How Much Should You Get Out of Your Spending?

Hint: Everything you put into it.

Money is always tight, it’s just that this year, it feels almost completely constricted. The seemingly endless parade of changes and challenges has forced businesses to rethink how they spend and, more importantly, reimagine how they can get more out of what they spend.

Spend management is crucial right now, and even though you’re tapping into your SAP Concur solution to see as much of your spend as possible, there’s more that could be done to apply the right policies, get the best prices, and collect all the spend data your company needs to make better decisions faster. It isn’t enough to simply see your spending, you have to know what to do with it.

There’s even a four-part checklist to help, and here’s what you’ll find:  

1. Eliminate blind spots.

These are the places where it’s easy for legitimate spending to go unnoticed and for unnecessary spending to easily hide. Meals and mileage are a good example, because it’s simple to fudge the numbers. Receipt thresholds are another good spot to cover up unnecessary spending, and you can’t afford to let that continue. Your SAP Concur solution can point out these costly blind spots and help you take control.

2. Reduce miscellaneous spend.

This is that dreaded “other” category people select on their expense reports when they don’t know what else to do. According to SAP data, that category has grown by 17% in 2020, showing that companies like yours need to revamp their expense categories to give clear directions to employees and clear spending data to you. Because if you don’t know exactly what the spend is or where it’s going, how can you possibly manage it?

3. Update and analyze your spend categories.

If you’re not modernizing your expense categories, how will your newly indoctrinated work-from-home staff know where to categorize the cost of their standing desks and internet expenses? These expenditures are happening, and to have any hope of tracking them, you need to give employees categories in which to log them. You may also want to analyze spend category trends to determine if there are ways to improve how you manage spend across categories. For instance, people are driving more than flying these days, so should you be doing more to get accurate mileage data?

4. Move employees from cash to corporate cards.

The goal here is to have at least 80% of spending handled on corporate plastic. This eliminates reimbursement hassles for employees and offers them (or you, if you choose) rebates and rewards. It also gives you controls over what gets spent before it gets spent, plus a crystal-clear window into all that delicious spending data.

In today’s workplace, which is fragmented and frustrating and littered with fiscal landmines, these are the changes that will help you see and steer company spending. Fortunately, these are things your SAP Concur solution makes simple.

And they’re all right there in the checklist. Check them out and find out what you could be doing to make the most of your SAP Concur investment. And if you want even more detail, watch this 15-minute webinar for five tips on strengthening your T&E program.