6 signs to switch to an expense management software 

If your vendor was gotten on board when operations were in their nascent stage it is highly unlikely that they have continued to match your needs as you have grown. Many vendors talk about interoperability, one-stop shops, and holistic solutions, but few are actually able to meet the standards they set themselves.

Especially if you can’t integrate their services with corporate card programs, company travel management, or accounting platform, you might find yourself stuck with only one vendor’s solution. You might start growing and different divisions might be using different systems, or you might have acquired a company that uses a different software provider.

You need to have software that is capable of foreseeing and integrating with such changes in systems. Ideally, if you’re looking to make a switch, you should look for a provider that has highly advanced integration capabilities. Volopay's Vendor management system is one of the advanced software to handle vendors in bulk.

The problems that came with traditional forms of expense management were the very reason why modern expense management systems were born. The whole purpose of the expense management software that exists today is to help curb the problems that can arise with traditional expense management.

These include issues such as delays in preparing expense reports, missing paper invoices or other supporting documents, and employee errors when processing expenses. If you have expense management software already on your system yet you still face such challenges then it’s highly recommended that you make a change. If your processes are still getting delayed because of the classic spending problems then that is not a good sign.

You should ideally look towards moving on to a different, more capable platform. This platform should live up to the expectations that come with using expense management software, such as improved efficiency and eradication of traditional, classic problems associated with company spending.

Adaptability is a key feature to look for in expense management software. As you progress through building your business your needs are bound to also progress. Whether you’re scaling up efforts in your home country or expanding abroad, you need to have systems in place that are able to adapt to your growing needs.

If it isn’t able to do so then that’s a marker for the change required. Difficulties in adaptability are clear indicators of the fact that you need to replace the expense management system you are currently using.

The best expense management softwares out there are all capable of immense customization and adaptability. You should look for a new solution that can adapt efficiently and effectively.

Another clear indicator of a deficient expense management system is the continued prevalence of employee grievances. Expense management software is brought on board with a clear goal of making operations more efficient. They are meant to lighten the burden on your employees, particularly your finance and accounting teams, to help them dedicate more time to value-generating prospects.

However, if despite getting an expense management solution on board your employees continue to face issues such as complicated funds approval processes, unclear spending policy, or difficulties with remote expense management, there must be a problem. What you need in this case is a replacement.

Expense management systems are supposed to give clarity and control over spending policies, they are designed to make the approval process smoother and remote management easier. If your expense management system has difficulties doing these tasks then you need to look for a replacement.

As we have already discussed, expense management systems are, by design, supposed to reduce the burden of manual tasks from your employees’ shoulders. They are meant to manage manual tasks such as expense reporting and reconciliation.

Expense reconciliation is the process by which companies match expense claims against supporting documents to ensure that expenses that are recorded in the general ledger of the company are actual and authorized. When done manually expense reconciliation can take a lot of time and effort from your employees.

It is a task that ideally should be handled by expense management software. If your expense management software is unable to do this and your employees are still stuck reconciling numbers instead of dedicating their time to increasing company productivity and savings then you should consider making a change.

Managing straightforward expenses is not particularly difficult for expense management softwares. Most softwares out there are able to do this with much ease. However, how does your expense management function when it comes to handling complex matters, e.g. global per diem functionality.

Can your expense management system give complete per diem functionality throughout the world? Requirements such as global expense management truly set the difference between the normal and the best expense management software out there.

Your system should be able to handle complicated tasks such as per diem calculations, global payments, custom approval workflows, etc. If it can’t then your expense management software is not really as smart as it should be. You should look to make a switch to a service that can handle such requirements.

Interesting read: How Volopay help you streamline expense management?