IBM Introduces Electronic Expense Reporting solution To Help
Companies Eliminate Reimbursement Paper Trail
ORLANDO, FLORIDA (August 03, 1998) – IBM today introduced the Electronic Expense Reporting Solution (EERS), an integrated, online expense processing tool designed to help companies globally eliminate the paper process for internal reimbursement systems, including corporate travel, procurement and tuition reimbursement.
Powered by Java, EERS is now being piloted at Bristol-Myers Squibb, one of four IBM customers that helped develop the browser-based system. Following the test, it will be installed at Lockheed-Martin, Eli Lilly, Georgia Pacific and more than 35 other companies using IBM’s existing NEDS reporting product. Charles Schwab & Co. is also using EERS in conjunction with a full suite of travel management products from The SABRE Group and IBM.
“EERS marks a strategic repositioning of IBM’s expense reporting solutions. We have been working with customers over the last year to meet the many expense reporting needs of both large and small companies. They wanted a multiple function system to handle purchasing and other processes beyond travel reimbursement. EERS has been designed to answer their needs, including offering multiple-purpose software, global deployment and the browser base,” said Bob Zapfel, General Manager, Travel and Transportation Industry, IBM Global Services.
Here is the flow of how EERS works for travel reimbursement: the employee completes an expense report and submits online to the approver; the approver receives it (including summary and detail) with company policy exceptions highlighted; the form is then routed to a central processor where auditing rules determine if the report should be processed or routed to an exception processor; any exceptions are routed to the exception processor for review and approval; and finally, payment files are prepared for the credit card company, and payroll and financial information are automatically entered into the company’s general ledger. The benefits of EERS to the traveling employee include receiving a user-friendly dialog which prompts for required information and has calculation capability including international currency conversions. The approver benefits by receiving a concise review of the traveler’s expense report with the capability to review all the details and clearly see corporate policy exceptions. Finally, the expense report department benefits because electronic form submission removes many tedious tasks, including the need to recalculate a form, hand check for corporate policy exceptions, or key in expense detail into the general ledger.
“EERS truly has multiple functions, which is important because many companies will also use it for purchasing, relocation, cash advances and other types of form processing, in addition to travel reimbursement,” said Ray Curatolo, IBM EERS practice leader. It’s another example of online technology providing real business value.”
As part of the EERS offering, IBM will also handle all technology and data center administration on an outsourced basis for customers that don’t have the technology support to bring expense reporting in-house. IBM recently reached an outsourcing agreement with United Technologies to administer all aspects of EERS.
IBM Global Services, headquartered in Somers, N.Y., delivers strategic IT solutions that help customers to transform their businesses, improve time to market and increase shareholder value. With 1997 revenue of approximately $26 billion and 116,000 professionals in 164 countries, IBM Global Services is the world’s largest and most versatile IT services provider. More information can be found at http://www.ibm.com/services.
IBM’s Global Travel and Transportation Industry Solutions Unit provides a broad range of products, services and integrated solutions to all segments of travel and transportation, including airlines, hotels, travel-related services, rail and freight logistics. More information can be found at http://www.ibm.com/travel.
Source: IBM