How to Free Up Your Time So You Can Focus on the Important Things

How much of your day do you spend doing financial admin? Entering data, chasing invoices, remedying incorrect expenses, tracking down missing paperwork and all the other things you need to do to. Every task is essential but it’s also time-consuming and, often, tedious.

How much of it isn’t up to the standard you’d like it to be? You wouldn’t be alone in thinking so. According to research carried out for us by Vanson Bourne among 500 finance leaders in the UK:

• 46% believe that errors and mistakes are their greatest challenges
• 68% aren’t completely confident that employees comply with company T&E policies.

And what about the strategic thinking, the planning and the analysis that’s consistently squeezed out because the day-to-day admin gets in the way?

Finance automation offers a way to free up time

Another key piece of research was carried out with AMI-Partners among key financial decision makers in 420 small and medium-sized businesses. It revealed some startling results about the effectiveness of finance automation in giving you the time you need to focus on the bigger picture.

The average accounting/finance team implementing an invoice management solution saw time savings of 16%. This translates to about 40 hours a week for a team of five. The time saving is similar for companies using a travel and expense solution where it’s an average of 15%. This is an impressive time saving that opens up all sorts of possibilities.

Finance automation allows you to add value to the business

Finance automation gives you more time for effective data analysis so you can find out what the numbers are telling you. You’ll find it also gives you better visibility so you can have more confidence in your analysis. More than half (54%) of the companies surveyed reported that improved analytics was an important benefit of an automated solution. 

You can be confident of your compliance. Users of expense, travel and invoice solutions found that with automation, employees were less likely to submit non-qualified expenses. Plus, automation also allowed finance managers to flag expenses that were out of policy and better prepare for audits.

You’ll be able to do more with less, which is an important ability in today’s business landscape. A key decision maker within a large technology firm using SAP Concur said: “As we continued to grow, the system just absorbed new employees. The accounting team has remained stable as the company has grown over the last three years.”

You’ll have more time to be more human because there will be less pressure to process paperwork before it gets on top of you. It means you’ll be in a position to be more proactive, more visible and to build relationships both in the business as well as with clients and other stakeholders.

There’s also the matter of your status in the business – by implementing automation you’ll improve productivity and put yourself on the front foot. A Head of Finance at a London charity sums it up perfectly: “Accountants generally have a reputation for being backward-looking because that’s our role. But just having a system that works and takes advantage of technology… gives us self-confidence and a standing in the organisation we didn’t have before.”

In other words, automation lets you do the job you want to do and add even more value to business planning conversations and board level discussions.

Unlock your potential and your value

To discuss how finance automation could help you be more effective and play a bigger, more strategic role in your business, book a call with an SAP Concur specialist.