ISO/IEC 27001:2005 provides a formal model for a business to manage its data security obligations under management control. It is a very good model and isn’t achieved easily; it took Software Europe over a year of formalising its plans, policies and procedures and as a result we have a structure that delivers very real advantages. ISO/IEC 27001:2005 certification is independently audited annually and renewal is far from automatic; requiring an on-going attitude of constant improvement. For our customers and potential customers it means that they can feel confident that their data is in good hands, and their service is being delivered through a recognised and audited standard. 

Software Europe encourages organisations to make sure any supplier they engage with holds the certification themselves and not by association only. Some SaaS providers may suggest they carry the ISO/IEC 27001:2005 certification when in fact it is perhaps their hosting provider or data centre that is certified. This would not cover the operation of the actual organisation you are about to do business with. In some cases the words used to describe who is certified are difficult to unravel… there’s an easy solution; ask to see their ISO/IEC 27001:2005 certification, make sure it is in date and ensure it covers the solution you are interested in. View our certificate.

The implementation is of for our Expenses system.  Not only is this a great success for the University, but it is also a testament to the effectiveness and ease of use of our pioneering online expenses management solution. As well as this award, the University have been nominated for several other Payroll Awards. The criteria for the award requires the University to demonstrate how our product has resulted in ‘significant cost savings’ and an ‘achievement of significant business benefits’.

This is a great example of how the two local companies work together to achieve outstanding results. Since implementing Expenses just a few months ago, Ian Hodson from the University claims that they are “certainly a lot more comfortable that no money is being wasted”. He added that it has simplified the process “beyond words and [that they] are incredibly proud of what the Payroll Department has achieved and the impact it has had across the whole University”.

We would like to wish the University the best of luck at the awards; we shall be keeping our fingers crossed for you!

I have spoken at many events about the importance of mobile technology in what we do and ‘apps’ are a small part of that.  We’re already testing for compatibility on as many Tablet devices as possible and pleased to say the investment we have made is really paying off now we can see the product working brilliantly on a Tablet.

Register to find out as soon as the smart phone apps are available to download.

Neil Everatt, Managing Director

Our development teams are now heads down on the final stages of our GreenLight technology project.  We want to change the way businesses do things and make technology really work hard for them. Our Expenses, Expenses Health and Framework products have already shown the enormous amounts of time and money that can be saved by automating manual and paper based processes. 

GreenLight is already deployed in a number of our customer implementations and it means their employees now enjoy simple electronic forms to make requests and share information.  It’s a real revelation to move away from paper forms and use GreenLight technology to automate what used to be paper requests. 

GreenLight is more than just a ‘flat’ form though; it deploys logic and intelligent routing to make the process really simple.

Neil Everatt, Managing Director

In order to carry out a data analysis, the process primarily relies on utilising reports.  Expenses offers an extensive intelligent reporting suite that includes many standard reports.  When producing a data analysis, I personally use a very powerful report called the Standard Master Drill Down Report which contains 37 fields.  By exporting the data and pivoting information, claims can be viewed and specific information shown i.e. categorising expenditure, splitting information into quarters, highlighting top expenditure expense items/claimants and much more.  A review is carried out of many areas and discussed with the customer, from here, there may be unexpected figures, or claimants incurring surprisingly high expenses.

Another reason to use reports within Expenses is to make sure the information entered is HMRC compliant.  There is the ability to report on items missing VAT receipts, missing a standard receipt, missing a reason for the claim and much more.  Through Expenses, there is the control to make sure that all the information required by HMRC is collated.  Please view the standard reports available, we have recently updated them (as per the last release).

If you require any information on reporting, or would like to arrange training, please do not hesitate to contact myself.

Anthony Sherwin, Customer Manager

During the Conference I also heard stories of some amazing savings that were being realised by our customers – one was of a magnitude that will make a massive difference to the NHS and links very nicely with our recent invitation to Downing Street.  It really did demonstrate the difference between processing expenses manually and automating them with our Expenses management solution.

