7 benefits of cloud based expense management system
Until recently, the business world had no idea how technology could revolutionize expense management and other business activities. One such innovation that has changed this for good is cloud technology. Cloud computing is a generic term that denotes the provision of on-demand services, applications, or storage solutions. They are available on a pay-as-you-go basis, and you can access them from a shared cloud network.
Cloud expense management software utilizes these services to effectively manage the business payouts and other expenses, all under one window. Growing companies don’t like wasting time on unwanted data processing and instead focus on creating productive accounting teams and qualitative outgrowth. Concomitantly, they shift their attention towards ensuring data safety and privacy, which cloud-based applications vouch for.
What is cloud-based expense software?
In laymen's terms, cloud expense management software is an online application that offers multiple payment processing options to manage business expenditure like vendor payments, monthly bills, online purchases, subscription charges, and employee expense reimbursement. A cloud-based expense management software makes use of remote servers where it also stores the data, and one can access them through the internet without physically installing the program.
Adopting them to your accounting system leaves zero room for errors, compliance issues, and data leakage, which is a massive threat to SMBs right now. It automates every step in payment processing, right from accepting an invoice to receiving the confirmation receipt. Furthermore, a cloud spend management platform brings better control over your finance and money management, which is crucial to maintaining cash flow and calculating.
Types of cloud computing services
Businesses used bulky electronic devices and databases to store programs and process data a few decades ago. And the cloud was simply clouds that were lounging around the sky. Along with the technology came cloud computing which excluded the need to use on-premise programs and rent or buy cloud computing software.
Infrastructure-as-a-service
IaaS services are a kind of cloud computing where networking, IT, computer, infrastructure, or virtualization services are offered on-demand and off grounds by a provider. The service can be a firewall or an anti-virus program, or even a database or a virtual storage service platform.
Some well-known IaaS providers include AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google’s cloud infrastructure, IBM, and many others. Technical teams invest a lot to set up their on-premise infrastructure. By opting for pay-as-you-go IAAS services, they can reduce the expenses as well as the complexities that arise from sourcing, installing, and maintaining the infrastructure.
Platform-as-a-service
PaaS (Platform as a service) is when the service provider provides a virtual platform as an on-demand service for its users to develop, test, deploy and run applications on it. PaaS helps software developers and companies that develop and host applications create software.
Without installing tools and infrastructure on their devices. It’s accessible for multiple users simultaneously as it’s created based on virtualization technology. Since the infrastructure is readily available and doesn’t need maintenance or update, developers can solely focus on writing codes, deploying, and testing them. Some noteworthy PaaS service providers are Heroku, Google app engine, AWS elastic.
Software-as-a-service
SaaS is the most common type where an application, software is made available by its provider for its users for a monthly cost (subscription fee). It rules out the need to install the standalone software in the devices but gives access to the platform over the internet.
We all might have used this software at some point in our lives. Some common examples are zoom, Netflix, Google suite. Back to where we were, cloud-based expense management software falls under this category too. Also, to remind you that Volopay offers an exceptional cloud-based expense management software that combines the positives of cloud computing and automated expense control.
Benefits of using cloud-based expense management software for your business
Fast and cost-effective
When you employ a manual process to run your accounting works or a semi-automated one, you spend a lot of money on their salary and other miscellaneous things related to that. Every late and improperly processed payment costs you nothing but losses. But when you bring in an automated expense management approach, things fall into place and need minimized control which means a more minor but productive team. Work happens in auto-pilot mode, and the only cost you bear (other than the expenses you process) is a nominal software subscription fee.
Enables seamless collaboration
Accounting has never been a one-team job. The employees from different departments connect and collaborate to give rise to a well-functioning and agile accounting process. Meetings, emails, follow-ups, reminders, running to someone’s desk often are the ways the collaboration happens, and it’s annoying for the employees involved if this happens constantly. Yes’s can be heard as no’s, and there will be no proof that accounts for the miscommunication that occurred.
Cloud expense management systems impose a healthy and seamless collaboration into your company when it comes to accounting matters. A kind of communication that’s as simple as a push message notification gets the job done and gives the go-to to the next person. Everyone stays aware of their roles, requirements, and responsibilities.
Eliminates the risk of errors
Errors are unavoidable even with system-made calculations where a human manually enters the input. These errors can make your accounting team go berserk for days until they spot the odd man and rectify it. You turn to your data to make future predictions and tax computations. Incorrect tax returns cause disciplinary charges that you could have steer cleared if paid on time. Cloud software automatically takes care of your expense processing in all its steps with minimal human intervention. Risks of errors can never make a way towards your estimations now.
Integration with accounting software
When systems communicate with each other, it minimizes human intervention. Accountants have better jobs to do than remembering the expenses made and later updating them into the ledger and other systems. Accountants are free from this laborsome task when your accounting software can co-operate and collaborate with other software. Because of their versatility in nature, modern cloud-based payment systems understand this bottleneck and bridge it by reconciling automatically or manually.
More secure
Your accounting data includes your vendors' and customers' private information along with your valuable bank account particulars. Only a secure and stable platform can guarantee data security and privacy in your transaction. In this aspect, cloud-based applications are safer as they don’t reside in a system but are locked safely in a virtual environment. Systems are prone to manual destructions, viruses, and ransomware attacks. And the same goes with the manual storage process, where there isn’t even space for encryption which the former had.
Offers better analytics and transparency
Automation through cloud computing enables auto analysis of your expenses, leading to frequent report generation and insights into your economic stand. Without using complex spreadsheets formula or data importing, you gain this data. Your finance team can make better decisions now with the help of this feedback. Additionally, cloud-based expense management software ensures transparency as every previous record is readily available at any instant. There is no place for stealthy operations, fake proof receipts, or erroneous records.
Backup of data to the cloud
As established earlier, physically stored data are vulnerable to attacks by nature or human beings with ill intent. And the same goes with electronically stored data without any backup. If deleted from the system, they are gone forever. The chances of getting corrupted or attacked are also high.
But the cloud offers maximum security to the data, and you don’t have to update anything anywhere. As the operations happen over the cloud, the data gets backed up and stored there. Your application is instantly accessible, locked with a password, modified permission levels for different users, and held for an extended period without any abnormality.
Volopay's cloud based expense management software for small business
The future of cloud computing is already here. Volopay, one of the best cloud based expense management software, strives hard to give its customers the best of both worlds, technological advances from versatile cloud computing & advanced automated expense management system where things take care of themselves. As a result, our customers experience nothing but seamless and orderly finance management that’s fast, quick, safe, and reliable. They are able to customize the software to their needs and streamline their payment system in an automated fashion.
Volopay's expense management automation comes with an in-built reimbursement system. Employees can raise instant claim requests updating receipts digitally, which go through approvals levels, and funds get released at the end. Too exhausted to deal with reimbursement approvals? Leverage the credit card platform to create umpteen cards and distribute them when in need. You can still control and limit its budgets and freeze or delete the card anytime. These cards can be your go-to for subscription and online payments also.
Receive invoices from your vendors and process them the same way you approach a reimbursement. You get to be on good terms with your vendors by scheduling payments on time, vital for long-term relationships.
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