Challenge
OKI Europe is a leader in business technology; however, its expense management process was unable to meet the needs of a modern enterprise. Lacking a central system, OKI Europe’s offices across the EMEA region managed travel expenses with varying policies and systems (mostly manual), and had more than 250 GL codes in use.
Because of this, it was impossible to centrally manage and accurately analyze spend data for the EMEA organization, and travel expense reimbursement typically took three weeks or more.
"We felt that Chrome River was a modern global enterprise solution with the relevant experience to address our complex business needs.”
Albert Kupfer
Director Finance & Administration EMEA
OKI Europe reduces spending and gains visibility with Emburse
OKI Europe also saw Chrome River as a modern, customizable, and user-friendly solution. Stand-out features included Chrome River’s mobile capabilities, reporting, and self-service functions that allow admins to maintain and update rules on their own.
Working with Chrome River’s implementation experts, OKI Europe’s finance team streamlined its rules and consolidated 250+ GL codes down to around 80 standard GL codes that are now used across the EMEA organization. They also built country-specific per-diem rate calculations within Chrome River, even for the most complex use cases in Germany.
The centralized system gives the finance team full visibility into expenses across EMEA. This has helped them make more accurate budget projections and identify areas for cost control gains, resulting in a 20% reduction in spending in the region. Managers also have greater visibility into staff spending, and with automatic routing, pre-approval, and mobile approval capabilities – the expense report approval process is quick and easy. In fact, travelers are now reimbursed 70% faster – going from three weeks, to just one week.
OKI Europe travelers also find Chrome River intuitive to use. They can take photos of receipts with their mobile device, while built-in OCR technology automatically populates receipt details so they can easily submit expense reports on-the-go, saving time and reducing administrative hassle.
Benefits
- Streamlined expense management and VAT reclaim processes across all OKI Europe offices, resulting in 70% faster traveler reimbursement.
- Centralized expense data and identified areas for efficiency gains – reducing spend by 20% across EMEA.
- Standardized routing rules and GL codes, reducing total number of GL codes by 70%.
- Improved user experience with time-saving mobile features and OCR technology