Case study: Diabetes NSW & ACT improves visibility and efficiency with Concur Invoice and Concur Expense

SAP Concur delivers an automated solution to improve efficiency and gain near real-time visibility.

Diabetes NSW & ACT is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to helping people living with or at risk of diabetes, their families, friends and carers. Its priority is the health and wellbeing of the community, providing programs, services and information to support people living with, or affected by diabetes.

Sturt Eastwood, CEO, Diabetes NSW & ACT, said, “Diabetes NSW & ACT is a complex organisation with lots of moving parts, supporting approximately 750,000 people living with diabetes. It therefore needs sophisticated tools that follow the financial flows that exist within the business.”

Why Diabetes NSW & ACT choose SAP Concur?

• Increased accessibility and visibility of spend
• Error reduction via automation
• Increased efficiency and ease of use

Diabetes NSW & ACT case study

“The efficiencies and improvements that Diabetes NSW & ACT realised from SAP Concur are beyond what was expected. It’s been a very rewarding journey.” - Lain Gonzalez, FP&A manager, Diabetes NSW & ACT

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Moving beyond manual processes

Diabetes NSW & ACT sought to simplify its processes, while also improving accessibility and visibility and reducing errors. To achieve this, Diabetes NSW & ACT needed to replace its manual and paper-based processes with an automated system.

Lain Gonzalez, FP&A manager, said, “Diabetes NSW & ACT had no visibility of invoicing or expenses. SAP Concur enabled our organisation to work in a decentralised manner, across multiple locations, with full visibility of expenses and invoices.” SAP Concur helps ensure that money donated to Diabetes NSW & ACT is tracked and delivered to the programs for which it is intended.

SAP Concur delivers cost reductions and efficiencies across the organisation. This is important because of Diabetes NSW & ACT’s grant activities, fundraising activities, and donations appeals, as well as its need to deliver the maximum return on investment to its 70,000 financial members.

Sturt Eastwood said, “As a not-for-profit, the reality is, none of it is our money. Diabetes NSW & ACT has a duty to be the most efficient that it can be. With SAP Concur, Diabetes NSW & ACT can guarantee that donations are well tracked, are well used and are delivered against exactly what it said it was going to be delivered against.

“SAP Concur enabled our organisation to work in a decentralised manner, across multiple locations, with full visibility of expenses and invoices.” Lain Gonzalez, FP&A manager, Diabetes NSW & ACT

A streamlined, mobile solution

Automation is a key focus for Diabetes NSW & ACT. SAP Concur’s cloud structure and mobile offering via the Expense IT app helps achieve the finance team’s automation goals.

Lain Gonzalez said, “The mobile app was so native to everyone. Now managers can see what’s outstanding and who it is sitting with, and easily monitor its progress.”

Diabetes NSW & ACT has staff working in independent locations across NSW. It has simplified its expense management processes by doing everything online using SAP Concur. Bottlenecks are prevented with staff no longer needing to mail in or retain their receipts until they are next in the office. This has reduced the frequency of lost receipts and statutory declarations. It also lets managers go back into old claims and reconcile the team’s expenditure. Additionally, managers can reconcile their own credit cards much faster and easier.

Improved visibility

With expense and invoicing processes now online, Diabetes NSW & ACT has simplified its processes while also improving visibility, accessibility and error reduction.

Lain Gonzalez said, “The biggest benefit to the business has been visibility. We now have a really clear view of what’s coming in and when, rather than waiting for the paper to cross our desks. We can trace details of specific invoices, what stage they are at, and whether they have been paid. SAP Concur has made the expense and invoice process so much easier than it used to be."

“The feedback has been great, with staff saying, ‘thank you’. That’s something that we don’t get in finance too often.” - Lain Gonzalez, FP&A manager, Diabetes NSW & ACT

With SAP Concur, Diabetes NSW & ACT reduced its accounts payable function full-time-equivalent resources by half. The time and financial savings have allowed Diabetes NSW & ACT to seek partnerships with other state and territory diabetes organisations in a way that’s cost effective and scalable.

Lain Gonzalez, said, “SAP Concur was a central part of Diabetes NSW & ACT’s Better Together program. This allowed Diabetes NSW & ACT, and Diabetes QLD to start operations under one central finance team structure, boosting the organisation’s combined effectiveness and efficiency.

“The efficiencies and improvements that Diabetes NSW & ACT realised from SAP Concur are beyond what was expected. It’s been a very rewarding journey.”

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