Half-digital, fully at risk: The cost of 'almost digital' expensing

In today’s economic and regulatory environment, ‘mostly digital’ just doesn’t cut it. Expense management that relies on disconnected tools, clunky approvals or manual auditing creates risk, increases costs and frustrates staff. For businesses under pressure to do more with less, this is an unavoidable problem. The good news is, there is a solution.

Manual reviews and spreadsheet-based processes are vulnerable to human error, duplicates and even fraud. They also make accurate VAT reclaim more difficult - potentially costing your business thousands.

Really digital: Policy rules are built in, anomalies are flagged automatically and VAT is captured accurately to protect your business and support compliance.

Nearly digital: Creates blind spots where errors or fraudulent claims can slip through.

Concur Detect by Oversight uses AI to review expense and receipt data automatically, helping to catch risks before they become costly mistakes.

Gain real-time visibility

When finance teams have to wait days – or weeks – for reports, they can't do their jobs effectively. Without live data, it’s almost impossible to make timely decisions or stay ahead of budget risks.

Really digital: Provides up-to-the-minute insight by employee, department or project – so teams can act quickly and confidently.

Nearly digital: Delivers old data that’s too late to be useful.

Business Intelligence from SAP Concur gives finance leaders real-time dashboards, alerts and detailed reporting.

Ensure policy compliance

Manual checks are inconsistent, time-consuming and prone to human error. Policies get applied differently across teams, or not at all – and that leads to overspend, disputes and risk.

Really digital: Applies policies automatically at the point of submission, flagging or blocking non-compliant claims before they even reach approval.

Nearly digital: Depends on subjective, manual reviews that vary between people and teams.

With SAP Concur, policies are embedded into the system, so everyone follows the same clear rules, automatically.

Speed up reimbursements

Waiting weeks for reimbursement is a sure-fire way to frustrate employees. When approvals are slow or communication is lacking, morale plummets.

Really digital: Moves claims quickly through automated workflows, keeping employees informed at every stage – from submission to payment.

Nearly digital: Leaves staff in the dark about when they’ll be reimbursed.

SAP Concur’s automated workflows speed up the entire process, keeping your team informed and happy.

Unify disconnected data

Acquisitions, remote work and legacy systems often contribute to fragmented expense data, resulting in duplication, manual re-entry and confusion. This not only creates inefficiencies but also frustrates employees with inconsistent reimbursement experiences.

Really digital: Brings travel, expense, invoice and ERP data into one integrated system, for greater accuracy, visibility and consistency.

Nearly digital: Keeps data siloed and hard to manage.

SAP Concur connects with over 700 business applications to streamline data across your business.

Scale with your business

As your organisation grows, manual processes struggle to keep up and create disparity across teams and divisions. More users, more departments and more policies - without automation, it quickly becomes unmanageable for finance teams and confusing for employees.

Really digital: Scales effortlessly as your business evolves, with no need for extra headcount.

Nearly digital: Adds friction, bottlenecks and overhead as you expand.

SAP Concur is designed to grow with you, making sure your expense management never holds you back.

Now you know why it's important to be truly digital, it's time to check how digital YOUR organisation is.

Digital expense checklist

Becoming truly digital doesn’t mean starting from scratch – it means identifying where there is friction and where automation can make the biggest impact. This checklist is designed to help you spot those friction points you may not have been aware of and prioritise changes that will save time, reduce risk and make life easier for your teams.

1. Can users submit expenses entirely via mobile – no desktop required?

A truly digital system should work seamlessly on mobile, allowing staff to snap a receipt, build a claim and submit it within minutes. This is especially important for travelling employees and hybrid workers.

Friction means: Needing to scan, print or email receipts from a desktop.

Digital means: A mobile-first, app-driven experience that lets employees submit expenses instantly, wherever they are.

Action: Choose a platform with a highly rated mobile app that supports receipt capture, AI-based extraction, claim creation and approvals. The SAP Concur mobile app enables full claim submission and approval on the go and is rated 4+ stars on the Google Play Store.

2. Are approvals automated – without the need to chase via email?

How do your users capture receipts, submit claims and get reimbursed? By identifying pain points, such as duplicate steps, missing visibility or long approval chains, you can prioritise where to reduce effort and increase clarity for both employees and approvers.