Neil Everatt, Software Europe's Managing Director

The feedback we received from our customers was very positive, and we are pleased at how well the two day event went.  It provided a brilliant opportunity for us to really get to know our customers and it was also a good chance for customers to network and discuss their use of the products.

The event consisted of a mixture of staff presentations about Software Europe, our products, and how to optimise the usefulness of Expenses, as well as external speakers engaging our customers with a range of topics.

One of the sessions held required delegates to suggest possible paper based approval processes they currently have in place which could benefit from being automated.  A rugby themed prize draw was included for all those who submitted suggestions.

The day time events were informative and useful, but another highlight of the event was the evening entertainment, where delegates had the chance to network further and the time to really discuss things in a relaxed and enjoyable environment.  Highlights were exploring the picturesque sights of Lincoln as part of a ghost walk and a three course dinner on the Barge restaurant.

Many thanks to those who attended, our speakers, and those involved in the organisation and running of the event – we look forward to our next event!

Software Europe sponsored the 3rd prize for a feedback form prize draw with an Android Tablet. The lucky winner was Laura Goodall from Buro Four – congratulations!

Introducing Corporate Diligence, a product moving away from the archaic, old fashioned manual process and introducing due diligence to the world of cloud computing.

There’s no need to read about this new era of technology, listen to our Managing Director’s Vlog 'Corporate Diligence - A New Way' taking you through the key benefits of this new tool automating due diligence report management and creation which means your team can concentrate on what they do best.

Key highlights:

• Faster decision making for your clients
• Check lists configured by practice area
• Immediate visibility of risks as they are identified
• Automatic generation of due diligence reports
• Enhanced collaboration between partner and client
• Secure web-based system for global access
• Increased efficiency of corporate partner resources

We are pleased to say that we have finalised the agenda for the two day event on 13th and 14th September and its packed full of leading industry speakers covering pressing topics such as the implications of the new Bribery Act 2010, Duty of Care processes and expert tips on managing Human Capital and VAT audits by Customs and Excise, to name only a few.

Other highlights include:

• Budgeting and forecasting
• Carbon reduction commitment
• The Mobile showcase

Our Customer Manager will also feature on the agenda providing an in-depth knowledge in maximising the benefits of Expenses, including cross industry benchmarking, league tables and financial reporting.

It is our priority to ensure that Expenses continues to drive efficiency and savings for our customers and we certainly strive to ensure that the conference adds value to the exceptional service we deliver.

Read more about our annual User Conference 2011

One of the sub-aims of the project was to pass down any technological advances to our existing solutions. Similar to the way that NASA technology often found its way into our everyday lives, we will be recycling some of the Research & Development and using it in our current solutions.

WATCH: UK money savers impress government

Follow our Innovation Launch Pad journey:

Watch our Vlogs...

• Innovation Launch Pad - The journey has only just begun
• Innovation Launch Pad - The story so far

Read our other Blogs...

• As one door closes, another one opens - 21 July 2011
• Our innovative journey so far - 15 July 2011
• Travelling on Expenses to Downing Street - 1 July 2011
• Making an innovation impression - 15 June 2011

The aim of The Act is to enforce competitive and fair business dealings across all UK businesses, threatening lengthy prison terms for business individuals (or employers) who are found to be unfairly influencing business agreements. Contrary to previous rulings regarding businesses convicted of bribery, the maximum sentence has also been raised from seven to ten years imprisonment. Bribes committed in the UK and abroad could be prosecuted under the Act.

The Bribery Act 2010 is broken down into 2 sections:

Active Bribery and Passive Bribery. Active Bribery denotes the promising or giving of a bribe to a customer or prospect by way of manipulating their decision in your business’ favour.

Passive Bribery constitutes the requesting, agreeing to receive or acceptance of a bribe by a customer or prospect.

In the event of an audit to review expenses, many businesses may struggle to provide evidence that  will support their businesses entertainment expenditure.

