view that can help control costs, improve cash flow, and better target spending. In other words, you gain insights to make better, more timely decisions.

Working for businesses of all sizes

Once seen as just for large corporations, cloud-based, automated T&E solutions are now more affordable and easier to implement for small- and medium-sized businesses. Determining which option might be right for your business is no simple process.

Our e-book, Integrated, Automated Travel and Expense Management, is designed to help you ask the right questions as you seek a solution that works for you.

A well-designed solution seamlessly captures travel bookings no matter where the employee makes them, consolidates trip information in one place, and sends purchases right to an expense report so employees don’t have to fill them out manually, speeding up processing and reimbursements. Along the way, you see spending before, during, and after trips.

Automated T&E solutions also deliver savings and productivity gains that are measurable. For example, Analysys Mason recently found¹ that businesses using SAP Concur T&E solutions save an estimated $54,000 a year and 148 hours weekly for finance or accounting teams.

What to look for

As you consider various technology vendors, a number of features should be in the mix.

Integration. The T&E solution should readily connect to ERP, accounts payable, human resource, and other essential solutions. Also consider whether payments and expense reports are integrated, and how secure the solution is, which is particularly important with so many electronic payments.

Ease of use. A good solution should make it easier for employees to do their jobs – from anywhere. It should have features like the ability to snap a picture of a receipt and send the expense data to a report. Whether from a desktop or mobile device, workflows should be understandable and conversational, just like many digital tools we encounter in our everyday lives. A solution like this is more likely to be adopted and bring savings and satisfaction.

Visibility and control. Automated controls built into the solution can help ensure compliance with spending policies. Dashboards and analytics tools can show spending by vendor, category, employee, and other areas. With the insights gained, costs can be contained, and better deals negotiated with vendors.

Questions you can ask

Learn. Question. Learn more. Question more. That’s largely the process involved in making an investment to make your business run better, including choosing a travel & expense solution.

Here are some questions you can put to vendors who are making a case for their technology:

• Are you experienced with companies of our size selling our kind of product?
• Can you give me a hands-on demo using our live data?
• Do you plan to invest in the solution in the next few years and incorporate AI and machine learning technology?
• Can your solution accommodate and help adjust our workflows?
• Will support be available and will you help my employees master the solution?

SAP Concur solutions can provide answers to those questions and more as you seek a T&E solution that’s right for your business, helping turning moments of business uncertainty into moments of confidence. Download our e-book to learn more about essential topics and capabilities that matter when seeking an automation solution.