Allianz Partners

The Challenge

With a companywide initiative to seek areas for operational efficiency gains, the Allianz Partners North America finance team identified expense management as a key candidate for improvement. In addition to time savings, the team saw an opportunity to improve mobility and reduce risk.

Allianz Partners used a paper-based expense reporting system, which consisted of Excel spreadsheets and pages of attached receipts. Each expense report had to be manually validated and keyed in by an AP clerk, which required a full day each week.

In addition to the extensive time and resources required to process expense reports, the finance team also spent hours reviewing expense reports to make sure all expenses met corporate policy. “Compliance required a detailed review of each page of an expense report, a process which could take hours depending on the volume of expense reports to be paid week to week,” said Steve Watson, Accounting Operations Analyst.  

Chrome River came out on top as the most feature-rich, yet affordable solution.

Steve Watson, Accounting Operations Analyst

The Chrome River Solution

Allianz Partners evaluated several expense management providers, and systematically scored them across 10 key criteria, including costs, reporting capabilities, mobility, and customer support. Chrome River scored highest across the board, and Allianz Partners was confident Chrome River’s EXPENSE solution would support its efficiency and compliance goals, and improve the expense submission and reimbursement experience for travelers, approvers, and the finance team alike. 

Chrome River enabled us to decrease expense report processing time by 90%, taking what used to be an eight-hour task down to just 20 minutes.

Steve Watson, Accounting Operations Analyst

Results

After implementing Chrome River EXPENSE, Allianz Partners realized an immediate impact. Travelers no longer dread having to submit expense reports—now it’s quick, easy, and seamless across devices. One traveler noted: “It used to take me up to two hours to complete an expense report. Now I can get it done in a few minutes on my phone.” Managers can also review and approve expense reports from any device, resulting in significantly faster reimbursements and happier employees.

The Allianz Partners finance team has also experienced tremendous benefits. Business rules configured within the solution automatically enforce policy. As a result, compliance issues are easily identified, and in most cases eliminated, before an expense is even submitted. Most notably, however, the team was able to reduce time spent processing expense reports by 90%—streamlining what used to be an eight-hour weekly task down to just 20 minutes.