Spendesk: Smart, Trackable Spending for Modern Times

When corporate strategies and processes don’t work, we quickly move on. That’s the startup ethos: to build, test, iterate, repeat. But for some reason, companies have stuck with their classic spending habits.

Even though they’re terrible.

We believe that the way we pay for things at work is broken. How do we know? Find a traveling salesperson who likes claiming back expenses at the end of the month. Or a finance team member who actually enjoys the tedious closing process.

Good luck.

Nobody enjoys these processes. And yet businesses worldwide still stick with them. Because this is the way it works.

But fixing them is actually relatively straightforward. We’re certain that Spendesk has the solution.

So what’s the idea?

Spendesk Makes Company Spending Smarter

Most businesses focus their frustrations on the end of the payment process: expense reports, account reconciliation, and reporting. And these are indeed major issues.

But the simple way to fix these is to improve the way that team members pay for things in the first place.

Expense reports exist because employees get caught without a way to pay for things. They use their own money, and then there’s a mountain of paperwork to make this transaction legitimate (and to pay that person back, of course).

So to give employees more autonomy, and to kill all of that paperwork, you need to give everyone an easy way to pay at work. And that’s what Spendesk is for.

Secure, Pre-approved Cards

You probably don’t want to give every team member a company credit card. That’s a security risk, and it will become too different to track who’s paying for what.

But Spendesk cards are different. Every employee receives one, each with its own rules to keep spending compliant. Team members can spend up to a pre-approved limit – customized for every spender – and any further spending needs to be validated by a manager.

You always know exactly who’s spending company money, and you don’t need a complex papertrail to keep track.

These cards work anywhere Mastercard is accepted, and virtual cards let employees make online payments right from their computer browser – no plastic card necessary.

The result is simple, smart spending for every single member of your team.

Automated Expense Reports

All is not lost if employees are caught without a Spendesk card. They can create an expense claim instantly with the Spendesk mobile app. It’s faster and less error-prone than the expense report process you’re likely using today.

The team member simply enters a few key details about the payment, snaps a photo of their receipt, and it’s all sent off to a manager for approval.

Which means no more missing documents, faster reimbursements, and virtually no paperwork at all.

Real Time Spend Analysis

Once company spending is all integrated into one system, having up-to-date financial data becomes automatic. Payments are logged against the correct budget, with managerial approval, receipts, and accounting codes.

Finance teams only need to check that nothing is missing. Spending records are sent to accounting tools in seconds. Which makes end-of-month closing a breeze.

It also means that finance leaders can analyse spending as it occurs, and not have to wait until every expense report has been reconciled. The result is spending data that works for you – rather than you having to work hard for it.

Why This? Why Now?

The better question is, why didn’t we think of this 20 years ago? Companies have been slogging through with painful spending strategies, without realising that there could be a better way.

But it did require some serious technological developments. The growth of cloud computing has given businesses access to previously exclusive software. Today, Spendesk is available in more than 30 countries, and we’re expanding to new markets all the time.

In early September 2019, Spendesk raised $38 million with plans to open offices in Berlin, London, and to continue improving services in the rest of Europe.

Soon, there will be no reason for any company – anywhere – to force employees to go through the expense report process. Company credit cards will either get a major upgrade, or will be gone altogether.

Either way, smart, trackable spending is here. So what is everyone waiting for?