Travel and Expense (T&E) Management in Pharma
Travel and Expense management plays a crucial role in pharmaceutical companies to run their field operations, doctor engagements, and medical event participation. It is both a financial and compliance-sensitive area due to stringent regulatory guidelines. Traditional manual processes cause delays, errors, limited visibility, and compliance risks, impacting pharma operations and employee morale significantly while an effective T&E system ensures transparency, faster reimbursements, and compliance.
Why T&E Management is Crucial
Field Operation Support
Sales reps travel extensively to meet doctors, visit hospitals, and attend conferences. Efficient T&E processes ensure they can focus on their core responsibilities rather than paperwork.
Doctor Engagement
Every interaction with healthcare professionals should be documented and compliant with regulations. T&E systems help track expenses transparently, ensuring engagements are audit-ready.
Medical Events
Proper T&E management ensures that medical events like conferences, workshops, and training sessions are budgeted for better accuracy and compliance.
The Cost and Compliance Challenge
Many organisations still heavily rely on manual or semi-digital processes to track travel and
expenses, which can create cost and compliance challenges:
● Pharma companies spend millions annually on travel-related costs. Without control,
these expenses can spiral.
● Semi-digital or paper processes can lead to errors, delays, and employee frustration.
● Regulatory bodies demand transparency in field interactions. Poorly managed
expenses can trigger audits, penalties, or brand damage.
● Slow approval cycles affect employee morale and productivity if reimbursements are
not disbursed on time.
● Finance and compliance teams struggle to get real-time insights into spending
patterns with traditional processes.
Documentation and Compliance
Due to stringent regulatory guidelines, every T&E expense must be clearly documented with receipts, purposes, and business justifications. It should also be linked to customer interactions with easily retrievable access. Without a centralized system and real-time visibility, pharma companies struggle to meet regulatory expectations. A CRM-integrated system ensures that every expense is captured and accounted for audit readiness. A CRM-integrated, automated expense management system helps streamline operations while adhering to compliance. It reduces cost, enforces policy, and ensures audit readiness.
The Challenges of Traditional T&E Tracking
Pharma organisations face unique challenges in managing T&E, as the nature of their
business differs from other industries:
● Complex travel patterns: Sales reps or field managers cover multiple territories in a
week. Their itineraries are not linear and can change frequently depending on doctor
availability. Managing such dynamic travel manually leads to inconsistent expense categorization, increased risk of duplicates or missed claims, and difficulty applying
correct allowances.
● Manual claim submission: Paper receipts or Excel sheets slow down reimbursement
cycles.
● Limited transparency: Finance teams struggle to track spending in real time, making
it difficult to enforce budgets or detect errors.
● Compliance risks: Documenting every expense manually increases the risk of non-
compliance.
Need for Transparency and Audit Readiness
Regulatory bodies expect pharma companies to maintain clear audit trails for every expense related to healthcare professionals. Without transparency, organisations face regulatory penalties for non-compliance and operational inefficiencies due to reactive audits.
How Automation Ensures Policy Enforcement
Automation in T&E processes supports:
● Real-time tracking: Expenses are captured instantly, reducing delays and errors.
● Role-based approvals: Management or finance teams can review claims based on
predefined rules, ensuring compliance without hurdles.
● Policy enforcement: Automated checks prevent out-of-policy claims.
● Faster reimbursement: Field teams receive timely compensation, boosting morale
and productivity.
Keacyte’s T&E Module: A Game-Changer
Keacyte’s T&E module is specially designed for pharma companies to address both cost and
compliance challenges.
It supports:
● Real-time expense capture linked to daily call reports.
● Approval workflows tailored to organisational hierarchies.
● Seamless integration with ERP for accounting and reimbursement.
● Insights that help finance teams analyse spending trends and optimise budgets.
● Digitised bills for easy retrieval during audits.
Keacyte’s capability reduces turnaround time from weeks to just a few days, ensuring
minimal error and maximum compliance.
Case Study: Seamless T&E Interface at a Multinational Pharma
A large multinational pharma company implemented Keacyte’s T&E module alongside a US-
based pharma-specific CRM. They faced challenges with CRM data sync issues, data format
challenges, data mapping complexities, and customization restrictions.
Results with Keacyte’s T&E module were transformative:
● Reimbursement cycles reduced from 3–5 weeks to under 5 days.
● Improved compliance with automated policy checks and digital audit trails.
● Enhanced visibility into field spending patterns across different geographies.
● Increased employee satisfaction due to faster claim settlements.
Keacyte empowered its client to make better decisions by providing analytical insights that
connected expenses with field activities, enabling transparency, compliance, cost control,
and improved operational efficiency across pharma operations.
Conclusion
Automated T&E is cost-saving and compliance-friendly. It ensures better resource allocation
for high-impact activities, improved decision-making, and empowers employees by reducing
paperwork.
Keacyte’s T&E module utilizes advanced technology to streamline expense tracking, enforce
policies, and deliver faster reimbursements with transparency and audit readiness.
Pharma companies can manage cost and compliance effectively by adopting an automated,
CRM-integrated T&E management system for sustainable growth.