Ocean Spray

The problem

• Manual process was time consuming for employees
• Expense reimbursements took four to five weeks
• Lack of T&E spending trend data across the enterprise
• Traditional licensed software solution not an option
• Lack of visibility frustrating to employees

The solution

• Automates each step of expense reporting process
• Online expense report service provides easy access to reports
• Rapid deployment frees resources from hosting and maintaining the solution
• Incorporates company as well as industry best practices
• Enables employees to automatically track approval and reimbursement processes
• Provides visibility into valuable T&E information

The benefits

• Dramatically less time spent creating, tracking, and managing online expense reports
• Negotiated better rates with travel vendors
• Rapid deployment and low upfront costs
• Employees spending more time on core job responsibilities
• Employees are reimbursed in two to three days rather than weeks

In 1996, the 2,300 employees of Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc. – 400 to 500 of whom traveled on a consistent basis – used a manual T&E expense management process. This process required them to enter expense reports into both Lotus and into an Excel spreadsheet, then print the report, attach the receipts, and deliver it to their supervisors for approval. Treasury would receive the expense reports, send them to accounts payable, and a check would then be written to reimburse the employee. This process took four to five weeks from start to finish, and required travelers to spend significant time away from their core responsibilities.

In an attempt to improve this lengthy and inefficient process and allow employees to focus on their core business initiatives, Ocean Spray created a task force to find a system to automate its T&E expense management process online.

This task force was charged with finding and implementing a system that would automate the creation and approval of expense reports, reduce costs, increase efficiencies, and increase travel spend data to leverage with vendors, as well as provide information on the status of the expense reports.

"We looked at a number of other vendors' licensed software offerings, but they all required a sizable capital investment, for what we perceived to be a constantly changing technology," said William H. McBain, Assistant Treasurer for Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc. "Fortunately, we were aware of Concur's online expense report service approach that spared the demands of network management, maintenance, and the risks associated with installing new software. Concur® Expense Service Pro had everything we were searching for – and with a small up-front investment, it was an easy, low-risk business decision."

In the fall of 2000, Ocean Spray deployed Concur Expense Service Pro in three phases, deploying on time, according to Ocean Spray's timetable. Concur has the ability to deploy quickly and without any difficulty or burden on Ocean Spray's IT staff. Ocean Spray accompanied the implementation with training sessions, which allowed employees to become accustomed to Concur Expense Service Pro and the improved internal online expense reporting process.

"I have been very pleased with Concur from the start. They delivered exactly what they promised," McBain said. "The deployment of Concur Expense Service Pro was absolutely seamless from an IT perspective."

"Typically when a company rolls out this type of system, about two thirds of the employees use it. Once our employees went through training, they were all impressed with how easy it was to use and how quickly they were able to embrace it," McBain said.

As a result of deploying Concur Expense Service Pro, Ocean Spray removed redundant processes in their accounts payable department, eliminated inter-office mail and out-of-office mail related to expense reports, and determined that they have already avoided hiring additional staff to handle increased expense reports.

"When we deployed Concur Expense Service Pro, it required all employees to be reimbursed electronically, resulting in immediate and substantial cost and time savings," McBain said.

In addition to reducing the reimbursement cycle from weeks to days, Ocean Spray's employees now know the status of their expense reports at all times.

"With our manual process we had two or three people in the treasury department handling a constant stream of calls from travelers inquiring about the status of their reports," McBain said. "It has been an enormous benefit for employees to be able to check the status of their expense reports from anywhere at anytime. It has allowed our travelers and employees in the treasury department to focus on their core business tasks."

With the auditing capabilities of Concur Expense Service Pro, Ocean Spray's supervisors can approve online expense reports more efficiently and recognize inappropriate use of funds more quickly. Concur Expense Service Pro also provides Ocean Spray with reporting capabilities that allow the company to get the most for their travel dollars.

McBain added, "with our previous T&E process we were limited by our ability to identify how much we were spending on travel – airline, hotels and car rentals – but with Concur Expense Service Pro, we have been able to realize where we are spending and have negotiated substantially better rates with our vendors!"

"Our experience with Concur has been outstanding! And with Concur Expense, Service Pro we have an excellent process that saves us valuable time and money. Concur not only met our expectations, they exceeded them."