Key Points:

 
Reporting:

According to an industry survey, today’s business travelers are typically equipped with three or four mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones. To address the growing reliance on multiple mobile devices, InterplX has released ExpenseNet® Version 7.0. Featuring a web-optimized application, the latest version of the ExpenseNet® software is developed specifically for use with mobile device browsers and enables users to move between different mobile devices seamlessly without losing data or functionality.

While other expense management software focuses on hosting the application on the device, InterplX’s latest release utilizes the mobile cloud, which inherently protects against potential security risks. By using the mobile cloud, the software is device agnostic and ideal for “bring your own device” (BYOD) cultures as well as travelers with multiple devices.

“For us, the clear path was not to get involved with creating separate applications for each of the major device manufacturers, but rather to focus on the core central site,” said Chuck Buckner, president and CEO, InterplX. “If the data and code are stored at the local level, when users move between mobile devices, data doesn’t always follow. By storing data centrally, neither data nor functionality is lost.”

Ideally suited for companies that have a large amount of employee travel or number of distributed employees; by having a single mobile device interface, users can more easily create expense reports, enter expenses, attach receipts, submit, and approve expense reports.

For companies with BYOD environments, ExpenseNet 7.0 enables expense submission across a wide spectrum of mobile devices. The use of a central mobile cloud also protects companies from potential data security risks.

For more information on InterplX ExpenseNet 7.0, please visit http://www.interplx.com.

About InterplX, Inc.
Founded in 1994, InterplX is a leading provider of employee expense management and purchase card transaction processing solutions, delivering the most complete suite of services in the industry. Using a web-based solution, InterplX offers automated business expense management for every step of the process: card transaction import, report submission, receipt imaging, policy enforcement, expense auditing, discrepancy resolution, and reimbursement. Known for providing highly customized implementations, InterplX has consistently delighted its clients by helping them strengthen controls, reduce costs, improve employee satisfaction, and minimize the burden on internal resources. InterplX now provides expense management automation to more than 250 blue chip organizations, representing over $1 billion in spending.

Media contact: Eva Keiser, KC Associates, LLC, eva (at) kc-associates (dot) com, 612.940.4254

“Travel budgets are always under pressure and with the proliferation of Internet-based booking sites and enhanced affinity programs, Travel Management Companies and their corporate clients continue to look for solutions that can deliver real cost savings and improved spending visibility,” said George Roscoe, Director of Marketing for InterplX. “Through Amber’s extensive background in travel industry sales and the tools available through the TMC Advantage program, she’ll be able to help our TMC partners leverage a client’s entire spend along with  reining in users who book outside of policy.”

In her role at InterplX, Eustice’s immediate focus is launching the program and recruiting TMC partners. Following the roll-out, Eustice’s primary responsibility will be working with the TMC partners to offer ExpenseNet®—InterplX’s SaaS base expense automation solution—and leverage the solution to increase adoption, and to enhance the value of the TMC to their mutual clients.

With insight gained from her various roles within Carlson Hotels, Eustice brings to InterplX a unique perspective on corporate travel management. In her most recent role as Manager, Corporate Sales at Carlson Hotels, Eustice was responsible for new account development as well as managing several Fortune 1000 accounts for Country Inns & Suites by Carlson and Park Inn Brands, as well as all global Carlson properties.

Eustice began her career at Carlson as a Director of Sales for Country Inn & Suites By Carlson in Rochester, Minn. She was promoted to Manager, Local Sales for Carlson Hotels in 2008 where she directed the sales efforts for several Country Inns & Suites by Carlson properties throughout the Minneapolis area. She is a member of the North Central Business Travel Association.

