Since the pandemic hit back in March 2020, there's been an increasing need for companies to have access to live data and full visibility into all types of spend.
The way we see it, setting up a corporate card program that offers more insights into your data and helps you organize your savings has become more important than ever.
However, implementing a corporate card program doesn't happen overnight.
It begins with a clear outline and well-planned implementation, with success ultimately depending on a coordinated and multi-department approach.
Whatever your reasons, changing your payment method or adding a new one means transformation.
And, as with any transformation, it all relies on effective project management:
The best way to approach the adoption of a corporate card is to consider its implementation as a project, with all the organizational efforts that implies. Fortunately, your corporate card provider will be present throughout the process of implementing the new payment method and will guide you towards success.
Here is a guide to setting up a corporate card program.
It will not replace the support of your card provider, but it will help you prepare your corporate card program and avoid common mistakes.
It consists of three main phases:
The implementation of the corporate card program is preceded by a design phase.
The design must be based on your needs analysis and your spending policies:
The objective of this step is to highlight potential frictions during the implementation of corporate cards.
Based on this design, you can determine the relevant indicators to measure and monitor the success of the program. The best KPIs are measurable and objective, though some elements will require a qualitative approach (e.g. assessing the quality of training received by employees).
At this stage, you should be ready to put together your RFP and choose the provider to award your corporate card contract to.
In your RFP, you can define:
- The needs of the company
- Supplier evaluation criteria
It's not enough to simply choose a corporate card provider, as you also need to make sure that your application meets the eligibility requirements of that provider.
In other words, the company issuing the RFP must meet certain criteria, which vary from one provider to another.
The eligibility conditions for most of them correspond to a minimum travel budget or number of cards.
Depending on the service provider, other steps may also be taken:
Once you have chosen your provider, it's time to negotiate the corporate card program.
Negotiation can be based on several different elements:
One of the last questions to be answered during the design phase revolves around the choice of account for the corporate card:
Debiting the business account frees the employee from business expense advances and expense reports, while providing richer data to the company. But some companies still prefer to let employees take responsibility for their transactions for liability reasons.
The program design phase ends with the issuance and signature of contracts with the card provider and cardholders.
To ensure things go as smoothly as possible, you should set up a communication campaign to reach all future cardholders.
The objectives:
We recommend that you designate a person to take charge of the communication strategy. This person will be responsible for communication, spearheading the campaign from start to finish.
One of their main tasks is to prepare the materials needed to communicate the ins and outs of the corporate card program.
Consideration should also be given to the distribution of these materials throughout the company, as all departments need to be involved in this internal communication campaign for it to be effective.
The effective implementation of a corporate card program is achieved with the support of your service provider:
The deployment of the communication strategy continues in parallel with this implementation. Each stage of the implementation involves a set of instructions that are to be provided.
Cardholders must be informed of the conditions for receiving their cards, for instance. Where will they receive them? What is the procedure for choosing a PIN? Will they receive a letter or will it all be online?
The main challenge after the receipt and implementation of the corporate cards is the training of stakeholders.
By stakeholders, we're not just referring to the users of the corporate cards, but also all managers, travel managers and other employees who are involved in the expense management process.
The quality of training and facilitation of the adoption of new payment methods is a key factor in the success or failure of a corporate card program.
You'll find it's necessary to not only provide all the essential information about the operation, rules and practices, but also to facilitate the understanding and memorization of this information.
In most cases, the training material takes the form of a guide, provided with a contact person to reach for assistance in case there are any questions.
On the user side:
On the management side:
During the first few months after implementation, the role of the people in charge of the corporate card program will mainly consist of answering employees' questions:
Beyond mere answers, assistance should be provided for all stakeholders.
It’s then necessary to monitor the use of the cards and the procedures that have been modified following the implementation of the program.
To help you with this task, here's a list of what to watch out for and questions you can ask yourself. By answering them, you'll be able to identify areas for improvement in the adoption of your new cards:
At this stage, you also shouldn't hesitate to ask for feedback. That's another effective way to gain different perspectives.
On top of the observations and feedback you collect, you should also be following the performance indicators as defined when designing the corporate card program. Monitoring these indicators over several months, in addition to the qualitative elements collected, will allow you to evaluate the implementation of the program.
No matter the degree of success, it is possible to identify areas for improvement and to continue adjusting and optimizing spending policies and management processes.
The implementation of a corporate card program is a transformation that can seem long and difficult. But its main difficulty lies in the cross-functional nature of the transformation project: For the operation to be a success, many people across multiple departments and business lines must be committed to the change.
However, the successful implementation of such a program is greatly facilitated by the corporate card provider you choose.
Throughout the process, you'll benefit from tailored support and assistance.
In many cases, your card provider will dedicate a team to the implementation of your program. The person in charge of the program within your company will be backed by experts who will support them throughout the process.
In addition, depending on the provider, you may be provided with a range of tools to facilitate program implementation, such as an online program management portal to track and receive the best advice step by step.