Visibility of your expense claims

By using Expenses the visibility of corporate spend is substantially increased, allowing employers to use the product’s extensive reporting suite to analyse expenditure relating to customer entertainment. Whilst The Act does not plan to prevent firms from getting to know their clients through offerings like sporting event tickets, meals out or social drinks, the guidance explains that “Reasonable hospitality to meet, network and improve relationships with customers is a normal part of business."

By having a thorough breakdown of all of your business’ spend and being able to provide the reasons to support expenditure will help to justify that your spend is reasonable. Expenses allows businesses to create quick, accurate and detailed insights of all their business costs so that these can be easily provided to an auditor in the event of a bribery accusation being made. This could prove invaluable in a swift resolution of evidencing business expenditure, compared to other businesses who still process all of the their expenses via a paper-based means.

Guidance has been published on the Ministry of Justice’s website and provides clarification on what is classed as adequate procedures and direction to business on the procedures that would be proportionate to the size and nature of the business.

Read how bribery legislation is enforced around the world - 'Eversheds guide to bribery legislation around the world'

By Matt Cross – Sales Executive, Software Europe Ltd.

A rare opportunity…

We proudly received a phone call this week from the Cabinet Office to confirm that we have been shortlisted in the final eight Small and Medium Enterprises selected to present our proposal in a Product Surgery in Whitehall on 19 July…followed by a reception at Downing Street!

The Cabinet Office announced the Innovation Launch Pad back in March this year, providing small businesses the opportunity to pitch their ideas for products and services they can provide to drive better value for money for Government. As leaders in Expenses Management we jumped at the chance to take part in this exciting opportunity. Our solution? To Reduce Civil Service Travel Expenses using our flexible, secure, online, automated Expenses Management system.

Neil Everatt, Managing Director, and James Thompson, Business Development Manager (NHS), have represented Software Europe and made us extremely proud. We wish them all the success in this final round of judging and hope they deservedly enjoy the amazing experience at Downing Street.

Read our Innovation Launch Pad proposal here.

Keep up to date with our progress and follow us on

Reported by the BBC on 17^th May 2011, the plans will aim for a 50% reduction in the UK’s carbon emissions by 2027, based upon readings taken in 1990 by the Department of Energy. On the longer-term the targets are forecast to reduce emissions by 60% in 2030, and 80% by 2050.

These plans form the UK’s fourth "carbon budget", and will affect the way that many businesses run as well as the way they must be seen to monitor their carbon output. The announcement also makes the UK the first country in the world to have declared a "legally binding" target on emissions beyond 2020.

Recent disputes among government ministers on these possible changes have caused concern for UK business leaders, with a panic that many do not currently obtain any way of monitoring their carbon footprint or managing ways they can reduce their impact on the environment.

For many UK businesses, the largest cause of their carbon emissions is by employee travel. With many organisations employing hundreds, even thousands of travelling sales people, engineers, couriers and technicians, the concept of beginning to track their carbon footprint is a daunting one.

Expenses from Software Europe is an automated expenses management solution, which not only simplifies the processes of reimbursement and expense policies, but also allows employers to track the business’ carbon footprint. Whilst tracking and reimbursing the distances travelled by employees, approvers can also be seen to actively monitor carbon accounting at their business.

Emissions are intricately calculated using vehicle engine size and fuel type, allowing businesses to report on ways in which it may be reduced. This active emission monitoring will give a very serious impression to government inspectors as the policies are nationally enforced, who will also be able to view the results of business progress via the graphical export of one of 67 standard Expenses reports.

Click here for more information about how expenses automation and carbon accounting with Expenses could help your business.

Written by Matt Cross, Sales Executive at Software Europe.

What I didn’t mention was that the whole of the Professional Services team is PRINCE2-qualified, with a strong team of Foundation-level and Registered Practitioners.

So what?

You may have heard bad things about PRINCE2, how it’s rigid and long-winded and involves terminal form-filling, etc. 

