Don’t get blown away by manual expense processes

Expense reports ruining your staff’s day? Well, you’re not alone. Manual, paper-based expense report processes can take hours. Employees have to set aside large portions of their days to dig through receipts, manually input each expenditure and piece it all together. Meanwhile, those in the finance department have to spend time reviewing and reconciling these reports. Any lost receipt or discrepancy can lead to hours of back-and-forth between departments. In a small business, you just can’t afford this flurry of tedious tasks.

Go with the mobile workforce flow

With the uptick of mobility in the workplace, manual tasks, including expense reporting, are becoming a thing of the past. In fact, working away from the office and outside the hours of 9-5 are becoming the norm, and small business owners are embracing this new workforce. These stats from SMB Group’s From Manual to Mobile: Speeding Business Success for SMBs paint a pretty good picture of today’s modern workplace:

• 30% of SMBs now support telecommuting for 20% or more of their employees
• 18% of SMBs expect the percentage of their telecommuting workers to increase in the next year
• 57% of SMBs say that 20% or more of their workforce travels for work, and 14% expect this number to increase in the next year

While getting up to the speed of mobile can seem like a big job, going mobile isn’t actually hindering businesses. The availability and flexibility of mobile solutions opens up opportunities for collaboration in and out of the office, which makes for easier work and happier employees overall.

Make expense reporting a breeze

With more business happening outside the office, the hassle of doing expense reports manually becomes too cumbersome to consider. Automation is a must for turning this tedious task into a walk in the park.

If you’re looking to automate, it’s particularly important for an SMB to choose a system that will change with you. Consider what you need today and what you might need tomorrow. And of course, you must ensure your system can go mobile.  

A mobile expense system, such as Concur Expense, creates an easy to use mobile solution for employees on-the-go. Using the app, all that employees have to do is take a picture of their receipts - it’s easy and removes the chance of error. It also saves time for the people in the finance department who won’t face headwinds reviewing and auditing expense reports.

Become a fan of expense reporting

Embracing automation and mobility is a win for small businesses. Allowing employees to work remotely increases retention and engagement – it makes them want to come to you, and stay. And technology that lets work happen seamlessly outside the office helps you stay competitive.

Want to learn more? Read From Manual to Mobile: Speeding Business Success for SMBs. This Perspectives Report by SMB Group, sponsored by Concur, explains the many ways mobility is changing the SMB marketplace.