Helping Universities Seize the Benefits of Change Through Digitalisation

The Academia sector is very different to the corporate world. That’s why improving expense management in higher education requires a bespoke, tailored approach. Done right, however, the results of even a small investment can deliver big results, says Gary Goodenough, Sales Director, SAP Concur.

Universities are different to the corporate world. Higher education organisations have different cultures to businesses. Staff are driven by far more than the bottom line. The appetite for – and pace of – change is not the same. And attitudes to finances, in particular expenses, are different.

This means the successful implementation of an expense management system in the higher education sector depends on working with a partner supplier who truly understands the culture, who is willing to adapt to a university’s ways of working, and who can deliver a bespoke and tailored solution.

Get that right, and the benefits will be significant – even with the smallest of initial investments. Precious funds can be saved and reallocated to core research activities and improving the student experience. Time and money can be saved from arduous and time-consuming paper processes. A true picture of spend can be obtained to aid future planning. Data can be gathered to understand everything from waste to carbon emissions. And successful implementation can kick-start a bigger, even more impactful digital finance transformation that professionalises the whole department.

These were all key messages delivered at a recent event we hosted – which brought together Finance and HR professionals from across some of the country’s leading universities to share their challenges, experience and tips for success when it comes to modernising the finance function.

Meeting cultural needs

Setting the scene around how any expense system needs to be tailored to fit the culture of the organisation, Nicola Nestor, Deputy Director of Finance, University of Portsmouth, shared her experiences of how a university differs from the corporate world.

“Having worked in the corporate space previously, it became clear to me really quickly that higher education differs in many ways,” she explained.

She set out how there has long been a view across the sector that expenses are simply “fair” and not something that ever needs to be reviewed or challenged. She said staff are used to simply “sending in expenses on paper and having them paid”. Some staff, she added, like that they can pass receipts to others to process them. And she explained there is far less experience of adopting tech-driven processes: “In the corporate world, everyone is used to getting an email telling them to set up an account and begin using an online process. In our sector, that’s still really new – so it takes time and you have to move slowly.

“But even more importantly, you must have a really tailored comms approach,” she added. “This is where SAP Concur have really come into their own – helping deliver a bespoke communication plan for all demographics within the organisation. In the main, the concept of a digital expense system was very new to most – so we had to complete a multi-strand approach comprising bespoke videos selling in the concept, online documents, training videos showing each step of the process, zoom conferences and face-to-face training – all with specific language to make the messaging relevant to all employees. That’s something SAP Concur really helped us with.”

Specific implementation needs

Also sharing her university’s implementation story, Sally Hicks, Senior Management Accountant (Payroll), at University of Warwick, explained that there are additional organisational differences and processes that require a partner who fully understands the need for a bespoke approach.

“We have a tendency to keep changing our organisational structure – departments are forever merging, disappearing, being created, changing their name – and this can be a challenge for us to keep on top of,” she said.

“We’re also growing (an increase in staff numbers of 24% over the last five years, to 7,000 today), and a lot of support staff regularly move department. As an organisation we try to promote multi-disciplinary collaboration and even now are still having to reassure departments that claims can be ‘approved and forwarded’ to other departments if necessary.

“We are also subject to a lot of audit – internal, external, HMRC and any number of external funding bodies – and Concur is ideal for being able to access claims and see exactly what is being claimed, has been approved and by whom.”

Indeed, our assembled higher education leaders heard that expense management can also support smooth and trusted auditing, by setting parameters that cannot be breached and by serving up accurate, real-time and reliable data – further protecting organisations against risk. It means they are less likely to breach tax and accounting rules – protecting the finance function and the university’s reputation.

The power of data

Stephen Kent-Taylor, Head of Corporate & Shared Services, at the University of Cambridge, told our event that a big driver for his organisation deploying an expense management system was the ability to access data – not only for a real-time picture of spend, but also to help reduce carbon emissions.

“The lack of data for insight into what we were spending and what was coming down the line was an issue for us,” he said. “Data was either unavailable, difficult to access or inconsistent. We also have a commitment to reduce our carbon usage – and so data is important to us from that point of view as well. We can’t measure what we don’t know – and we can’t reduce what we aren’t measuring. We couldn’t see how much travel was going through expenses but now we have a clear picture.”

Stephen also shared some valuable tips for successful implementation in the higher education sector – from demonstrating the value of change to users; to being flexible around the approver process; setting up user-groups to secure buy-in across the organisation; and implementing processes incrementally so users aren’t frightened by the change.

“All of these steps – which can only be achieved with a partner who is flexible, who listens and who adapts to your needs – can really help ensure you maximise the potential of a digital system.”

What was clear from our event is that, while the Academia sector is very different to the corporate world, embarking on even an initial roll-out of expenses can help drive efficiency, reduce waste by reducing fraud and errors, deliver data for change and help organisations professionalise.

But it also sent a clear message that many of these changes are no longer just a ‘nice to have’. They are essential in a world where budgets are tightening; where fraud and misuse can not only result in waste but also reputational damage; where green issues are rising up the agenda, and where students will expect the best possible experience.

Whilst taking a spend management digital journey has so many benefits and will lead to better control over your budgets with real-time visibility, expenses misspend continues to dominate so setting compliance policies in place to prevent such misdemeanours is critical. With our well established Audit service, you have peace of mind that such behaviours and trends are identified, with actions taken to prevent a worsening situation!

Perhaps our recently launched Research around Fraud Expense in the public sector and education will interest you so reach out to me directly for more insights about these findings: gary.goodenough@sap.com