These are common misconceptions.  We apply the PRINCE2 principles but tailor them to suit each individual project that we manage.

What it really means for you is that you can have confidence that each stage of your implementation will be managed efficiently, in a controlled way, ensuring the success of your project by realising the benefits outlined in your business case.

In other words, we do a proper job and make sure that you get more than you bargained for!

Deborah Stevenson
Professional Services Manager, Software Europe

Owen’s exciting week:

Meeting the busy Service Desk
The service desk were very nice to me. First of all they helped me install windows XP onto a computer which I haven’t really done before so that was very helpful. I noticed that the team are mainly on the phone to customers and other departments and are always working. They are a very busy team.

Learning the basics with the Development team
The development team were helpful to me as I am very interested in having a career in development. On Tuesday I learnt a lot with Simon when he helped me with basic software writing/developing. On Wednesday, with Martin and Paul, I learnt a lot despite not being able to help much but it was good experience. 

Attending my 1^st Professional conference
On Thursday I spent the whole day with the Professional Services team in which I was able to attend a conference for a partnership between Software Europe and transaction analysts. I found it very interesting and I learned a lot from it. Plus I got a lot of food which also helps!

An insight into Admin
I didn’t spend that much time in the admin office but from just sitting there on the first morning I realise that they are quite a busy area.

Sales tips
The sales team spent the morning with me on Monday in which they showed how they sell the products, the different steps it takes to make a sale and I found it very interesting. It is quite possible that I would like a career in that area if I can’t make it into the development area.

Corporate Communications are key
The Corporate Communications team were very friendly to me when I met them on the Monday afternoon. They showed me what they do and how they play a key role in the company. I was especially interested in Ryan’s video editing and Dan’s animation. Again they are both possible career choices I might look at in the future.

This prestigious, invite only, event is hosted by the Faculty of Business and Law at the University of Lincoln and gives local businesses the opportunity to find inspiration to improve their business acumen and take part in an educating Q&A session with the panel of experts.

Neil will give a 7 minute speech to his peers about Software Europe’s success and how it will continue to grow and is looking forward to hearing what his peers have to impart on their business experiences.

Software Europe

The first in the series details why you should encourage your employees to obtain VAT receipts for all of their business expenses.

Snippet:

"When you consider that 50% of your employee expenses are subject to VAT, and that a manual system will miss 20% of that recoverable VAT through process efficiencies – this is a considerable loss to your organisation."

You can download it here: Expenses Best Practise - Educate your employees on the importance of a VAT receipt

Tracey Turton, Corporate Communications Executive

This month, the Higher Education Funding Council for England pledged £12.5m towards the development of cloud computing in the Education Sector. This planned provision for a core infrastructure will allow all participating organisations to share data that would benefit other university sites, detailing projects, experiences and results that will help streamline internal efficiencies nationally through recommendation.

Accumulating £10m from the shared IT infrastructure and a further £2.5m to develop shared services for administration, the announcement will encourage the improvement of internal processes nationally, amassing multiple savings across all university sites involved in the project.

Some universities are already realising positive ways in which their money can be spent, with some products offering a high return on investment. Through the cloud technology, universities may share this knowledge and expertise to assist other educational organisations across England to realise their own savings and efficiencies through experience and recommendation.

One university that will be involved in the new cloud computing initiative is the University of Lincoln, who recently purchased Software Europe’s Expenses solution to manage the employee expenses of 150 regular academic claimants.

The university investigated the benefits of automation after realising the vast annual cost that staff expenses were incurring them as a business. They chose Expenses due to its proven efficiencies which include duty of care monitoring, carbon footprint management, the streamlining of processing and an extensive reporting suite to monitor employee expense data.

Ian Hodson, Reward and Benefits Manager at the University of Lincoln said: “We have been working in partnership with Software Europe to develop an E-expenses system that will go live in Summer 2011. This collaborative way of working supports our key university agendas of using technology to streamline processes, making us more efficient, improving our general user experience and lessening the impact of our operations on the environment”.

