If there was any business process that was fundamentally changed by COVID, it was business travel. Relied on by airlines and hotel chains, salespeople, executives, and more needed to update everything about their workday to reflect the fact that meetings were canceled, flights were grounded, and traditional interactions were redesigned.
But what does the future hold? When will things get back to normal? Will things ever get back to normal? How can you adapt?
Adapting to a New Reality: How T&E Can Evolve
As companies manage their way through the global pandemic, finance teams are being called to adapt their expense management processes. Travel & Expense (T&E) is typically the second largest expenditure on a company’s balance sheet. Luckily, a recent guide from TripActions looked to discuss how companies hope to act in the new normal.
This guide, The New Realities Changing T&E Management Post-COVID, asks what companies can do to find efficiencies and control over this uncontrollable cost, working to make expense management friendlier to users, less challenging for travelers, and better controlled for finance teams. Here are just some of the insights provided.
Establishing Certainty in Uncontrollable Spend
As one of the most uncontrollable parts of a business, expense management has left people with a lot of uncertainty. But the return to work might make for even more uncertainty. What happens when a formerly-local employee who moved during COVID needs to come into town? How will you work with this change in expense?
Eradicating Fraud in Expenses
Did you know that organizations lose an estimated 5% of revenue to fraud each year? According to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, in the 2,504 cases of fraud studied, companies faced $3.6 billion in total losses. What all of this tells us is it has never been more important to have a robust payments and expense management strategy with real-time visibility and control.
Equipping Teams with the Right Tools
Companies spent a lot of time laying the groundwork for work from home. But the next few years will result in technology being refined to deliver value. To effectively navigate this new environment, finance leaders are looking for real-time data and information to manage their costs and spend in an evolving market.
Often, this comes down to giving people the tools they need to get the job done—and the right expense management system can provide the ease of use, visibility, and control needed to get the job done.
Empowering Spend Control without Crippling Freedom
Work from Home (WFH) is evolving to Work from Anywhere (WFA) with the rise of the ‘Corporate Nomad’. Many employees won’t be happy about giving up the freedom they’ve had. It also means that identifying a payments and expense solution that delivers convenience to the employee as well as tight visibility and control to the company is essential.
Ensuring Reliability and Effectiveness in Approval Workflows
There is a shift in behavior from all sides of the equation. Organizations expect better visibility, control, and automation of their spend. Users expect a digital-first, consumer-like experience. And suppliers want guaranteed payment to manage cash flow. Everyone can benefit from improved processes, compliance, and productivity.
Enabling people to know, act, and progress often comes down to giving them a consistent experience and a coherent workflow from submission to approval and recognition.
Get the Guide: The New Realities Changing T&E Management Post-COVID
Balancing cost control and growth is the #1 responsibility for finance leaders in 2021. Ensuring financial processes can adapt quickly while delivering visibility, control, and compliance is imperative to your organization’s future.
The New Realities Changing T&E Management Post-COVID covers everything you need to know to create a robust payments and expense program backed by innovative tools. Download this guide for the relevant, real-time lessons that finance teams are using to prepare for a more financially sound tomorrow.
Download the guide to learn:
- 6 practical approaches to gain control and visibility of costs and expenses
- How to access and use real-time data to make better informed business decisions
- Key insights into the converging forces that are changing payments and expense in 2021
