Unless you are techie immersed in the latest application languages, platforms and the like, chances are you haven’t really thought much about “the cloud” beyond asking yourself “what the heck is cloud computing and why should I care?”. As business professionals, we are all responsible for helping our organizations achieve success and profitability. And this is exactly why each of us should care about the cloud and its power to drive process efficiencies, eliminate wasteful spending, and deliver savings.

To help you make sense of “making cents” in the cloud, Coupa CEO Rob Bernshteyn dives into 8 core business problems that cloud-based spend management will resolve once and for all.

Excerpt:

The Out-of-Control-Spending Problem

Raise your hand if you’re happy with how your organization spends money? Anyone? (“Bueller?”)

Ever shake your head at some of the waste and inefficiencies? What about your CFO? Nope. She’s chagrined, to put it mildly. Frustrated with poor visibility. In fact, she likely has no idea where actual expenditures are for the quarter to date (she may have lots of “projections” though). Generally, she’s finding out about cost overruns after the fact – often weeks after quarter end.

How about your purchasing or procurement organization? Not a chance! They’re constantly trying to police employees to make sure purchases are only made for approved products, through approved vendors, through approved processes, and against negotiated contracts. No matter how hard they try, they cannot eliminate maverick, off-contract spending. They’ve tried carrots and sticks of all kinds, but employees still circumvent procurement processes all too frequently. And that’s just part of their challenge — their existing processes are complex, laborious, and inefficient. Pricing negotiated with approved vendors is often obsolete before the ink is dry. The list goes on and on.

What about the poor chaps in Accounting? They get to see all the dirt on the other side. Expense reports for items that should never have been purchased by the employee in the first place. They see expenses that are months old that should have been credited against previous quarters’ budgets (too bad the books are closed!). Travel and entertainment expenses that constantly bump up against company spending limits with receipts of dubious nature. And inexplicable “approvals” from managers who clearly don’t take the time to review expense reports with the diligence they deserve.

And what about your employees? Do they think the organization practices smarter spending? Not likely! The one time they order through the company’s approved vendors, they were frustrated by limited choices, high prices, paperwork, and long procurement cycles. More often, they bypass the “ask permission” process; put purchases on their own credit card, and “beg forgiveness” with expense reports later. Their management just about always approves the expense anyway, so why wouldn’t they?

How’d it come to this? Simple. Available technology does not suit the needs of the people who need to use it for the company to effectively control its spending. Even though procurement and expense reimbursement processes have the same impact on the company’s bottom line, most organizations employ completely distinct technologies and personnel to control spending. Existing technology was not designed for broad adoption throughout the enterprise. And when software is not easy to use, people won’t use it. That doesn’t mean they don’t spend company money — it just means they do it in ways that are hard to track, and control.

Luckily, new cloud applications enable companies to tackle the problem…

Discover the 8 ways companies can leverage the cloud to rein in unnecessary spending. Read the full article at http://www.sandhill.com/opinion/editorial.php?id=311.