Given the expected savings the university will gain in using Expenses, they already plan to share their experience via the new cloud initiative to notify other education sector organisations about the benefits of automating their expenses through Software Europe’s solution.

The planned cloud provision will ideally fit the university structure, given that executing a similar operation in other parts of the Public Sector would prove more difficult and expensive. The narrower range of requirements asked by universities – when compared to that of local government offices and health service trusts – will allow the cloud to have a bigger impact than if it were used elsewhere.

The initiative is expecting big savings for all universities across England, offering lessons and boasting shared benefits that would make it easier for other public services to make similar steps to improve internal processes. Given the University of Lincoln’s positive outlook on their own expenses project, it is hoped that other organisations will also realise the benefits of automation to better their in-house procedures.

Read our previous Press Release:

University of Lincoln First To Save on Expenses Through Software Europe Contract

And in the middle of all of this is the Professional Services team.  My team.  A team of very competent, proactive (and downright lovely!) project managers, who work closely with you and with the other teams here at Software Europe to provide a range of services to support our systems.   

One of us will be your dedicated project manager for the duration of the implementation and will make sure that the others are up to speed on the project, too.  Your project manager will listen to you and help you to decide the most beneficial and efficient configuration of the software to meet your company’s needs.  They will be there every step of the way, providing advice and ensuring that the implementation runs as smoothly as possible.

But that’s not all we do.  In addition, we deliver top-quality training in System Administration and Report-Writing to make sure that you get the most out of the product. 

I bet all software providers say the same things... all sounds really cheesy and clichéd, but I have to say that we can actually support our claims of excellence with evidence from satisfied customers.

No doubt you will speak to one of us very soon, if you haven’t already.  We look forward to it.

“While writing can I say how impressed we are with both the software and the customer focus of all your staff we have come into contact with. Melanie Dickson and Steve Morland have been a tremendous help as we implement the system, which we will start rolling out from the beginning of next month now we have resolved the issues relating to getting the information into ESR.

We look forward to the next release of the software and obtaining the benefits from the whole system as we embed it into the Trust.”

London Ambulance Service NHS

By Deborah Stevenson, Professional Services Manager

In order to combat this we’ve come up with a few simple steps you and your employees can follow in order to conserve their petrol and reduce their monthly fuel bills:

1. Make your car more efficient

• Ensure tyres are inflated to the recommended levelRemove any extra weight
• Turn off the air conditioning
• Remove roof racks

2. Make your driving more efficient

• Your car is most fuel efficient between speeds of 40 and 60 mph. Point of note the smaller the car the more efficient it is at faster speeds. (source: http://auto.howstuffworks.com/fuel-efficiency/fuel-economy/question477.htm )
• Allow your car to slow naturally – this ensures you don’t waste petrol through breaking

3. Don’t drive

• Take public transport where available
• Utilise virtual meeting spaces and conference call facilities

Finally, you can use the petrol price check to find the cheapest petrol in your area: http://www.petrolprices.com/

Today’s prices:

Tracey Turton, Corporate Communications Executive

Worked with our Technical Consultants to configure and implement it

And now you’ve been set on your way to start using the product within your organisation

You may be wondering what happens next:

Software Europe believes in a proactive approach to your account and as such they employ me as a dedicated Customer Manager to look after you for the life of your contract.

As your Customer Manager one of my core responsibilities is to make sure that you get the most out of your investment and that it continues to drive efficiency and savings within your business.

I achieve this by:

• Regularly meeting with you to review your account.
• Performing health checks on your data and system setup.
• Providing you with tailored configuration and best practice advice.
• Updating you on all future product developments.
• Providing comprehensive release notes for all new upgrades.
• Managing your upgrade process to ensure a smooth transition to any new release.
• Hosting free-to-attend online demonstrations of new features.
• Keeping you up to date on industry specific topics, including HMRC and legislation changes.
• Involving you in industry specific focus groups.
• Helping you to implement any new product features within your organisation.

