Thinking about new expense management software for Business Central?

Now is a good time to evaluate new options

If you have been thinking of investing in expense management software for some time, but have been sitting on the fence, now is the time to make a move.

We’ve written extensively about the problems eliminated by automated expense management in the past, ranging from employee fraud at one end of the spectrum, through to legitimate expenses going unclaimed at the other.

Between these two extremes is the fact that time spent filling in, submitting and processing expense claims manually, is time which your employees could be devoting to core business activities.

Covid-19 may have put the brake on your plans to switch to automated expenses as your attention switched to doing whatever needed to keep your business afloat. But, now the ‘new normal’ begins to emerge and before the government's furlough scheme officially ends, it may be the perfect time to have another look at the benefits offered by Zetadocs Expenses.

Why automate expense management?

The reasons for switching to automated expenses are vast.

According to the Aberdeen Group, the average expense report costs £27.20 to process - which undercuts the notion that sticking to traditional paper-based methods of expense reporting is a money-saving move.

On the contrary, money spent on expense management software is an investment which will recoup its value very quickly and many times over.

The advantages of automated processes won’t be limited purely to employers. A study published by Barclaycard found that:

• 48% of employees use their own money to cover business costs without being reimbursed
• £962million in expenses goes unclaimed every year
• 60% of employees featured in the study said that they had failed to fill in expense claims in the past
• The average amount per person in unclaimed expenses is £123

Perhaps most disturbingly, the report also states that 37% of respondents had experienced cash flow problems whilst waiting for expenses to be reimbursed, with one in ten having to miss a payment on a personal credit card.

All of this means that this could be the perfect time to install a new solution, ensuring that it is up-and-running should employees return to their desks more permanently, saving money for the wider business and making life easier for everyone.

Try Zetadocs Expenses Express

Zetadocs Expenses was designed with those objectives at its core, and an Express edition of the software is now available free of charge for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central online customers.

For many years, we’ve offered Express editions of Zetadocs Delivery and Zetadocs Capture, enabling Business Central and NAV customers to take advantage of automated emailing and filing, and this latest move provides the same in terms of expense management.

Implementing the free software now, while expense claims are likely to be coming in at a slower rate, will leave your business perfectly placed to utilize everything the software has to offer as business picks up and reimbursable expense claims begin flooding in again.

Speed of submission

As the title suggests, the most notable feature of the Express edition is the speed with which it can be utilized. Once an expense has been incurred, whether via mileage covered or moneys spent, it can be entered instantly via the Zetadocs Expenses app - using an accompanying picture of any receipt. And that’s it.

The claim has been filed and employees no longer have to face the monthly ordeal of rifling through envelopes stuffed with receipts to painstakingly itemize each expense on a written report.

Speed of reimbursement

The speed and convenience of the software cuts both ways.

Managers will be able to approve expense payments via the app whether they’re at their desk or on the road. The responsive nature of the technology means that it works as well on a smartphone or tablet as on a desktop PC or laptop, so delays in paying expenses back will be kept to the absolute minimum.

Even if the manager in question isn’t looking out for an expense claim, they’ll receive an alert telling them that one has been uploaded.

Transparency

The Express version of Zetadocs Expenses offers full transparency for your finance team.

Each stage of the process will be visible, making it easier to spot and rectify any errors before they become embedded and acted upon.

Traditional methods, involving monthly bulk reporting, all too often lead to mistakes being uncovered some time after they had actually taken place, at which point the same mistakes might well have been repeated on multiple occasions.

The transparency of Zetadocs Expenses minimizes this risk.

Integration

If you’re planning on downloading the Express version of Zetadocs Expenses then you’ve clearly been impressed by the many benefits offered by Business Central.

The good news is that the automated expense management software works seamlessly with the Business Central software, with each approved expense report being exported with relevant aspects such as vendor and tax codes already set.

It’s this simplicity which lies at the heart of the Zetadocs Expenses Express offer.

By the time your employees return from furlough permanently you’ll have mastered the system – which has a simpler feature set than the Essentials and Plus editions – and be ready to utilize it free of charge for up to 25 employees.

The time and money saved, not to mention the boost to staff morale, will mean that Zetadocs Expenses soon becomes a key component of the way you do business.

What’s next?

The age of expense claims being a tedious and time-consuming chore which eats away at your business without even offering efficient results, is at an end.

The expense management software offered by Zetadocs Expenses has revolutionized the way expenses work across the Business Central world, and this is your chance to join that revolution.

If you’d like to learn more or you feel your business would benefit, contact us today.