Skip to content
Home » Blog » Webexpenses’ research shows how outdated tech is holding business back

Webexpenses’ research shows how outdated tech is holding business back

The real-world consequences of outdated technology and inefficient administration have been revealed by Webexpenses’ latest research.

Involving a global survey of more than 5,000 office workers, the study looked at the challenges faced by office-based employees during a typical working day.

It revealed that more than a quarter (26%) of employees’ time is currently being spent on outdated processes and unnecessary administrative tasks.

The biggest time wasters were found to be:

  • Managing irrelevant emails
  • Attending unnecessary meetings
  • Handling employee expenses
  • Arranging business travel/accommodation

Two-thirds (66%) of US-based workers said they would be more productive if they had better tools and 60%wanted their employer to invest more on time-saving technologies.

Misfiring expense process

Expense management is one of the areas where an outdated manual process and a paper-based approach are still typical - using written forms, paper receipts and Excel spreadsheets.

The average time it’s taking to create an expense report using these methods is 24 minutes. It’s a task that can be completed in a matter of minutes with cloud-based management and an automated process.

US workers are taking the most time to manage their expenses, an average of 40 minutes. The shortest average times (17 minutes) were in New Zealand workplaces.

More than a third (38%) of employees said their company still uses manual processes and 40%described the workplace technology available to them as being ‘woefully outdated’.

Frustrating and inefficient

Adam Reynolds, CEO of Webexpenses said:

“What’s remarkable about these survey results is the level of frustration and annoyance that’s clearly being experienced by employees.

“People are used to the simplicity and efficiency of digital solutions in their personal lives and that clashes with workplaces where they’re having to shuffle and process mounds of paper.

“Our businesses are rapidly becoming one of the few remaining places where these kinds of outdated and ineffective forms of management are still tolerated.”

Webexpenses’ suite of cloud-based solutions are designed to streamline and improve business administration by removing the need for traditional paper-based and manual processes.

Along with the flagship expense management software, Webexpenses now features a range of powerful cloud-based tools to handle business travel, invoicing and payments.

If you're interested in seeing the system for yourself, book a free demo or get in touch.

Make sure you’ve always got your customer’s vote

Jun 15, 2017

from our UK office Last week’s snap election to increase the conservative party’s majority, left most of the British public…

Read More

Webexpenses proud to partner with Reality Solutions

Jun 13, 2017

from our UK office A UK provider of technology solutions is the latest addition to the webexpenses partnership programme. Reality…

Read More
Personal Today Article Webexpenses in Austin Texas

We’re Stateside With New Austin, Texas Office

May 17, 2017

from our US office With offices in the UK and Australia, Webexpenses enters the US with a and a functionally…

Read More

U.K.-based Webexpenses opens U.S. office

May 16, 2017

from our US office Webexpenses, a United Kingdom-based provider of cloud-based expense reporting software, has opened an office in Austin,…

Read More

Webexpenses opens office in Austin, Texas

May 16, 2017

from our US office The UK’s leading expense management specialist, Webexpenses, announces they have gone stateside One of the most…

Read More

Webexpenses celebrates opening of its US office

May 15, 2017

from our US office These are exciting times for webexpenses as we open our first office in the US. It’s…

Read More

Why it’s time for expense report management to ‘fly’ By Adam Reynolds CEO

Apr 20, 2017

(via our US office) t’s fair to say that expense reports have always been the ‘ugly duckling’ of business finances…

Read More

Webexpenses is a proud partner of Sage

Apr 13, 2017

from our UK office Reflecting on a fantastic two days at Sage Summit 2017, the webexpenses team could not be…

Read More

Government launch review of tax relief for employee expenses

Mar 14, 2017

from our UK office One of the details hidden away in the Spring Budget 2017 was a green light being…

Read More

Reminder: Company car fuel rates revised by HMRC

Feb 27, 2017

from our UK office If your expense system covers employees who use company vehicles then you need to know about…

Read More