ExpenseMap Puts A Lid On Costs

Controlling costs is very much on the minds of most executives these days. New software from Zeborg Inc. is designed to help CFOs, CIOs, and others involved with purchasing products and services rein in spending and get the best deals on group purchases.

ExpenseMap 3 is a Web-based procurement decision-support and analytic tool that automatically captures data from a company's purchasing, procurement, and other financial systems, then formats it to help uncover spending excesses or reveal cost-savings opportunities. The product tracks 30,000 spending categories, including general business costs such as printing and IT expenses such as software, hardware, and contract labor.

The tool can be especially helpful for tracking decentralized spending activities. Executives can use that information to identify which managers in a certain area, such as IT, are buying what products and services and from whom, and then help secure better rates from those vendors for consolidated purchases.

The software can also eliminate instances in which a buyer might overspecify system, office furniture, or other requirements when ordering those products for employees. An administrative assistant might order a new PC with lots of RAM or other high-end features for someone in his or her group who really doesn't need a souped-up model. Reducing or eliminating this sort of overbuying can translate into huge savings, especially when aggregated across the company.

While ExpenseMap isn't unique in providing these benefits, Aberdeen Group analyst Tim Minahan says such software may be a better investment than hiring a consulting firm to examine spending and give a report to a company, because it lets businesses do ongoing analysis.

"As soon as consultants leave, the information is stale. It was just a snapshot of spending at a particular time," Minahan says.

ExpenseMap 3 can be licensed to run on the customer's own servers or as a hosted service from Zeborg. Pricing depends on configuration.