Businesses often manage multiple projects with tight budgets and timelines and are always looking to lower costs while still satisfying customers. Leveraging cloud applications can drive greater efficiency and reduce expenses across your business, including direct material spend, direct services spend, maverick spend, expedited services spend, and other costs. In this article, we highlight 4 ways you can lower costs with Oracle Cloud Applications.
1. Reduced direct material spend
You can cut direct material spend by automating the ordering process, upgrading your inventory management system, and utilizing real-time data to order materials when needed. An automated ordering process identifies excess stock, reducing overhead costs. By switching to a cloud-based inventory management system, you can keep track of materials in one place without having to manually adjust orders. Furthermore, you can track spending on materials and reduce paper-based costs by using a cloud-based solution for the purchasing process.
Real-time data from the cloud inventory system helps ensure that you only order what is necessary for each job. This allows you to save money on parts, labor, shipping, and other associated costs that would have been wasted had you ordered too much or too little for any given project. Additionally, since these processes are automated through cloud applications, they are less prone to human errors, which can lead to increased overhead costs due to additional administrative time needed for corrections and reorders.
Finally, with the improved visibility provided by Oracle Cloud Applications, you are better equipped to make faster and better decisions about purchasing items when needed. This ensures that you have enough materials on hand while still controlling costs and staying within budget requirements. You can save money while continuing to provide quality service for your customers.
2. Reduced direct services spend
Reducing direct services spend is a key part of running your business. Cloud applications can help save money by automating processes, providing improved visibility, and allowing access to real-time data.
Through a cloud-based inventory management system, you can gain improved visibility and access data in real time, freeing up resources that would have been spent on manual data entry. Automated processes also allow you to reduce costs associated with time spent on administrative tasks such as sorting through paperwork and manually entering data. By leveraging automated processes, you increase efficiency while reducing costs.
Additionally, cloud-based applications allow for scaling services quickly based on demand without incurring additional expenses. You can scale up or down as needed, investing in your business rather than hardware to run your systems.
3. Reduced maverick spend
When it comes to reducing overhead costs, maverick spend is often one of the most difficult areas to manage. Maverick spend refers to expenses that are not authorized or approved. Often, this type of spend can be attributed to manual data entry errors or a lack of visibility into spending data.
Cloud applications offer an ideal solution to reduce maverick spend and keep overhead costs low. By switching to a cloud-based system, you can eliminate manual data entry and gain real-time visibility into spending. This allows you to quickly identify potential spend not in line with company guidelines and take steps to prevent it before it happens.
Oracle Cloud Applications provide powerful analytics that enable you to identify potential maverick spending before it occurs. Automated alerts set up checks and balances that help monitor spending and ensure you remain compliant with regulations while keeping overhead costs low. Additionally, cloud applications provide access control features so that only authorized personnel can approve expenses, further reducing the risk of unauthorized spending.
4. Reduced expenses from expedited services and other costs
Cloud applications can provide you with a major cost-saving opportunity, particularly when it comes to expedited services. By providing users with access to the most up-to-date information, project managers can make decisions more quickly and reduce the amount of labor required to complete tasks and processes. Additionally, cloud applications allow your remote employees to receive the same support as if they were in an office, further reducing labor costs.
With increased visibility into operations, you can monitor employee performance more efficiently and identify areas where labor could be reduced, and improved communication between departments allows you to quickly respond to customer needs and avoid costly delays in projects. These efficiencies translate into direct savings on both labor costs and materials needed for projects.
Finally, streamlined communication enabled by cloud applications can result in faster completion of projects with fewer errors — all leading to potential savings. Security features in Oracle Cloud Applications provide peace of mind, with sensitive customer data safe while still maintaining compliance with industry standards such as GDPR or HIPAA.
Learn more
Read this infographic about how our renewable energy contractor client reduced costs with Oracle Cloud Applications, and connect with us today.