About InterplX, Inc. (www.interplx.com)
Founded in 1994, InterplX is a leading provider of employee expense management and purchase card transaction processing solutions, delivering the most complete suite of services in the industry. Using a web-based solution, InterplX offers automated business expense management for every step of the process: card transaction import, report submission, receipt imaging, policy enforcement, expense auditing, discrepancy resolution, and reimbursement. Known for providing highly customized implementations, InterplX has consistently delighted its clients by helping them strengthen controls, reduce costs, improve employee satisfaction and minimize the burden on internal resources. InterplX now provides expense management automation to more than 250 blue chip organizations, representing over $1 billion in spending.

TMC Advantage enhances value delivered through increased visibility on travel spend and combined analytics capabilities

MINNEAPOLIS (July 18, 2012) — InterplX, the number two independent provider of expense management and purchase card transaction processing software (GBTA booth #1153), has launched a new channel program aimed at helping travel management companies (TMCs) enhance the value delivered to shared clients. The ExpenseNet® TMC Advantage partner program is designed to enable the TMC and their corporate clients to identify “maverick” spend and focus training and guidance on those travelers in order to improve the utilization rate of the TMC.

The allure of frequent flyer, renter, and stayer programs and/or the notion that the traveler can find a cheaper rate than the TMC often entice the corporate traveler to book outside of the prescribed travel procurement process; i.e. “maverick” spend. According to InterplX’s audit studies, “maverick” spend can range between 15 to 85 percent of a company’s total travel budget – depending on the company’s policy and enforcement practices.

While others in this space suggest “open booking” will provide benefit for the Travel Manager and end user, InterplX sees a clear value in strategically partnering with TMCs to promote the resale and use of ExpenseNet®–InterplX’s SaaS base expense automation solution–and thereby gain visibility to 100% of their client’s actual airline, car rental, and hotel spending. Without additional burden on the traveler, the TMC Advantage program provides a partner TMC with access to the data necessary to identify “maverick” spend and work with the client to improve compliance. For TMC’s, this “unmanaged” spend represents an opportunity to enhance the value of their services by assisting in the procurement of travel services across a client’s entire population of travelers.

“With ExpenseNet® in place, the TMC and the client are better able to control ‘maverick’ spending, as well as support preferred vendor contract compliance, travel policy compliance and increased value in the TMC/corporate client relationship,” said George Roscoe, director of marketing for InterplX. “The TMC Advantage program is a common sense approach to booking integration that provides a clear way for our TMC partners to deliver superior value while maximizing their client profitability.”

InterplX’s approach is a significant shift from others in the industry that are promoting reservation data as a form of expense report data integration. According to Roscoe, the after the fact “combined analytics” available through ExpenseNet® enables booking integration and compliance while keeping the expense report experience fast and easy for the end user. An additional advantage cited by Roscoe is the ability for the TMC to be able to drill down into a complete set of airline, car rental, and hotel expense data, regardless of the booking process used.

“Others are focusing on a closed approach to booking integration – forcing clients to use their booking tools and their expense tools,” explained Roscoe. “In the end, we believe it makes far more sense to allow the client to choose the best booking tools and services to meet their needs. We believe having a diverse approach is the right one for our clients and their TMC partners.”

Visit InterplX at booth #1153 in the GBTA exhibit hall in Boston July 23 through 25.

About InterplX, Inc.
Founded in 1994, InterplX is a leading provider of employee expense management and purchase card transaction processing solutions, delivering the most complete suite of services in the industry. Using a web-based solution, InterplX offers automated business expense management for every step of the process: card transaction import, report submission, receipt imaging, policy enforcement, expense auditing, discrepancy resolution, and reimbursement. Known for providing highly customized implementations, InterplX has consistently delighted its clients by helping them strengthen controls, reduce costs, improve employee satisfaction and minimize the burden on internal resources. InterplX now provides expense management automation to more than 250 blue chip organizations, representing over $1 billion in spending.

GBTA Convention Overview:
July 22 – 25 in Boston

GBTA’s 2012 Convention is the one place you can connect face-to-face with thousands of travel managers and industry suppliers to discover profit-boosting solutions to industry-wide challenges. The expo floor is the place to map out your route for exploring the latest technologies, tools and travel trends. The conference curriculum is your customizable itinerary for learning – from contract negotiation and financial modeling to safety and policy trends, and much more. Join a global audience of your peers in business travel management, and take your business in a new direction toward success.

