Adapting to the New Normal: 4 Things You Need to Navigate Economic Uncertainty
We’ve been living through uncertain times for a while. Now that unpredictability and change is to be expected, your business may benefit from adopting a more flexible approach to managing business spend. It’s one way to stop continued disruption from driving up costs.
But what does it take to gain this flexibility and remain resilient? Let’s look at a few things that businesses need in order to adapt to ongoing change and navigate the uncertainty of our current moment.
- You need visibility of data
Visibility matters most during uncertainty. Having a complete view of spend across your organisation is key to remaining resilient: how do you know what is being spent (and make decisions accordingly) if you cannot see it? Consider also that the reasons for spending are changing. For example, you may assume that expense claims are currently decreasing due to reduced business travel. But widespread homeworking means your employees may now be claiming expenses on other items and services that they wouldn’t normally. Having access to data on all spending will allow you to gather insights, spot trends, and make better business decisions.
- You need control over costs.
There’s no bad time to control spending. But the current moment is an especially good one for taking charge. Sudden changes may give you the opportunity to review your current spend management processes and see if they’re really working for you. You want a solution that gives you the control required to support a strong financial statement and redirect budgets where the business needs them most.
- You need to manage VAT reclaim.
Sudden changes to the economy can often mean sudden changes to VAT reclaim and cashflow. Add to this the fact that UK businesses already miss out on 54% of the VAT they can reclaim on costs, and it becomes clear that a strong spend management solution is one that enables successful VAT reclaim. Optimising the reclaim you can put back into your business also requires having a way to identify the tax specialists who are the best fit for your organisation.
- You need a solution that suits new ways of working.
Having a dispersed workforce has become commonplace for many organisations. Because of this, your business will likely need a digital spend management solution that can be implemented remotely and which works in the cloud. This will allow you to gain the visibility and control needed to manage costs more quickly – helping you make the differences now that will help you manage disruption going forward.
Play our game, ‘Navigate Your Way Through Uncertain Times’, to see if you can stay resilient and agile – whatever the future holds.
SAP Concur solutions help you achieve all of these things, putting you in the best position possible to carry your business forward and navigate economic uncertainty with focus and flexibility.
- Get full visibility into business spend with a single platform that allows you to view all of your data in one place.
- Gain control over costs with solutions that allow you to collect, connect and draw insights from previously siloed data.
- Manage changes to VAT reclaim seamlessly with access to our ecosystem of partners and tax experts.
- Start managing costs quickly with digital solutions that can be implemented remotely and work in the cloud.
To find out more about how SAP Concur solutions can help your business navigate this uncertainty with visibility and control of spend visit our dedicated hub.
