American Express Releases New Study on Commercial Cards
American Express Global Commercial Card has released a new study "detailing how companies are instituting best practices and driving savings to control their costs in an economic downturn. Working with Accenture, American Express interviewed a number of Fortune 500 companies in industries ranging from consumer products to business services. These companies had median gross revenues of $30 billion, and were identified as having leading T&E spending policies." (Full study here 
).
The research revealed that leading companies are focusing on three core strategies to improve expense management:
- Hold Employees Accountable,
- Drive Value through Data Analysis, and
- Plan for the Long-Term.
“Today's economic crisis is putting great pressure on companies to reduce costs and control spending wherever they can,” said Gunther Bright, Senior Vice President, Global Client Group at American Express. “By gathering best practices from some of the best expense management programs in the world, we can share a number of concrete, straightforward steps that virtually any company can take to reduce costs and deliver savings and value well into the future.”
“Insights like these are particularly useful during challenging economic times, as they place a focus on leading business practices that help companies identify steps they can take to achieve cost savings,” said James Ellis, managing director of Accenture's Finance Operations practice. “For companies that enter a down economy from a strong position, dollars saved oftentimes can be redirected to activities that deliver more value to a company.”
"Plan for the long-term" is exactly what Am Ex and other companies aren't doing - as they cancel customer credit cards across the board, cancel benefits and reduce service.
Sadly, this is yet another example of a big clueless company doing marketing speak. "Best practices" indeed.
Posted by: Mary Schmidt | March 09, 2009 at 02:42 PM