Friction means: Waiting for replies, manual follow-ups and unclear approvers.

Digital means: Automatic routing based on policy, with notifications at every stage.

Action: Set up automatic approval flows based on job role, cost centre or project code. Avoid bottlenecks by setting approval limits and fallbacks if a manager is unavailable. Use conditional logic to route large or unusual claims to senior approvers, while letting standard claims flow through faster.

Concur Expense auto-routes claims and alerts the right people without anyone needing to nudge or remind.

3. Is real-time visibility available for managers and finance?

Digital transformation isn’t just about automation – it’s about insight. Can your finance team access business spend data by cost centre, department, geography or individual?

Friction means: Needing to wait for monthly reports or export spreadsheets.

Digital means: Dashboards and live data that update continuously.

Action: Set alerts for unusual spend, budget thresholds or policy violations to support proactive action, not just reporting. Business Intelligence offers detailed, real-time dashboards filtered by team, cost centre or individual.

4. Does it flag duplicates, fraud or out-of-policy claims automatically?

Manual policy checks are inconsistent and time-consuming. Build rules into your system so out-of-policy claims are flagged or blocked instantly – before they ever reach approvers. This improves compliance and removes awkward conversations later.

Friction means: Relying on post-submission checks or human review.

Digital means: Automated alerts based on rules and AI, applied before claims are approved.

Action: Automate exceptions based on amount, category, geography, or vendor and review reports on trends in rejected or flagged claims. Concur Detect by Oversight automates this process, protecting your business without extra admin.

5. Can employees use OCR or AI to auto-fill claims from photos or emails?

Optical character recognition (OCR) and AI tools can extract line items from receipts. This saves time and improves accuracy. Look for systems that handle digital receipts from emails as well as photos.

Friction means: Typing in data manually, mis-keying amounts.

Digital means: Automated receipt scanning and data extraction using OCR or AI.

Action: Use tools like SAP Concur’s ExpenseIt to extract amounts, VAT and vendor info instantly from a snapped photo or emailed receipt.

6. Does it integrate seamlessly with ERP, payroll, travel and invoice systems?

Avoid rekeying data or maintaining multiple databases. Your expense system should connect directly to your ERP, payroll, travel booking tools and invoice systems for a complete, real-time view of spend.

Friction means: Duplicate data entry, reconciliation issues.

Digital means: Real-time data flow across platforms with no need to rekey.

Action: Prioritise platforms with native or partner-built connectors for tools like SAP, Oracle, NetSuite, Xero, Workday or QuickBooks. With over 700 integrations – including SAP, Oracle, NetSuite and Xero – SAP Concur fits into your existing ecosystem.

7. Is your audit trail complete, secure and HMRC-ready?

A good digital system automatically logs all actions and stores data securely. That’s vital for VAT reclaim, HMRC compliance and internal audits.

Friction means: Laborious reviews of disparate data during audits or VAT reclaims.

Digital means: A full, searchable digital log of every action, stored securely and built for compliance.

Action: Ensure your system is GDPR-compliant and supports local tax documentation and retention requirements (like HMRC’s Making Tax Digital initiative). SAP Concur AI-infused audit services ensure your audit trails are complete, transparent and ready to support UK tax and audit requirements.

Don't settle for 'nearly digital' – make the leap

In a world where speed, accuracy and visibility matter more than ever, ‘mostly digital’ isn't digital enough. If your expense process still relies on manual checks, email approvals or spreadsheet workarounds, it’s not just inefficient – it’s putting your business at risk.

The difference between a digital-looking process and a truly digital one is more than surface deep. It’s the difference between firefighting and forecasting. Between slow, reactive admin and confident, proactive decision-making.

Now is the time to leave behind the patchwork fixes and hidden inefficiencies. With the right tools, your expense management can go from a frustrating necessity to a strategic advantage.

Digital transformation isn’t just a finance project – it’s a mindset shift. It changes how people work, how fast they can move and how clearly they see what’s happening across the business. When expenses are truly digital, your team gains back time, confidence and control. This is about empowerment as well as efficiency.

So don’t settle for digital-ish. Make the leap to truly digital and build the foundations of a finance function that’s faster, smarter and ready for whatever comes next.