Trends reveal an apparent disconnect between adoption of mobile technology for communication and its use for business expense reporting

Orlando, Fla. (June 5, 2012) — Less confusion and overall cost savings are among the top expense management goals of organizations with frequent business travelers, according to a study released this month.

The 2012 Trends in T&E Expense Management study, sponsored by The Institute of Financial Operations and InterplX Expense Management, finds “ease of use” as the most important factor in choosing travel and entertainment expense management solutions. Yet even with the proliferation of smartphones and tablet technology among business travelers, only a small percentage of business professionals are using them for expense reporting.

The study results, released earlier this month at The Institute’s Fusion 2012 conference in Nashville, Tenn., reveals a willingness among organizations to closely monitor travel and entertainment expenses in order to improve efficiency.

“Smartphones and tablets have changed the dynamics of how businesses and people stay connected,” says Jo LaBorde, executive director of The Institute. “But despite the increasing popularity of mobile technology, the majority of companies still rely on paper as the top way employees submit receipts and related documentation on travel and expense requests. Aligning technology use with expense reporting processes provides an opportunity for companies to increase efficiency and ease of use.” Nearly half (44.4 percent) of all organizational budgets represented in the annual T&E survey are less than $1 million, and more than half (58.1 percent) report fewer than 500 employees submitting expense reports.

Other key findings in the 2012 Trends in T&E Expense Management Study include:

• More than half (51.5 percent) of respondents indicate their company process offers an online booking tool for employee use.
• Nearly half (49.5 percent) of respondents indicate their companies use a corporate travel agency as the primary type of travel management organization for employees.
• Among companies that use travel and entertainment expense reporting solutions, paper-based systems (29.8 percent) are the most popular. Concur (18.1 percent) and InterplX (17 percent) are used by more than one-third of survey respondents in this group.

“Creating greater efficiency and effectiveness with T&E policies and procedures is always the goal,” said Chuck Buckner, president and CEO for InterplX Expense Management. “Based on the survey results, AP professionals should be encouraged by the cost savings and convenience for the entire organization that can be made by streamlining travel and entertainment policy through the integration of technology — both ERP and mobile. The companies we’ve seen shift have benefited tremendously.”

A full copy of the 2012 Trends in T&E Expense Management Study may be found at www.financialops.org/research.

About The Institute of Financial Operations:
The Institute of Financial Operations is a membership association comprising four affiliates: International Accounts Payable Professionals (IAPP), International Accounts Receivable Professionals (IARP), the National Association of Purchasing & Payables (NAPP), and The Association for Work Process Improvement (TAWPI). Based in Orlando, Fla., with offices in Boston and London, The Institute serves as a global voice, chief advocate, recognized authority, acknowledged leader, and principal educator for people in financial operations, with a particular focus on accounts payable, accounts receivable, procure-to-pay, information management and data capture. Combined, the affiliates have 5,000 members. For more information, visit www.financialops.org.

About InterplX Expense Management:
InterplX is a leading travel and entertainment (T&E) and purchase card (P-card) expense management solutions provider to both large and small companies. InterplX prides itself in the strong client relationships it maintains across a broad cross-section of clients including more than a dozen in the Fortune 1000 as well as several in the Global 2000. InterplX strives to ensure that its entire client base is delighted with the value and quality of service the company delivers every day.

Five Compelling Facts We Learned About Best-in-Class Companies:

1. They experienced 60% lower expense-processing costs than all other organizations
2. They have achieved a 43% higher rate of business travel spend under management than all other companies.
3. They have experienced a 31% higher rate of corporate policy compliance than all other organizations.
4. They have executed 41% more of their travel and entertainment expenses on or below budget than all other companies.
5. They have successfully audited 52% more of their T&E expenses than all others.

