Claiming success through improved expense procedures...

Atkins has a key operating principle: Do the utmost for clients. To make good on that commitment, the company established an enterprise-wide service delivery process (SDP) that integrates leading providers’ technologies and capabilities, including those from Genpact, Microsoft, and Oracle. The goal was to get the most out of its service delivery and to delight customers in every way possible.

That called for a real change to its expense claims process—one of the first functions Atkins transformed through its SDP. Submitting expenses for reimbursement was a convoluted, highly time-consuming, multi-step manual challenge for the company’s consultants. Because each submission took as long as 15 minutes, people often stockpiled expenses until the amount the company owed them was worth the effort.

The complex and laborious procedure was just as painful for the firm’s finance team, which had to handle 300 spreadsheet-based expense submissions each day. The sheer volume of paper made it difficult to prove the legitimacy of the claims to clients. What’s more, bottlenecks in both submission and processing slowed down the company’s revenue stream, because it couldn’t send invoices to clients on a timely basis.

To keep customers and employees happy — and its revenue and profitability on a steady course — Atkins needed to intelligently automate its expense claims process.

Atkins introduced a web-based platform, Genpact Cora Orchestration, that smoothly integrated with the existing ERP/finance system.

Employees now manage claims online through their own personal pages on the company’s intranet. Drop-down lists make it easy for both submitters and processors to access the information they need for accurate reimbursements. And they can immediately access previously submitted claims through the intranet.

Now it’s also a snap for managers to authorize claims through their unique intranet pages. With a few clicks of a mouse, they can see any expenses that need approval, and a history of those already processed. They receive e-mail notifications when someone makes an expense claim, minimizing delays in the approval process. Another plus: the newly streamlined process means Atkins can send accurate and complete invoices to its clients on a regular, timely cycle. And this solution was so simple to implement, it went to work and was fully operational in a matter of months.

By managing its expenses electronically with our digital workflow solution, Atkins has:

• Increased client satisfaction by freeing consultants’ time to work on their projects, and by providing instant answers to expense-related questions
• Increased employee satisfaction by cutting the time required to complete an expense form from 15 minutes to just two
• Removed 10,000 spreadsheet-based expense reimbursements from the finance team’s workload each month
• Reduced administrative costs by nearly $197,000 since 2010
• Achieved more consistent cash flow by increasing the speed with which it can process expenses and invoice clients
• Reduced its environmental impact by tracking employees’ travel data to help them pick the greenest travel options