Listen to this articleBelow is our recent interview with Adam Reynolds, CEO of Webexpenses:
Q: Webexpenses helps businesses automate and manage expenses; who is your ideal client and why?
A: We work with any organisation looking to streamline business and finance processes through technology. People buy Webexpenses software to gain efficiency within their business. Our ideal client is a company who is looking for change, and who wants to make the most of their employees by removing manual administrative processes.
We have over 2,000 clients across 70 countries worldwide. Our clients range from SMEs to large enterprise-level organisations and are across a wide range of industries. We have a 99% retention rate and pride ourselves on providing the highest quality service to our clients.
A large proportion of our client base had manual finance processes, and we have helped them automate and become more efficient.
We also work with second-generation buyers who already have a system in place but are looking for improved functionality, better value for money, and better customer support.
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Q: Can you give us more insights into your online expense management software?
A: Our mission is to make the claim process as quick and easy as possible, using the best technology. We aim to reduce the time employees spend claiming back their expenses, which allows them to focus on doing their job.
Webexpenses automates the entire expense process starting with the claimant, through to the approver and accounts, saving time and reducing staff overheads.
We can configure the system to meet the needs of any sector, size or type of organisation. Finance teams have access to real time tracking of all the company’s expense spend, policy reinforcement, and integration with their accounting software for secure transfer of data.
Our credit card integration removes any manual entry of company credit card spend and automatically imports credit card files directly into Webexpenses. AI-technology then auto-matches receipts to each credit card transaction, saving time on reconciliation.
For claimants, it’s simple and easy-to-use, especially because they can manage their expenses on the go with our mobile app. Our OCR technology reads receipt data and builds the claim instantly with the information on the receipt. Users then only need to enter a small amount of additional information against their claim, meaning the entire process is less than 30 seconds.
Through the core expense management system, we can also automate other areas such as petty cash, expense audit, and expense reimbursement.
Q: What are the key benefits for your users?
A: The main benefit for all our users is the time saved on manual processing. By removing manual, paper-based processing, finance teams gain back time to work on other areas of the finance function that add value to the business, and employees can focus on their jobs.
Expenses are typically a huge cost for most companies, so having a real time view of what employees are spending and when, means that finance teams can manage this more effectively and maintain control. With all expenses data available digitally within the system, finance teams gain visibility of all company spend and can report on this in real time.
Webexpenses is also proven to reduce T&E costs through expense policy reinforcement, VAT reclaim, and anti-fraud features such as duplication claim alerts. A company’s expenses policy is built into the system, so employees receive an alert if they exceed a limit set on an expense category such as a hotel or meal allowance. Approvers receive notifications if claims fall outside of the spending limits so they can review them and reject/approve as appropriate. Having these measures in place reduces the opportunity for fraudulent expense claims and helps companies to stay compliant.
The other significant benefit of automation is the reduction in errors that are prevalent with manual data processing. With the OCR-receipt scanner, users build accurate claim data instantly from their receipts, and route their claims for approval. The integration with accounting and ERP systems further automates the process through seamless transfer of finance data. This removes any additional manual keying, improves accuracy and makes finance teams much more efficient.
We also provide award-winning and free customer support to every end user, so finance teams do not have to spend time supporting Webexpenses internally themselves. Our global customer support is available 24/7 our online support hub or 24/5 via live chat, email, or phone.
Q: What’s the best thing about Webexpenses that people might not know about?
A: Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a big focus within our organisation. We are environmentally conscious and make active steps to operate our business in a sustainable way.
We work with a range of charities on various fundraising activities and encourage all the teams to take part, raise money for good causes, and have fun. During lockdown, employees across our three offices in the UK, US and Australia took part in a fundraising campaign called ‘Miles of May’. The aim was to complete as many miles during May via running, walking, or cycling. We collectively reached 6,841 miles (2,000 miles further ‘as the crow flies’ from our Oxfordshire headquarter in the UK, and our Austin, Texas office) and raised over £1,000 for a brain injury charity called Headway Oxfordshire.
In 2019, we took on the Three Peaks Challenge in the UK which involved climbing Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon in 24-hours. We raised over £8,000 for Cancer Research UK.
We are proud to partner with educational institutions and universities to sponsor students, offer graduate placements, good quality work experience and internships.
During the pandemic, we’ve also been offering our expense management at no costs to UK and US not-for-profit organisations to help them make the most of their existing resources when they need it the most.
Q: What can we expect from Webexpenses in near feature?
A: We are committed to continuously enhancing the expense claim process using AI to reduce the time it takes even further. All our product development is in-house, and our roadmap centres around core product pillars which include integration, mobile, UI, credit cards, mileage, and reports. We work closely with our clients to ensure the solution meets their needs now and in the future, and aim to provide the best experience.
Over the last couple of years, we’ve built on our core expense management solution and have evolved into a provider of wider finance solutions, which include payments, audit and invoice processing. These additional tools bring the same time and cost-saving benefits to finance teams through automating manual processing, improving data accuracy and compliance, and removing underlying inefficiencies. We are seeing a strong adoption of these additional services as more businesses look to streamline wider finance processes.
We are also committed to working with a range of business partners through building direct integrations into finance systems such as NetSuite, Sage, and Xero, and HR systems such as CIPHR & Bamboo HR.
As part of our ongoing expansion, we continue to grow our global offices in the UK, US and Australia. As our client base expands worldwide, we will be looking at opening further regional offices in the future.
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Q: What do you think the long-term impact of the Covid-19 will be?
A: I believe that the Coronavirus pandemic is going to have a huge impact on the technology sector. Every business has had to adapt to a different way of working and for some it has presented a real challenge.
At relatively short notice the majority of organisations were forced to work remotely. The pandemic has exposed those who either have manual processes or inadequate or legacy technology. Inefficiencies in business processes will directly affect employee productivity at this critical time when teams need to be working efficiently to ensure the business survives.
We come across many companies who are burdened with administrative overheads through poor technology and processes, and this overhead directly reduces the ability to do great things for the organisation. Successful businesses need to ensure that their employees have as much time as possible to “do their job” as productivity will be linked to the speed and success of their recovery.
In the longer term, I believe that the pandemic will be the catalyst for digital transformation. We will see smart businesses investing more in technology as this will help improve their employees output and the businesses productivity. Those companies looking to invest now in digital tools will come out of the pandemic stronger because they will have the right technology in place for their employees.
