By Mark Harris
If we were to cut to the chase as to why organisations choose to implement an Expense Management System (EMS), it is fair to say that in most cases the vast cost and process savings are the key motivation. However, once a system has been installed and executed; the real question is how are these savings derived? And more importantly, how do you maximise them?
There is no lack of information on the potential cost savings that expense management can bring to an organisation, a general ‘Google search’ will provide an extensive array of articles and research papers - some may be of questionable value, some of legitimate value, and there is plenty of marketing garble that can be found in-between. However, the consistent message surrounding a substantial monetary benefit cannot be ignored, and what is especially interesting is the focus on 'per transaction cost'.
So what are the facts?:
- Typical pre-EMS transaction cost $50-$150*
- Typical post-EMS transaction cost $5-$40*
Furthermore, the real issue is how to realise these transactional savings. Various research into this subject, as well as our significant experience provide some consistent insight into 'best practice' expense management. A selection of what we consider to be key guidelines in implementing a successfull EMS are as follows:
- Avoid replicating your current manual process with your EMS process. Customers often make the mistake of simply replacing paper with programmes, however; to reduce transaction costs the EMS needs to be used to reduce the number of steps in the process.
- Manage by exception, and not by every transaction. The reporting and workflow functions; namely Exception Reporting, can be used to identify processing problems and potential misuse. Inlogiks' Development Team has spent a lot of time refining ProMaster to streamline these reporting and workflow activities, if you feel you're not using this function optimally, please contact us and we'll show you how.
- Quantify and understand the real risks. Credit cards are far from scary and EMS makes them even less so, you have the information and therefore should use this to monitor and track where and what is being spent. Many customers have even used this visibility to rationalise a few suppliers.
- Understand your true regulatory requirements. You may find that keeping all that paper isn't necessary or perhaps certain transactions could be auto-processed, or to save time an unnecessary authorisation step could be removed. There are many possible changes that can be made to decrease workload, streamline processes and save money.
It's our job to help you get the best out of your ProMaster system, so if you have any queries or would like some more information about any of the above, please contact us and we’ll be happy to help.
* These costs are Australian Dollars and do not discriminate between purchasing and travel expenditure. They are presented as a reasonable guideline based on present clients.