A new SAP Concur commissioned study has revealed that 88 percent of the workforce in India prefers to have the flexibility of working from home. In addition to this, 69 percent of Indian employees believe their productivity has increased while working remotely – highest in the APAC region as compared to countries like Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Malaysia and Thailand. These figures show positive signs of large scale acceptance of the upcoming ‘new normal’ in the country at a time when COVID-19 pandemic has forced the companies to implement remote working almost overnight.
According to the study, merely 11 percent of Indian organisations have embraced end-to-end digital finance and administrative processes. These manual processes take up significant employee time that can otherwise be used for productive work. Across India, 36 percent of mid-large sized companies are still using manual processes for submitting business expenses.
The survey, entitled “Finance in the New World of Work”, aims to inform business, finance, and HR decision makers of the economic cost of poor finance and administrative processes and systems in the region. It also identifies the gaps in organisations’ expense management, business travel, and remote work processes.
Asia Insight, which conducted the survey, used International Labour Organization (ILO) statistics on output per worker and the number of information workers, and the study’s results, to calculate and derive that saving just 10 percent of the time spent on filing and approving claims would translate to US$2.25 billion of potential GDP revenue gain for India each year, assuming all the lost hours are diverted to productive work. Mid to large-sized organisations could save tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars over the same period.
Elaborating on the insights from the study, Mankiran Chowhan, Managing Director – Indian Subcontinent, SAP Concur, said, “2020 is proving to be a turning point for companies in terms of managing employee experience and productivity. While employees working remotely are being supported digitally in many areas, there still exists a major gap in digital adoption for crucial yet often overlooked finance and administrative processes. Owing to this, employees have to devote significant time for menial tasks that could otherwise be used for productive, business value-added work. Bringing in digital transformation for expense claims or invoice processing can have a huge multiplier effect on business and cost control and at the same time provide the operational agility needed for business continuity.”