The study showed that top priorities for the companies involved in the research were:

• To improve the expense management process – 58%
• Drive more value out of business travel – 57%
• Enhance visibility into overall travel / expense spending – 55%
• Improve intelligence through analytics / reporting – 42%

The Best-in-Class companies also reported that the success of their expense management solutions were due to:

• Integration between corporate card and expense management systems – 78%
• Expense management analytics linked to corporate forecasting and planning – 57%
• Business traveleer utilization of mobile capabilities for expense management – 42%

We’re offering a free copy of the results (a $399 value) through our sponsorship of this study with the Aberdeen Group. Get your copy today and learn more about what the Best-in-Class companies are doing with their T&E Expense Management Software.  We encourage anybody with questions or is merely interested in learning more about the topic to also contact us.

Software to manage the expense claim, authorization, audit and repayment processes can be obtained from organizations that provide a licensed software, implementation and support service, or alternatively, from Software as a service (SAAS) providers. SAAS providers offer on-demand Web-based applications managed by a third party to improve the productivity of expense management.

Expense management automation has two equally important aspects – the process an employee follows in order to complete an expense claim (for example logging a hotel receipt or submitting mobile phone records) and the activity accounts or finance staff undertake to process the claim within the finance system.

Typically, a manual process will involve an employee completing a paper- or spreadsheet-based expense claim which they then forward, along with the relevant tax invoices (receipts), to their manager for approval. Once the manager has approved the claim, they forward it on to the accounts department for processing. The accounts staff then key each expense item into the company’s finance system before filing the claim and receipts away.

Expense Management automation is the means by which an organization can significantly reduce transaction costs and improve management control when logging, calculating and processing corporate expenses. Independent research evaluating the use of automated expense management systems has confirmed that the cost of processing an expense claim is reduced as the level of automation increases.

As found in an Aberdeen study on expense management automation, there are three main factors that drive an organization to automate their expense management processes:

• Compliance focus: The need to reduce the current risk levels posed by non-compliance with internal policies and external tax/government regulations
• Cost reduction: The competitive pressure to reduce processing and auditing costs associated with expense reports
• Employee productivity: The organizational pressure to improve employee productivity and satisfaction

An automated solution typically provides the ability to code, approve and report on expenses. This will not only decrease the cost of processing expense claims, but can also enable an organization to have greater management control, bring transparency to expense spend and improve adherence to corporate policy.

T & E Management Solution is a service that allows clients to submit expense reports and receipts via web, mobile phone, email, fax, or conventional mail. It’s an automated system that can create expense reports with digital receipt attachment, report submission, approval, and reimbursement. Our software automates and streamlines the entire process. In addition, T&E Expense Management reduces your paper storage while guaranteeing access of your documents at any time.

Chuck Buckner, President & CEO, InterplX Technologies, Inc. stated “We are very pleased to be working with Data Dimensions, the most prominent data management provider in the states. We at InterpLX have positioned ourselves as a national leader as well, in the expense management industry and are looking forward to a long term relationship with Data Dimensions.”

Using a web-based solution, Data Dimensions and InterplX offer automated business expense management for every step of the process: card transaction import, report submission, receipt imaging, policy enforcement, expense auditing, discrepancy resolution, and reimbursement.

“Our collaboration with InterplX is a mutually beneficial strategy that is sure to exceed our customer’s demands. The high degree of expertise that InterplX offers along with our dedication and delivery of innovative automation solutions continues to make Data Dimensions an industry leader.” Said Jon Boumstein, Data Dimensions’ President and CEO.

Because it’s fully automated, Data Dimensions’ T & E Expense Management solution, powered by InterplX, is completely customizable to fit your needs. Our service allows you to be compliant, provides faster reimbursements, while freeing up your employees time by eliminating manual processes and human errors. T & E Expense Management takes you from start to finish, from receipt to reimbursement. Data Dimensions is the complete solution.

