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Solutions To Keep Your Expenses Bill Down

Smarter Expense Management

A recent survey, by Management Consultants A.T. Kearney and payments specialist American Express, has revealed that leading organisations are using automated travel and expense management technology to significantly reduce direct and indirect costs.

The survey, based on information supplied by market-leading European firms (including the UK) across a range of sectors, revealed that between 45% and 87% savings were being made on individual travel and expense processes. Also, over half had automated their expense management processes, with 90% of those companies choosing to work alongside third party expense management partners.

Four Key Processes

The research also identified four key processes that are being automated by major corporations to achieve substantial cost effectiveness and efficiency. These were:

• Travel arranging (planning and booking a business trip)
• Cash advances
• Central billing
• Expense claims

Best Practice Travel and Expense Management

That’s not all! The extensive study also defined best practice in Travel and Expense Management, by examining in detail the travel and expense management practices shared by those organisations who had achieved the most dramatic direct and indirect cost savings, which were:

• Implemented and enforced clearly defined travel policies
• Collaborated closely with Travel & Expense suppliers and leveraged their capabilities
• Invested in automation and had a high degree of take-up
• Centralised back-office functions and outsourced non-core processes
• Focused on user satisfaction as well as cost reduction
• Leveraged MI to optimise spend visibility and control, and as a basis for supplier negotiation.

The report was able to conclude that companies who adopt defined best practice in Travel and Expense Management achieved on average a 54% improvement in administrative (workflow-related) costs, with considerable direct cost savings also being realised through reduced overspend, more accurate accounting and optimised supplier prices.

To find out how Ceridian could help you reduce Travel and Expense Management costs, please call us on 0800 0482 737.