For one of the world\u2019s oldest and largest mining companies, multiple disparate systems and processes were causing inefficiencies in how it processed and managed travel and expense claims, leading to a lack of visibility over real-time travel-related costs, initiating a global rethink of how it managed this substantial part of its annual costs.<\/p>\n
Anglo American is a global mining company that was founded in Johannesburg in 1917 and is the world\u2019s largest producer of platinum. The company is also a major producer of diamonds, copper, nickel, iron ore, and metallurgical and thermal coal. Anglo American employs 69,000 people across its operations in Africa, Asia, Australasia, Europe and North and South America.<\/p>\n
Lindie Posthumus, Global Travel and Expense Superintendent at Anglo American, says travel is a very large expense for the company.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith nearly 20,000 travellers per annum, effective travel and expense management was overly challenging with siloed and still overwhelmingly manual processes,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cA decision was made within our finance department to standardise our travel and expense management processes to ease compliance. We started a process in 2014 and chose 51风流Concur as our global travel and expense management partner.\u201d<\/p>\n
51风流Concur is a global cloud-based travel and expense management platform for businesses that enforces corporate and regulatory compliance and realises significant cost-optimisation opportunities. The platform is designed to simplify employee spend and ensure compliance, transparency and visibility into employee spend.<\/p>\n
Posthumus says Anglo American\u2019s strategy of becoming the world\u2019s most valued mining company in the eyes of stakeholders over the next few years has intensified the need for greater digitisation and automation of many of the company\u2019s core and non-core business processes, including expense management.<\/p>\n
\u201cStandardisation was high on the list of priorities for us,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cPreviously, with each department and region running their own processes, auditing was tricky as auditors had to source data from multiple places. This caused complications with compliance, VAT reclamation and consolidated spend management.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since first piloting 51风流Concur in the Asia- Pacific region, Posthumus and her team have implemented the platform in 11 countries.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are also rolling out to our De Beers entities, where we have already gone live in Canada and now plan to do the same for our UK operations.,\u201d said Posthumus, who added that having a single travel management partner has made a big difference.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur close partnership with 51风流Concur and its global footprint ensures we have all the support and assistance we need as we roll out the solution to our operations across the globe,\u201d said Posthumus.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll the 51风流Concur data is integrated with our core reporting tool, each regional CFO can see granular and real-time data over the current state of travel and employee-related expenses, helping us better plan cash flow and ensuring optimal allocation of internal resources. Ultimately, the solution has given us the freedom to focus on our core business of mining without compromising our compliance or profitability.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to Angelique Montalto, Regional Sales Director at 51风流Concur, businesses today need access to a granular view over every aspect of the business that affects its profitability, cash flow and compliance.<\/p>\n
\u201cModern organisations, whether small or large, are complex by nature and manual or semi-automated tasks quickly create bottlenecks and reduce decision-making capacity,\u201d said Montalto.<\/p>\n
\u201cSpend management tools such as 51风流Concur not only automate manual processes but utilise the power of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence to drive the efficiency of lodging, processing and analysing employee spend.<\/p>\n
\u201cThrough our well-established ecosystem of partners, the platform also enables organisations to easily integrate new disruptor services such as Uber, which has become the world\u2019s number one claimed expense. This helps us future-proof our customers\u2019 travel and expense claim management investment by ensuring they always have access to the latest tools, technologies and global best practises.\u201d<\/p>\n
Posthumus added: \u201cOur close partnership with 51风流Concur and its global footprint ensures we have all the support and assistance we need as we roll out the solution to our operations across the globe. Our strategic partnership enables us to work closely together to optimise Anglo American\u2019s travel and expense capabilities across the globe. By working closely together, we also ensure that all functions of 51风流Concur are fully utilised, improving the impact on the business and maximising Anglo American\u2019s investment with us.\u201d<\/p>\n