4 Reasons to Move Spend Management to the Cloud

It is no secret that companies who have opted to move to the cloud have experienced numerous benefits. In fact, Gartner has stated that as cloud becomes more mainstream, it will dominate the ever-increasing portions of enterprise system infrastructure. Spend management is just one industry that has yet to make the full jump to the cloud. From internal spend analysis to sending invoices to customers, spend management software is a way for companies to control and optimize expenditure throughout the procure-to-pay process. With spend management making its way to the cloud, budgetary mishaps and unorganized paper-based processes can be a thing of the past. Check out these four reasons why moving spend management to the cloud can be beneficial for a business:

Improved security

Security is a major concern for companies when deciding whether to migrate to the cloud. It is a general assumption that because of past security breaches, the cloud is not secure. However, this is a false assumption. In fact, on-premise and paper-based processes run the risk of more security threats because there is no established visible trail of spend. 

In case of emergency, the cloud provides the opportunity for comprehensive data backups to be recovered. By moving spend management to the cloud, data is protected from damage or loss that can occur with a mobile device, paper documentation or laptop. 

Decrease the risk of cash flow oversight

Paper-based processes can cause a business to quickly lose control over their cash flow because mistakes and oversights are more likely to occur. By implementing a cloud-based spend management solution, companies experience better control over their cash flow due to the enforcement of budgets, automatic authorization of suppliers and the recommendation of approval processes before costs are incurred. Cloud-based solutions show stakeholders a comprehensive view and greater insight throughout the entire process, which helps create a more efficient and regulated spend management strategy. 

Increase productivity and efficiency

According to a Harvard Business Review study, 85 percent of organizations who have adopted cloud solutions have seen increased business speed, lowered costs, and new means of growth and innovation. Unfortunately, many organizations are still using paper-based processes. Through the implementation of a cloud-based solution, organizations experience increased productivity and efficiency in numerous ways moving from spend management to spend enablement. For example, by automating requisition requests to a form, the appropriate approver will be notified of any action that takes place. 

Moving this information to the cloud can also be beneficial to company stakeholders. With a cloud-based solution, they are able to access the system remotely no matter the location. This way, if there is an immediate need or error, employees will be able to tend to it quickly. 

Improved reporting and analytics

Using a cloud-based solution when forecasting your organization’s spending habits will allow for smarter spending through improved visibility into needs, budgets and costs. This solution can provide detailed analytics that can augment forecasting and identify spending trends as data is gathered through requisitions and transactions. Spend forecasting can lead to better bottom-line savings and provide more effective management of the company’s money. 

It’s time for businesses to make the jump from outdated, paper-based processes to a cloud-based spend management system. By utilizing a cloud-based system, businesses are seeing improved security, decreased cash flow risk, increased productivity and improved reporting. 

Stanton Jandrell is the CEO of Fraxion.