no matter how or on what those expenses are incurred. The bank’s larger customers will be issued with a ‘payables card’ which will hold details of regular suppliers; when an invoice comes through, the card will automatically be uploaded with the appropriate funds, and the payment made. The accounts department is then left to process only the one-off or occasional transactions.
Smaller corporate customers will not necessarily need the card, but they will have access to an online system that will “help them manage everything from reporting and statements right through to more sophisticated expense management automation that allows them to capture, manage and report on all their corporate expenditure”. Allister Mitchell, Lloyds Banking Group’s head of card products, transaction banking, is quoted as saying: “Organisations of all sizes are under pressure to identify ways to monitor and manage their business expenditure. Working capital is a particular concern for businesses looking to maintain growth during the current challenging economic conditions. “We believe this service gives us
an edge, and places us firmly at the front of the pack.” No mention of “travel”. No use of the word “emotive”. Lloyds Bank doesn’t care what you spend your
money on, or which suppliers you spend it with. Loo-rolls, flip-charts, trips to Anchorage – it’s all the same to them. But not, apparently, to Concur, which stresses the fact that around 20 per cent of all travel and entertainment expenditure is out of policy. Given that Concur last year processed around 500 million claims with a total value in excess of US$50 billion, that’s quite a chunk of off- piste activity.
ROAD TO HAPPINESS Concur’s answer is to provide a system designed to keep both employer and employee happy. For organisations, Concur helps ensure that corporate travel is booked within policy before the trip is taken and reconciles expenses after travel is completed. And by delivering electronic receipts – from airlines, hotels, and car rental companies – directly into expense reports, the system virtually eliminates the need to track and manage paper receipts. To keep the road warriors productive – and smiling – while travelling, Concur’s mobile applications enables them to keep track of and share their travel plans, create, review and approve expense reports, and book and change travel itineraries, all from a smartphone. Conferma commercial director Shaun Hinds would agree with all
Concur data based on an aggregation of all expense reports the company processed during 2011. Concur analysts scrutinised US$50 billion-worth of expense claims submitted by more than 15 million employees of 15,000 corporate clients to arrive at the final figures.
TOP TEN SPEND CATEGORIES – INTERNATIONAL AVERAGE EXPENSE CLAIM
CATEGORY Air fare
Lodging Dining
Entertainment 78
Ground transport Personal car Car rental Telecoms Office
the above but his emphasis is on flexibility. Cost is obviously best controlled before a trip takes place, and Hinds urges Conferma clients to book, and even pay for, as many trip components as possible upfront. “Anything you can pre-order,
anything you can reserve, anything you can pre-pay – do it,” he says. However, he also recognises the “stranded traveller scenario”. He asks: “How much control do you really want? You might know that the hotel costs £89 a night, but it makes sense to build in some leeway – maybe 20 per cent either way – and our system allows you to do that. It’s highly configurable. “And configurability is important
– you will never find two identical clients. Because of the expertise we have, we are pretty good at taking a view on the best set-up for any particular client. We can build in lots of fields which can be mandatory – which is what the CFO wants – but then if you talk to the operations manager or the travel manager, you get a different set of requirements. “Establishing the client’s
specification can be a bit of a learning curve – for both sides. The one thing nobody wants is a system so onerous and cumbersome that it becomes an inhibitor.” ■