Fortunately, employee-initiated
changed the way one of the world’s
gically managing spend enterprise-wide.
spend is one category where providers
largest hospital systems manages
Due to the nature of its business, many
can often gain some degree of control
travel, processes expense reports, and
employees were routinely on the road,
over costs (e.g., ancillary travel, mileage
oversees travel and expenses spend
visiting hospitals and doctors. “We knew
reimbursement, supply invoices, and
company-wide. With the help of a fully
what we were spending overall but had
continuing education). Identifying
integrated, automated platform, the
no easy way to drill down and see where
and tracking these expenditures can
organization transformed a disparate,
we could save money — like paying for a
be challenging, since they frequently
cumbersome process into a seamless,
rental car instead of mileage for longer
occur outside of a centralized system,
end-to-end workflow. The director of
trips,” explained the company’s travel
and diverse payment options are widely
disbursement operations says that with
manager. By using a fully integrated,
available.
automation, “We went from processing
automated platform solution, “Not only
for the corporate office to processing for
do employees have a streamlined way to
Employees Are Spending Differently
the whole company — in less time with
submit expense reimbursement requests,
fewer people.” The benefits of automa-
but management has full visibility into
The way employees spend on behalf
tion are scalable across the healthcare
what’s happening, with compliance
continuum, from a large hospital system
checks along the way.” This solution
to an individual provider.
resulted in a savings of $217,000 in travel
of an organization has evolved with the digital economy. Instead of working with a procurement person, suppliers are
2) Power Up Your Fraud Mitigation
paid directly with personal credit cards.
Potential
And as a result of this direct line to the
and other expenses in the first year alone.
Unfortunately, the combination of
4) Embrace an Open Strategy
more employees spending with less
In today’s app-driven world, managing
centralization has resulted in a rise
and digitally capturing spend with apps
in malfeasance connected to employ-
employees are already using is crucial.
ee-initiated spend. The ability to verify
By connecting all travel, expenses,
the validity of expenses is a must for
purchasing cards, and invoicing tools
protecting your organization from
directly with suppliers, you can better
fraud.
manage spend and drive savings. And
organization.
The benefits of implementing a fully
your employees will be happy they can
To gain the necessary visibility into all
tracking expenses and spend extend
employee spending, an automated system
far beyond numbers. Simplifying the
is critical, but it must be accompanied by
process for employees results in more
the ability to understand, connect, and
compliance, which means more captured
control spending across many internal
spend, and ultimately, smarter manage-
and external systems. This visibility will
ment. With a greater visibility into
ensure that your employee expenses
employee spend, your organization
are being managed strategically. These
can develop a proactive strategy and
four steps can help anyone who manages
save money.
employees, vendors are marketing offers directly to them — eliminating employer visibility into cost before the expense is incurred. This new dynamic has made employee-initiated spend increasingly challenging to control. As a result, it has become one of the largest unmanaged spend categories in almost every
the finances of a non-acute care facility take charge of this important (yet often overlooked) category: 1) Automate All Spending Moving from a manual or semi-manual process across all lines of employee spending will help to increase visibility and reduce errors. Automating expense, travel, and check request processes can reduce both costs and inefficiencies. For example, automation fundamentally 8 |
Insight
integrated, automated solution for
3) Go Beyond Automation to Strategically Manage Spend Adopting technologies that connect your travel, expenses, purchasing cards, and invoicing will also help you properly forecast budgets and manage your organization’s overall spend. One large non-acute healthcare provider with a national footprint used a fully integrated, automated solution to move beyond automating processes to strate-
use an existing system. With the ongoing shortage of nurses and skilled staff, simplifying employee processes and procedures to encourage productivity and staff retention is smart business. SAP Concur is a leading provider of integrated travel and expense management services and solutions. On the web, on a smartphone, or on a tablet, its cloud-based solutions deliver an effortless experience for employees, as well as total transparency into spending and the improved operation of organizations and industries of all sizes and in all locations.