About Data Dimensions
Our goal of providing excellent customer service through professional staff has remained a priority for over 25 years. We understand that clients have differing business rules and unique needs. Using project management institute (PMI) methodologies, an educated, experienced Project Manager works with you to understand your current processes, build upon those to create a project plan, and create a workflow that allows for your unique needs while giving you guidance to best practices. We customize each solution to meet your specific challenges and unique needs while delivering guaranteed accuracy, quality, and quick turnaround.

About InterplX
At InterplX, we provide business expense management solutions through a unique product/service offering that combines our proprietary ExpenseNet® expense report software and back-office services. In fact, we are the only company that offers the total business expense management solution – from the receipt submission through expense audit, payment processing and expense reimbursement, archiving and discrepancy resolution. InterplX has established itself as a national leader in the employee expense management industry.

Details for each event are below:

IAPP Eastern PA Chapter Meeting
Friday 2/17/2012
9:00 am to 3:00 pm
Host: Wawa
Breakfast Sponsor: InterplX

Wawa Corporate University
1393 West Baltimore Pike Wawa, PA 19063

Agenda:
9:00 – 9:30 Arrival of members/guests
9:30 – 10:00 Welcome/Member Introductions/Chapter Updates
(Presented by Bill Delaney, ADP – PA Chapter President)
10:00 – 10:30 “Welcome to Wawa”
(Presented by Kevin Wiggins, Controller, Wawa)
10:30 – 10:45 Break
10:45 – 11:30 “Maximizing Your VAT Recoveries” (Presented by Faye Adams, CAPP) Faye will discuss how training your travelers to secure a proper receipt will help you maximize VAT recoveries
11:30 – 12:00 “Thank You PA IAPP” (Presented by Donna Bolno, M.Ed., Director of Community Partnerships, Northern Home)
12:00 – 1:00 Lunch
1:00 – 2:00 Round Table Discussion – AP Finance/ERP Systems
We will break into groups & discuss automation in your AP including and systems folks are processing their financials through;
- At 1:30, a member from each table will report back your results
2:00 – 2:30 Open Mike-“What’s Hot, What’s Not!”
Members have the opportunity to ask questions of the group.
2:30 – 2:45 Closing: Next Meeting Date/Location: Tentative: 4/20/12, TBD

IAPP Western PA Chapter Meeting
Friday 2/7/2012
12:00 pm
Host: Atria’s

Atria’s Wexford
12980 Perry Highway Wexford, PA 15090-8316

Agenda:
• Welcome and Introductions
• Topics for future guest speakers in 2012
• Roundtable discussion
• February meeting speaker is Chuck Buckner from InterplX Expense Management

Topic – Travel & Entertainment Reporting
Chuck Buckner is the President and CEO of InterplX Expense Management, a leading provider of outsourced travel expense and purchasing card management solutions. A Computer Science graduate of the University of Minnesota, Chuck has over 30 years experience in the expense management and technology arenas. Prior to joining InterplX, Chuck was President and CEO of KnowHow, Inc. an e-learning company focused on providing on-line training programs to large corporate sales and other client-facing departments. Prior to KnowHow, he spent 24 years in various management capacities with Gelco Information Network. While at Gelco, he lead the development of the industry’s first commercial travel expense management software system which forms the nucleus of the Gelco system today. He then assumed various management roles in sales and marketing before taking over the Expense Management Group as General Manager. At InterplX, Chuck has helped the company move to the forefront of outsourced expense management services by broadening the service suite, increasing distribution and driving double digit growth. Today, working independently or in partnership with software, charge card and other service providers, INTERPLX serves companies large and small including AstraZeneca, Medco Health, Mannington Mills, Hormel, and Moen. With a broad background in both technology and sales, Chuck has had the opportunity to work with hundreds of companies and government organizations in evaluating their expense management system requirements. He is a frequent speaker at financial, travel and technology conferences.