Hidden Opportunity Knocks: It’s Time to Re-imagine Your Business

There is no denying that 2020 has been a formidable year for everyone.
SAP Concur's Re-Imagine Programme is designed to help resilient enterprises in their recovery, by boosting cost control, employee experience, safety and sustainability.

In the space of a few months we’ve gone from talking about survival to adaptation to re-emerging. When the bricks that hold together our everyday life begin to crumble, it can be a hidden opportunity to rebuild – better still, reimagine – your business and to create more sustainable and more efficient ways of working.  

Prioritise Payments 

While everything around us might look slightly different today, one thing remains the same – the health of your business depends on your ability to control spend and optimise the health of your bottom line.

With 2020 soon to come to a close, whether it’s the salesperson improving their sales patter, the finance manager balancing a budget or the senior manager juggling a team, everyone is going to have to work harder, faster and smarter.

Automated spend management frees up employees to focus on the high-yielding projects that matter now more than ever. Automating spending processes reduces time and errors related to data entry, improves compliance and accelerates processing time to increase productivity and employee satisfaction.

Reclaim to Sustain 

Perhaps not the most exciting but certainly one of the most efficient ways of controlling costs is to refine your expense policies, tax compliance and VAT reclaim processes. Losing money through errors and fines is foolhardy at the best of times but unforgiveable in already challenging times.

We’ve put together an eBook to demystify some of the facts around tax compliance and VAT reclaim. In it, we look at what makes a good expense policy (things like mileage reimbursement rules); the importance of an appropriate approval process; a robust end-to end record of forms, receipts and approvals; appropriate checks and controls (including an audit) and a robust and secure payment process.

All things that can contribute to greater compliancy and cost control, leaving you in a stronger position.

VAT Vacuum

VAT reclaim is an often overlooked source of extra funds. Now is the time to read up on the different ways to reclaim VAT, including that paid on fuel for business trips (there are four main ways, and we outline them all in the eBook). Also, learn about the traps you might be falling into when it comes to claiming international VAT – or not, as is more commonly the case.

There are probably gaps in your VAT reclaim knowledge that could add up to thousands of pounds of lost money. For instance, did you know that any purchase in the UK over £250 needs a full VAT invoice, not just a till receipt, to reclaim the VAT? Or a staggering 54% of eligible VAT across travel and expense spend is left unclaimed by UK businesses?

Ignorance, complexity of diverse VAT legislation, lack of time and VAT expertise are all things that SAP Concur’s network of VAT and tax partners can help you overcome, resulting in additional cash flowing into your budget.

Futureproof Your Investment

Sadly, fraud is a real issue when it comes to employee expenses. One in five employees think it’s okay to exaggerate their expenses for a range of reasons. Finance managers need better ways of safeguarding against out-of-policy and illegitimate claims.

There are three ways to address this 1. Educate and empower employees so they know what is fair and unfair. 2. Get help, such as outsourcing to third parties who understand VAT rules and can help you reclaim cash. 3. Technology, which in the case of SAP Concur underpins number 1. and 2. SAP Concur solutions automate expense, travel and invoice processing with built in compliancy and a network of VAT and tax partners.

Adapt Yourself to the Future