Expense management is a factor in all businesses, whether employees travel for their work or are based remotely.
The challenge is always to make the processes around it more efficient by reducing the time required to capture, submit, approve, and reimburse expenses – and a key way of doing this is by going paperless.
As more and more business processes, applications, and other operational technologies move to the cloud, it makes sense that expense management should follow suit.
If you haven’t yet moved your expense management to the cloud, we’ve put together a shortlist of the reasons you should consider it.
1. Dispense with paper
By moving to a cloud-based expense management system, where workers can simply snap and submit expense receipts using a smartphone app (as well as a tablet or PC), managers can review and approve online, and accounts staff can reimburse easily. There’s simply no more need to keep stacks of paper receipts stapled to a printed expense claim sheet, and less to get lost or misplaced. For a quick video on how this process works within Zetadocs Expenses Express, our free solution for up to 25 users within an organization, click here.
2. Save time and speed up the entire expense process
A clear benefit of replacing the tedious, error-strewn and slow process of collecting and approving piles of paper receipts is a huge time saver. Expense receipts can be snapped and submitted on the go, instead of waiting to be logged and submitted later.
For the approver, an email alert acts as a trigger to review expense reports in the system – made easier by visual indicators of anything suspect.
For accounts teams, instead of the usual mountain of expense claim processing at month-end, when accounts reconciliation happens, expense claims can be submitted and approved directly. Plus, with expense management software integrated direct into accounting software such as MS Dynamics Business Central, there are further time savings as no re-keying is required.
3. Increased organizational efficiency
Time savings made in one area can quickly translate into wider-improved efficiency through the organisation.
A businessman travelling spends less time compiling expense reports; a line manager or supervisor can approve expense claims online in real time whenever it suits; the accounts team can issue payments and reconcile accounts more smoothly and automatically without having to chase claims. By working within the app, typical issues that occur when parties are in separate occasions do not occur, everyone is notified and updated when a new expense is made or approved, leaving no doubt of who's job it is to approve or process the expense.
The improvements make for a more efficient expense management workflow overall
4. Greater accuracy
Mistakes will happen. Whether accidental or intended, a paper-based expense system is prone to errors, and there are few organisations that have not experienced claims containing a dubious or vague expense description, or one which contravenes expense policy guidelines. In such cases, the claim needs to be questioned by the accounts team or supervisor, leading to needless wasted time and potential confusion all round.
By ditching paper and adopting cloud-based expense management processes, there’s less room for error.
Next Steps
These are just four ways in which your business can benefit from moving your expense management processes to the cloud. For more benefits, please download the "7 Reasons to choose an expense management cloud service for Microsoft Dynamics NAV" whitepaper, which is still relevant for Business Central users and offers even more information on this topic.
For a broader picture of the benefits offered by Zetadocs Expenses, request a demo or explore the full Zetadocs Expenses feature list. Alternatively, watch the video below to get the quick look at the product in action.
Note: This blog is syndicated from our ISV partner Equisys. The original version appears here: https://www.equisys.com/blog/4-benefits-of-expense-management-in-the-cloud.
