Understanding the ROI of Expense Automation

In our fast-moving economic landscape, business organizations of all shapes and sizes have had to become increasingly adept at leveraging technology-based expense management solutions to replace and improve upon manual processes. More and more tech-savvy organizations are realizing that traditional systems just aren’t cutting it, and are getting rid of manual, paperwork-dependent workflows that are often prone to errors, vulnerable to fraud attempts, and lacking in both security and oversight. 

Instead, organizations are opting for digitized software solutions, replacing physical workflows and manual processes with automation. While choosing automation expense management solutions to streamline and centralize processes like expense management reimbursement is certainly a business-savvy decision, it’s a financially advantageous one too. 

Most organizations that go so far as to implement internal workflow changes are, after all, driven in no small part by a desire to reduce costs. As these companies consider their many options in the field of expense management solutions, they are quite naturally quick to ask about the expected return on their investment.

In this article, let’s dive into the realities of expense management and expense management solutions, the benefits of choosing automation, and how that choice could impact your organization’s bottom line for the better.

Expense Management Solutions

Before diving in, let’s define what we mean by expense management solutions. These are the systems organizations rely on to control, track, and reimburse employee business expenses. Traditionally, this might involve paper forms or spreadsheets, but increasingly, businesses are turning to software solutions. Expense management software, in particular, has gained popularity for its ability to automate processes, providing organizations with a more efficient way to monitor, manage, and regulate expenses.

For companies hoping to optimize efficiency and get the fastest return on their investment possible, here are some crucial features to look for in expense management solutions. 

Tracking and Logging Expenses

Precise and timely recordkeeping is the cornerstone of effective expense management. For example, businesses that reimburse employees for their work-related travel mileage must maintain IRS-compliant mileage logs to ensure those reibursement payments remain tax-deductible. The best expense management solutions help maintain and store these records. 

Calculating Expenses and Reimbursement Payments

Another important factor in competent employee expense management is, of course, accurate and reliable reimbursement. Employees should be able to rely on the knowledge that they will be reimbursed for their work-related out-of-pocket expenses. Critically, they also need assurance that the reimbursement methods—whether through odometer readings or advanced tracking software—are accurate and efficient. The best solutions ensure these calculations are seamless, leaving no room for error. 

Data Integration

As highlighted earlier, recordkeeping is non-negotiable. The best solutions for expense management encourage data integration and centralized storage, ensuring all financial information—such as mileage logs or audit-trail documentation—is well-organized, secure, and readily accessible for the qualified individuals who may need it. This integration not only streamlines operations but also prepares organizations for potential IRS submissions or audits.

Streamlined Workflows

If one step in an expense approval workflow falls through, it can bring the entire financial process to a halt. Worthwhile expense management solutions facilitate and manage approval and other multi-step, multi-personnel workflows, while mitigating the chance for slowdowns and bottlenecks. 

Customizable Controls

Every organization is different with different strengths, weaknesses, and internal concerns. Companies with the best expense management systems in place use solutions that offer a level of customization, so their financial systems can mesh as seamlessly as possible with other systems and processes that are already in place. When it comes to software options for managing employee expenses, having customizable controls can also help supervisors and management isolate and flag potential issues, like calculation errors or duplicating reports or entries. 

Unpacking the Benefits of Automation

The solution an organization chooses for managing employee expenses doesn’t necessarily have to utilize automation or digital tools at all. But at this point, taking full advantage of automation technology for managing employee reimbursement is simply a better option than continuing to rely on manual processes. While paper forms and digital spreadsheets are certainly allowable mediums for for tracking and managing employee finances, they don’t hold a candle to automated expense management solutions when it comes to: 

Time-saving

One of the greatest benefits of automating processes is the amount of time you and your employees will save once they—and yourself—can focus on their work-related duties instead of filling out forms or making mileage calculations. 

Accuracy

Leaving calculations and reporting in the hands of an automated expense management system also creates greater accuracy across all levels of the process. Besides greatly reducing the margin for human error, digital expense management solutions also have ways of catching and flagging potentially noncompliant or fraudulent behavior, which could be a huge boon to your organization. After all, according to the ACFE, travel and expense fraud accounts for 14.5% instances of uncovered fraud. 

Financial Oversight

Utilizing expense management solutions that embrace automation gives management and supervisors maximum oversight, without forcing them to exert maximum effort. Automated systems give leadership greater ability to monitor and control employee expenses. In addition, these software solutions often feature real-time data collection and reporting. This gives companies greater insight into employee expenses and organization-wide financial patterns, which can help them make informed decisions into the company’s future. 

Breaking Down the Numbers

But how can the benefits of automated management expense solutions impact your organization’s financial bottom line? Let’s look at some ways. 

According to a 2015 study by the Global Business Travel Association, an expense report takes an average of 20 minutes to complete, and costs $58 to process. If this report contains mistakes or missing information, as about a fifth of expense reports do, correcting the report costs an additional $52 and 18 minutes. According to this study, organizations process an average of 51,000 expense reports annually. That adds up quickly, to around half a million dollars and almost 3,000 hours correcting expense reports on average! 

On the flip side, other studies have found that utilizing expense management solutions to streamline the expense reporting and reimbursement process. Even going all the way back to 2012, an Aberdeen study on scheduling software automation found that organizations with the best scheduling accuracy were 44% more likely to be implementing automated systems. Besides the increased accuracy, workforces that embraced automated systems were twice as likely to provide self-service access to employees, creating space for employee engagement and feedback.

As the capability of automated workforce solutions has increased, more and more companies have discovered how expense management solutions can help companies recoup costs. A 2024 report released by Rydoo found that compared to spreadsheets and other digital legacy systems, digital expense management software could save companies over 30,000 hours a year, a productivity boost of over 70%.

SureMileage Delivers Big Savings

Any business striving for growth is constantly seeking the best strategies to manage and control expenses while maximizing ROI without incurring excessive costs. The most forward-thinking organizations recognize the value of advanced digital workforce tools, like expense management solutions, to achieve these goals efficiently.

SureMileage by CompanyMileage offers a smarter way to manage mileage tracking and reimbursement, delivering significant savings by addressing the flaws in traditional methods and reimagining the entire process. With SureMileage, mobile employees report their starting points and destinations for each work-related trip, and the system automatically calculates the driving distance between them. Rather than verifying the miles that were driven, it calculates the expenses to be reimbursed. 

Once travel data is submitted into SureMileage, employees can verify that the information is correct, take pictures of any relevant receipts, and submit expense reports for approval right from their smartphones. Once submitted, expense reports move through a customizable digital workflow tailored to your business’s specific needs. Once approved, SureMileage integrates seamlessly with all major accounting and approval software, ensuring a smooth and efficient reimbursement process from start to finish.

SureMileage addresses the weaknesses of traditional, manual reimbursement processes in a variety of ways, and then it ups the ante with its unique approach to submitting and processing reimbursement claims, guaranteeing bigger savings for companies and an even quicker return on their investment. In fact, our customers save up to 30% on mileage reimbursement costs when they use our software, 

To find out more about the ways in which CompanyMileage saves our customers money on expense management and reimbursement, contact us for a free demo today!