Modern spend management software unlocks new value drivers.

Are you still getting value from the expense management or bill payment software you purchased a few years ago? Do your users actually use the software? Do they find it intuitive, pleasant to use, and efficient? Is your original business case holding up in this new era of high interest rates and a competitive labor market? 

If your answer is no to any or all of these questions, I have some very good news for you. There has been tremendous progress made since you put those systems and processes in place. Today’s next-gen approach to building cloud-based, broadly integrated, and user-centric accounting software has ushered in new products that make legacy solutions seem clunky and tortuous. 

Prepare yourself to be pleasantly surprised by how much better “new” is as you evaluate alternatives to managing payments, controlling risk, and closing the books faster and easier than ever before. Consider the implications of rolling out a solution for expenses, purchasing, and cards that supports collaboration across the whole organization and that everyone loves using. And then, arm yourself with a rockin’ high ROI that you can share with stakeholders and decision-makers to show how much better things can be with an up-leveled solution. 

Converting the benefits of a new software purchase into a convenient ROI is helpful to quantify its value and stack rank priorities for the increasing number of people you’ll have in the buying cycle. With additional scrutiny from a larger number of stakeholders, this process is also served by surfacing all of the benefits, including some that may not be in your ROI calculation. 

The economic slowdown and more restrictive access to new capital have made businesses more cost-conscious. You’re likely focused on getting maximum value for any expenditure — a higher ROI and greater impact — which is exactly what modern spend management solutions can provide. Let’s have a look at why businesses are moving to adopt modern software solutions and where that value comes from. 

Making a case for new software purchases in a downturn.

Historically, software spend was viewed as something that could be postponed when budgets were tight. But that thinking has shifted because improvements to productivity with automation are now widely recognized as the key to not only surviving a downturn but being a lean, mean machine coming into the turn when opportunities to claim market share are at their greatest. 

More businesses now realize the value of investing in technology during uncertain times. A recent forecast predicts that software purchases are expected to rise by 9.3% in 2023, but stakeholders will become more discerning in their decisions. According to Gartner’s 2023 Global Software Buying Trends report,

“Businesses realize the best way to face a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) environment is to invest in digital transformation, but leaders will have to be more strategic in allocating funds.”

The report ranks improving productivity as the number one reason for buying new software. Part of what business spend management offers is a more holistic approach compared to siloed, legacy point solutions. The value of pulling everything together under a continuous, consistent process is one important way that modern approaches lead to higher productivity. 

Beyond traditional ROI considerations — strategic benefits. 

As the purchasing process becomes more selective, companies will focus on improvements that yield the highest ROI. This calculation typically focuses on hard benefits like money saved and revenue earned, and these are available from modern spend management. But, increasingly, soft benefits are also considered. Things like usability, time-to-value, scalability, consolidation, and flexibility are less traditional measures that are becoming more important in buying decisions. 

Efficiencies. Some buyers are not sure if time savings should be in their ROI calculations, but these savings and the resulting increase in productivity are central to the purpose of implementing new software. Modern spend management cuts time-to-close by at least half in most cases. The time saved for accounting teams is significant and can be translated into more time on more important issues, or keeping headcount down even with growth. 

Usability. If employees don’t use a solution, its ROI plummets. Usability also impacts the time you will spend implementing a new solution, especially for spend management since every employee in an organization needs to know how to make compliant purchases. 

Time to value. There is a difficult balancing act for mid-market to early-enterprise organizations between buying out-of-the-box solutions to solve problems quickly and the need to configure solutions to meet growing complexity. Today’s modern solutions can get you up and running fast while still being configurable for your unique needs. 

Scalability. The wear and tear on your team to upgrade solutions are real. Any investment you make today should have the capacity to handle your company’s changing needs and increased complexity for years to come.

Consolidation. The era of point solutions is over. Businesses are rejecting the inefficiencies and risks created by the disconnected, siloed world of separate tools in favor of comprehensive platforms that eliminate the cost and risk of gaping seams between processes. FP&A teams, and budget owners in particular, are well served by real-time, easy access to consolidated spending from one source. 

Cross-functional support. In most purchasing transactions, there are multiple stakeholders. A modern approach will automatically pull in those that are required for the type of purchase being requested and then route all appropriate information to them. This means that IT, legal, procurement, FP&A, and accounting teams all get their requirements fulfilled. 

No-code configurations. When built correctly, modern solutions provide no-code tools to configure settings and integrations. 

Flexibility. Many spend management solutions are based on a business model that requires you to use their corporate cards so that they can earn the interchange fee. This lack of flexibility can place an undue burden on your organization by leaving you with multiple cards to manage or forcing everyone in the organization to retire existing cards in favor of new ones. 

Happy employees. Providing your company with software that they like to use can have an additional benefit. Accounting teams are noticing the same lack of qualified candidates that many other parts of the job market are seeing. In addition, a recent CFO 2023 Outlook NetSuite survey identified quiet quitting as an issue. “There is tangible unease over employee morale. 78% of CFOs and 59% of non-finance executives say ‘quiet quitting’ is an issue for their company, with some employees doing only the minimum requirements of their job.” Improving morale by eliminating low-value, mundane tasks is a good way to combat this trend.

Don’t put off taking advantage of these benefits. 

We’ve seen buying cycles become more complex, with more stakeholders and a greater number of steps. A G2 survey identified 22 different roles that can be involved in making a decision and noted that the primary decision–maker is changing more often during the buying cycle than in the past. This means that teams must be prepared to look across the organizational stakeholders in finance, IT, AP, and treasury, and drive consensus of value. And along with this, it’s important to find ways to pool value and budget dollars.

Now is a great time to upgrade technology to improve operational efficiency and productivity to take advantage of those value drivers. New approaches to software have resulted in higher-quality products that are collaborative, consolidated, integrated, and easy to use. The friction caused by a change in software can give way to the excitement of improved productivity, better risk management, and happier stakeholders. Our short guide to buying software can help you navigate the process.

Of course, I or one of the members of my team would love to show you firsthand how to update your tech stack with Airbase. Ask us for a demo!