Digitisation is increasingly a hot subject among German businesses. The global pandemic has given companies an extra boost to digitise their processes. This includes the digital expenditure report, which should be paperless and disaster-resistant. However, even before Covid, the change was not simple, and this acceleration (and frequently distance) makes it considerably more difficult for businesses. Marc Hoppichler, Director of Finance & HR at Diconium, discusses the relationship with Rydoo and how the firm gradually digitised its finances in an interview with Rydoo.
The accounting processing time has been reduced by 87% and 95% of all receipts are now submitted on the go.
Marc Hoppichler - Director Finance & HR
The digital company Diconium, part of the Volkswagen Group, has around 1,000 employees, of which 600 are in Europe. 150 to 200 of these employees are regularly on business trips. With the increase in business travel in recent years, the need for automatic expense approval has also increased. Before Rydoo, two finance employees were (for a large part, solely) responsible for the expense reports. Their task was to sort, glue, punch, file, and mark receipts. The folder with the collected documents was then transported to the cellar and no longer touched.
In order to simplify the process, Diconium set the goal of automating the approval of expenses and digitising the expense reports in the company. After a long selection process, they chose Rydoo. The travel volume is now twice as high as before, but only a quarter of the staff is needed to process it. Thanks to Rydoo, sorting, gluing, punching and filing are a thing of the past.
Change management: from analogue to digital
The ROI of Rydoo is clear: Traveling employees no longer have to create travel expense reports. Instead, they have the user-friendly mobile app to submit their receipts on the go. The finance department has real-time insights of the expenses and budget. In addition, the accounting processing time is 87% shorter.
Switching to a new tool doesn’t happen overnight. Diconium experienced this first-hand. Initially, the system sent the documents to the head of the department for approval. However, this quickly became a problem, as a notification in a tool is easier to forget than a piece of paper on your desk. As a result, Diconium abolished the lengthy approval process. The finance department is now the only supervisory authority. A clear set of rules and a transparent overview of the individual expenses of the employees make this possible. The department manager receives an overview at the end of the month. If an employee submits a receipt, the data is automatically posted directly to HR and accounting.
Paperless billing pays off even in times of Corona
With the sudden outbreak of Covid-19, all employees in home office and on business trips were cancelled overnight. At first, you would assume that there are no employee expenses at the moment. But even in these times, digital billing pays off as employees now expense headsets and other home office equipment and online training. The finance department would have previously waited a long time for physical copies and signatures that were needed in the traditional process. Now, this process is super easy, fast, and overseeable.
According to Hoppichler, digitisation in finance is becoming increasingly important. Fully automated and digitised financial processes are inevitable for him in the long term. It’s not just about implementing a tool that facilitates part of the workflow, but about running the entire process. Today, 95% of the receipts at Diconium are submitted by mobile.
Travel expense accounting was the starting point of digitising finances at Diconium, because it has a direct advantage for employees: they are spared the tedious task of creating travel expense reports. The entire finance department is now running digitally. Incoming invoices are also scanned directly with the receipt scanner so that the paper invoice does not have to be kept. Paper is gradually being banned from the entire process. Thus, Diconium will work paperless and crisis-proof thanks to digital expense accounting.
