Expense Management: Why It Is So Vital For The Digitization Of SMEs

What does the digitization of financial documents bring? And why shouldn’t you continue to file your invoices in paper form?  This statement may be understandable and visible for individual sectors such as green energy, but the debates about digitization deficits seem to contradict this statement.

In addition to the slowly progressing broadband expansion, the lack of mobile Internet access, and other brakes on digitization, it is not possible to pin all the deficits on politics alone – you also have to look at the companies. There is a need to catch up on digitization in ​​expense management, among other things.

The Little Ones Stay Small, And The Big Ones Remain Big

Managers of small and medium-sized companies are often faced with whether they want to simplify processes with the use of technology. The excuse most often given is: “Never change a running system.” Why should it be when it has done such an excellent job so far? With precisely this mental evasion, the SMEs ensure that only the large companies, which can only use dedicated staff for restructuring, integrate new technologies into their everyday work.

On the other hand, SMEs tend to fall by the wayside when it comes to technological progress. Of course, every beginning is complex, and directly restructuring an entire department may cause decision-makers concern. So why not start with an area that sometimes causes the most extraordinary effort in companies and at the same time uses the most paper? We’re talking about expense management.

Expense Management Facilitates The Handling Of Expenses And Expenses

Expense management usually causes a lot of bureaucracy. In addition to invoices, small receipts, and new legal requirements, handling expenses means a lot of paperwork. Finally, all evidence must be categorized, filed, and kept for a few years. This circumstance can quickly ensure that entire rooms are only used for archiving in medium-sized companies. Here, in particular, there is great potential to make work more accessible and protect the environment.

The digitization of all receipts for the company’s expenses and expenses ensures that they remain securely stored in digital form. In contrast to conventional archiving in folders, this requires at most a USB stick – users of digital expense management with a cloud connection, however, no longer even need this to preserve their receipts permanently and follow guidelines.

The fear of data leaks, spies, or hackers, which many decision-makers have, is also unfounded in expense management. Today’s solutions are secured several times and encrypted to a high degree. In most cases, technology providers within the EU also comply with GDPR standards. But back to the crucial question: What does the willingness to digitize SMEs bring at the national level?

Expense Management: Immediate Impact On Digitization

Participation and, above all, the willingness to adopt new technologies drive the development of technology providers. This means that technology providers from other EU countries recognize a new market and want to open it up. And secondly, that start-ups and providers of technology solutions are also founded. As a result, the pressure on digitization increases and strengthens the national economy in the long term. If more small and medium-sized companies are dependent on fast Internet and reliable connections, this will also accelerate broadband expansion. In this way, SMEs not only have their digitization in their hands but also ensure holistic progress.

It is not uncommon for the media to say that missing out on digitization. Through my job in many countries, I have gained insight into how quickly – or rather slowly – digitization is progressing in the finance departments of companies of all sizes, among other things. Even if it would seem reasonable to assume that companies in other countries are far ahead in this regard, my insight is that never changing a running system must serve as an argument in many places.

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