I can hardly believe that we’re in Spring. 2020 disappeared before our eyes but the good news is that our product showcase is back and what better time than when signs of growth are all around us, from the earth to business.
In case you missed it, at the beginning of the year, we were delighted to announce our seed investment round. What that means for our customers, is an even greater focus on building an expense management system that meets your ever-evolving needs in this complex pandemic world. Travel may still be largely grounded worldwide but that doesn’t mean you’re not spending – and at a time when we’re all preserving cash, understanding that spend and how it contributes to growth is key.
You’ve all had to adapt overnight to the effects of the Covid, so we’re working hard to make sure that managing employee spend doesn’t add to your daily woes. So read on to explore the important changes we’ve made and why, including the next installment of our customers’ most loved feature.
Taking the guesswork out of expenses with pre-trip approvals
As travel restrictions start to lift amid accelerated vaccine rollouts, it’s only a matter of time before employees start to travel for work again. There’s no doubt that work trips will be very different, not only with regards to safety but also whether they derive enough value given the pandemic has brought spend under intense scrutiny.
Yet, determining value is notoriously difficult and often relies on gut instinct. Combined with the unpredictable nature of business travel, the extent to which companies can control spend is compromised. That’s why we’ve introduced Intelligent Trip Request.
SalesTrip’s Intelligent Trip Request completely reimagines the traditional pre-trip approval process. All administered through a single trip management page, employees are able to research, suggest and request a trip budget directly against the specific business purpose such as a customer or project – the place where you capture revenue details and so can determine value. The amount is then dynamically reviewed by a specified manager in the same place, where he or she can see all relevant information to assess whether the trip is actually necessary. In this case, the amount of potential revenue that the trip could generate if taken.
You can read more about Intelligent Trip Request or watch the short video below explaining how it works.
Richer spend analysis with expense multi-allocation
In the aftermath of the pandemic stalling the world’s economy exactly a year ago, it’s no wonder Covid saw companies reviewing how they manage spend across their businesses, trying to understand what spend was absolutely necessary and what wasn’t.
Managing employee spend was already one of the biggest challenges for a business as both the biggest variable cost to an organisation, as well as the most unpredictable. That’s why we’re constantly looking for ways to provide richer spend analysis.
As a result, you can now attribute expense claims to not just one business outcome, but several.
Not all expense claims, particularly larger items of spend such as flights, can be attributed to a single business activity. So whether your business trip is to see one customer or three, you can submit expenses to multiple activities in a single claim with SalesTrip. Spend is then automatically split across each activity including customer accounts, sales opportunities or marketing events.
See exactly how in our short video below.
Most-loved feature: compliance reporting
In our last product showcase, we introduced our customers’ most loved feature. Up today we explore compliance reporting, often a major headache for finance teams.
Luckily, automated expense management software has benefits far beyond productivity and preventing errors – it’s a key facilitator in complying with rules and regulations whether these are internal or external.
Take the Sunshine Act or Sunshine Rule (under the Bribery Act as it’s known in the UK). For those of our customers working in the healthcare industry, the Physician Payments Sunshine Act requires all drug and device makers to collect and disclose payments made to physicians. Failure to comply can result in financial penalties of up to $100k – per expense or payment – so there’s no messing around.
There’s a multitude of expenses and payments that need to be captured including to whom, where and in relation to what product. And so what better way to manage this than in Salesforce where you can tie any affected expenses to a specific physician contact in your CRM?
It makes it easier for employees to capture, managers to approve, finance to report on and companies to prove compliance. Watch our short video below for more information.
For existing customers, all of the above plus more is available now. Speak to your customer success manager for further details.
If you’re not yet using SalesTrip, request a live demo today to learn more about how our expense management and travel booking system is helping businesses prepare for better business travel in a post-pandemic world.
