Co-op Group's SaaS expenses system pays for itself in less than a year

Retail and banking business the Co-operative Group has seen a full return on its investment in P2D's software-as-a-service e-expenses system, which it rolled out across the company between August and December last year.

The system is paid for on a per unit basis and processes about 60,000 staff expense claims per annum or 1,200 per week.

Some 15,000 of the company's total of 120,000 employees claim expenses from the company.

The service is accessible through a browser from a home or office PC, and asks claimants to complete an online claims form before routing this to the appropriate managers for review and sign off.

Around 80 per cent of staff scan and upload their receipts, with the remainder sending physical receipts to P2D's scanning bureau partner, Quantor Scanning, for processing.

Adam Williams, head of the Co-op's shared financial services centre, said that prior to the implementation, expenses were paper based.

"Receipts were often sent to the wrong place or mislaid completely, but this system sees everything entered online. Staff can take photos of their receipts using their phone and upload them to the system easily.

"It is like going from the 19th to the 21st century," he said.

The system also allows staff to see where their claims are in the approval process.

Williams said that the Co-op is currently looking at similar SaaS systems to enable a more efficient invoice payment process for customers.

"We will roll this out at the end of this year, beginning of next, and we will be looking for similar data scanning and data capture services."

The Co-operative Group has an annual turnover of £13.7bn and over 5,000 retail outlets.

In 2007, the group merged with United Co-operative, and over the past three years has integrated Britannia Building Society and Somerfield foodstores into its business.