Ultimately my goal is to support you as best I can, whenever you need me, to make sure that the administration of your chosen solution is as simple and minimal as possible.

Stuart Hymers, Customer Manager

With employee business expenses you can already claim back the VAT on certain items however you need to ensure that how you reclaim and prove you are entitled to this amount is strictly regimented.

Expenses is one of the leading online expense management systems that excels in ensuring customers maximise the amount of VAT they can reclaim from their employee business expenses claims. Furthermore, it is completely flexible and configurable ensuring that any changes to the VAT rate can be instantly implemented and with ease. This provides assurance that a claim made within a specific VAT rate period has the correct amount of VAT calculated.

What happens if I just reclaim back 17.5%?
Whilst leaving your process to just reclaim back 17.5% won’t have any legal implications on your business, financially you could be losing out. See the table below to see just how much extra you could gain by implementing an automated solution that accurately calculates how much money you can legally reclaim no matter what VAT rate is currently being enforced.

Tracey Turton, Marketing Executive

The main details that you require are the total business miles and the amount that has been reimbursed. The amount that was reimbursed is deducted from the amount that could have been reimbursed, then relief is given on the difference.

If you are using an automated expenses system like Expenses, these mileage totals and reimbursement amounts can be automatically generated for you, so you don’t have to go through all your expense claim forms to add up the mileage and how much you were reimbursed.  Simples! 

You can go back several years to get tax relief. For expenses incurred in the tax year to 5 April 2010, you have until 5 April 2014.  If you haven’t completed a form in the past, you can go back as far as tax year 2004-05. But please note that this must be claimed by 31 January 2011.  So be quick!

It is very worthwhile doing, especially if you are incurring thousands of miles per year, and colleagues of mine have even been sent cheques for sums in the region of £1,600!

You can read more information about tax relief on expenses on the HM Revenue & Customs website.

There are certain exclusions for claiming this relief, such as if you fill in a tax return you don’t need to complete the form P87; this is because these details are already asked for during the assessment. So, please review the form and information carefully.

Adele Briggs, Corporate Communications Manager

We are seeing a greater awareness and education surrounding internet delivered services and now some innovation is being customer driven.  They know that services can be connected to provide even greater benefits and are increasingly passing these ideas back to the service provider for consideration in future releases.  This can present a challenge for the supplier as their steering committees grapple to deliver new innovation that will benefit the majority whilst keeping an eye on customer satisfaction.

The internet solution provider has to adopt clear strategies for steering their products and services otherwise they end up being pushed and pulled; delivering a solution that has no clear direction.  It is essential that the product evolves in three ways:

1. Bugs get fixed

2. Customer requests that benefit the majority are delivered, and

3. Innovative services are introduced.

Innovation is often the victim when it comes to development schedules, but it is this innovation that takes your product and service above and beyond what others are providing.  It is essential that innovation has its guardians within the business and is not allowed to be pushed aside when the development schedule gets a bit tight.

When you are considering giving your business to an online service provider (or SaaS) take a look at their past developments and ask are there signs of innovation or do they appear to be just playing catch up?  The answer to this will give you a good insight into the company’s aspirations and objectives, are they looking for a quick build and then exit, or are they looking to grow their business with long terms objectives?

Neil Everatt, Managing Director

The release of the first MP Expenses transactions on the new system was published today and a searchable database is online here - http://www.parliamentary-standards.org.uk.  An unprecedented demand for the site appeared to crash the system within an hour of going live, which proves this is still a topical subject within the general public.

The first thing to note is that only a brief description of the claim is available and actual receipts to support the claim are withheld due to the cost of redacting them.  This is a shame because the receipt provides further transparency and makes the claim real and includes details like transaction time, number of covers, and what has been purchased which are really useful when assessing the validity of the claim.  Receipt scanning, attaching and management have been a key part of Expenses since the product was first launched.

Neil Everatt, Managing Director