With so many people today so tethered to their mobile devices, it’s no wonder there are more than 3 million mobile applications available for Android and Apple phones and tablets. Productivity apps are among the most popular as we use our phones more and more for work-related tasks. One of those tasks is expense report automation, where the use of mobile applications creates a host of advantages for employers.

The key to unlocking those advantages, as always, is employee adoption; and essential to adoption is ease of use. Quite simply, employees today expect the same simplicity from their work applications as the ones they use to play games, scribble notes and get news. But get the user experience right and the benefits will start to flow. Among them are:

Cost savings. Taking the paper out of nearly any business process saves time and money. But spreadsheets, scanners and emails only solve part of the paper problem.

Convenience. Quite naturally, employees weigh their desire for reimbursement against the effort required to get it.

Compliance. Mobile apps can help better connect employees to corporate policies and company-approved vendors when they arrange airline flights, ground transportation and lodging.

Scalability. As an organization grows, the inefficiencies of poor processes grow with it. True automation prevents that headache.

Fraud prevention. Asking questions helps reduce and prevent fraud. Mobile apps get more eyes on more documents and for a greater part of the process.

Spending awareness. Employees who update their spending through an app are more likely to be aware of it than those who jam paper receipts in a wallet or briefcase.

“Companies cut costs by about 18% when they switch from manual expense tracking to mobile management, according to the technology news site TechTarget. And with a streamlined, digital expense management process, companies have improved visibility into how employees travel. With a better handle on hotel expenses, for instance, a company can negotiate better rates.”

TechTarget notes that “having an app readily available on their mobile phones more often than not makes employees aware of their obligation to record meal and hotel expenses. In fact, they enjoy hitting the “submit report” button on the app when they’ve ended a trip and are seated on the plane, ready to take off and return home.”

Convenience for employees, savings for you

SureMobile is the mobile application for both SureMileage and SureExpense. With it companies can manage all of their T&E needs and take the guesswork out of mileage tracking. The app is available for Apple and Android devices; and it is IE, Chrome, Safari, and Firefox supported. So, employees can upload receipts from mobile devices and plan, submit, and update trips from anywhere.

Employees can view, edit, submit, delete, and resubmit trips and expenses. Mobile submission means faster processing and reimbursement. That improved efficiency can save more than $1,000 a year per mobile employee.

Expense report automation is here; and mobile expense management makes it all the more attainable for nearly any organization.