Checklist Day: Tick All the Spend Management Boxes

Held on October 30^th every year, Checklist Day marked the start of list-making season, with Christmas and New Year prompting us all to focus on what we want to achieve and how we’re going to get there. As we navigate new challenges, there’s a fresh opportunity to change the way we run our organisations, including how to manage spend.

So, what are your resolutions when it comes to spend management this year? It’s difficult to know what to prioritise, so in this handy checklist, we look at some of the key challenges large organisations face today and how SAP Concur solutions can help solve them.

So, grab your pen and let’s get started. 

1. Protect Employee Mental Health

Employees and employers are more focused on mental health than ever before. Whether it’s the stress of hybrid working, the rising cost of living, fears about job security or uncertainty about business travel, employees will seek employment that gives them satisfaction, assurance and hope for the future. 

How can SAP Concur solutions help?

Automated spend management frees up employees to undertake tasks they enjoy and automates processes to improve efficiency, which drives long term business success. It also keeps them safe and protected from risk, whether that’s risk of accidental fraud or feeling unsafe when travelling for work.

• By automating tedious, manual tasks, employees have more time to do the work they are paid for and enjoy.
• With the SAP Concur mobile app employees can work from anywhere and easily submit, review, approve and reimburse expenses, book and manage travel, and process and approve invoices.
• Whilst on their travels, TripIt keeps traveller itineraries in one place while Triplink consolidates booking, expense, credit card, and mobile data from multiple sources in near real-time, keeping travellers compliant, visible and safe.

2. Increase Sustainability and Reduce Carbon Footprint 

Corporate and social responsibility goals are a growing priority for both employees and business leaders. Spend management software can have a significant impact on the success of this mission. 

How can SAP Concur solutions help?

By showing employees the environmental impact of their trip at the time of booking and providing greener options, they can make more sustainable choices in the moment.

• The SAP Concur App Centre allows users to search for hybrid cars as well as eco-hotels.
• Concur User Assistant by Walk Me provides easy-to-follow training and real-time in-solution help to support and enforce policies.
• Consultative Intelligence reports highlight emission levels, as well as show areas of improvement so you can set new, targeted sustainability goals.

3. Reduce Policy and Process Confusion 

With hybrid working, the development of new policies and expense categories, as well as ever-evolving payment types, compliance can give way to confusion. Process efficiency is more important than ever, with employees required to focus on strategising, improving polices and building business resilience.

How can SAP Concur solutions help?

A good company-wide policy sets the ground rules and offers employees a clear framework, but how do you enforce this? Artificial intelligence and audits can help you save time and money each month to help ensure all your spend is above board.

• Build your specific company policies into our solutions, so employees can comply without the need to manually check policies every time there’s a change.
• Booking travel with endorsed, preferred providers frees up staff to focus on improving policies, processes and financial health.
• Intelligent Audit harnesses the power of AI in partnership with our certified human auditors, to make it easier for you to monitor policy compliance, secure preferred supplier rates and support tax reclaim.

4. Improve Cost Control and Maximise Cash Flow

Cash flow can be a crucial balancing at any time, but when things are tough it can be make or break. How can a business control costs? Greater visibility into every penny spent will help reduce errors, wastage and fraud and keep cash flow healthy. 

How can SAP Concur solutions help?

Our app and partner ecosystem help capture spend that would otherwise fall through the cracks, as well as automating the capture, process and payment of supplier invoices.

• Identify rogue spend such as dining, ride-shares, and Value-Added Tax (VAT) reclaim and recovery.
• Gain more insight and control into where spend is going with customisable reports and dashboards.
• Solutions like Drive and Request replace tiresome, manual tracking, bringing digital accuracy and control to expense categories that can affect cash flow.

5. Stay Ahead of Regulations

With the overwhelming number of industry regulations and standards out there, how do you ensure compliance? SAP Concur solutions make it a lot easier with a digital audit trail of all compliant expense, invoice and travel spend.

• Reclaim the right amount of VAT without risking penalties.
• Policies can be easily updated to address new regulations without adding extra work for IT or finance teams.
• Intelligent Audit hands complex audit processes to our audit experts, who use a mix of AI and human expertise for maximum protection. 

We hope this this checklist has helped you identify gaps in your spend management strategy. Perhaps you’ve got sustainability sorted but need to regulate cash flow, or maybe you need to increase your focus on employee mental health? Whatever your unique circumstances, every business could benefit from exerting more control over company spend and cash flow, while making it easier for employees to do their jobs from anywhere. 

The key is to make a start now.

Which is where SAP Concur solutions can help you realise the benefits of spend management and help drive your business forward. Read the Empower Your Business in the New World of Work checklist to learn more new ways to harness the opportunities of spend management in this new world.