Evolution of T&E Expense Management

Every organization requires at least some of its employees to travel for its business purposes: be it sales, marketing or product development. While the travel is certainly enjoyable, its aftermath is filled with bills, expense reports and excel sheets.

A lot of companies are still following the traditional paper-based methods when it comes to accounting for their travel expenses. Employees gather receipts, and send them, along with a spreadsheet, to a supervisor, who proceeds to revise and approve the expenses in a long, time-consuming process that is prone to human error.

The 15 days of time consumed by employees solely for filing their expenses was finally getting some respite, with automation making its way to the world.Travel and expense management is still in its nascent stages of evolution. Companies are gradually looking up to automated expense reporting solutions that can make travel expenses paperless, and quicker.

Travel and expense management technology has grown beyond simply linking data, finances and other attributes to the functions and executives that require real-time intelligence for educated enterprise decision-making. In fact, most contemporary solutions that offer travel and expense management automation can easily be integrated into existing ERP, spend management, or accounting systems, helping to provide complete control that can be leveraged in greater corporate planning, budgeting, and forecasting.

Solutions in today’s market have revolutionized the very notion of business travel. The integration of mobility and social media has led to development of applications and portals that easily book alternative means of transportation and lodging. The now of travel and expense management technology is building on the advancements of the past and is reaping the benefits whilst applying them to the average organization.