In Emburse’s 2024 Tech Spend Index, SaaS is Up, Ads are Down and OpenAI Purchases Grew by 600%

By Business Wire On Nov 13, 2024

Expense claim analysis reveals the tech tools employees are buying most

Emburse, whose leading travel and expense solutions power forward-thinking organizations, launched its inaugural Tech Spend Index , revealing how mid-size to large companies spent on major technology brands in the past year. Emburse processes over $90 billion in expense and invoice transactions each year and developed the index by analyzing $30 billion in completed expenses across 6,300 companies and 10.2 million employees. It found that while broader economic conditions may not seem favorable to consumers, employees continue to rely on these tools to do their jobs, even going so far as to pay out of pocket for what they need and submitting them for reimbursement.

“Unmanaged spend is expensive and presents significant risks for finance departments because it forces organizations to absorb unplanned expenses that threaten productivity and profitability”

Despite declining revenue growth for SaaS vendors in the first half of the year, overall SaaS spend was up 7.7% in Q2 2024 over Q2 2023. As a percentage of total expenses, spending on these companies was up 5% year-over-year. The most expensed vendors in this space are those critical for team collaboration, dealmaking, and marketing, including Adobe, Atlassian, Intuit, HubSpot, Shopify, Salesforce, DocuSign, Autodesk, Zoom and Block. Shopify saw the most significant growth, with expensed spending rising by 43.1% year-over-year, followed by Monday.com (23.6%) and DocuSign (20.6%).

Marketing Technology News: MarTech Interview with Keith Kazerman, President of Streaming @ Locality

Overall, ad spending dropped by 6% in Q2 2024 compared to the same quarter the previous year, more closely reflecting broader economic headwinds. However, ad spending has remained flat as a percentage of total expenses, indicating that marketing efforts remain a key focus for companies despite financial pressures. The top three most expensed ad platforms are Google, Meta and LinkedIn. Spending on AI tools, particularly OpenAI’s ChatGPT, grew by 600% year over year, underscoring the growing reliance on generative AI to support employee workflows.

Decentralized, unmanaged spend is a rampant practice in organizations. Employees often cover expenses from their personal finances and submit them for reimbursement rather than paying through a centralized invoice, purchase order or company credit card. Of the spend analyzed, 20% of SaaS spending and 16% of ad spending was out of pocket and then reimbursed. This creates a substantial financial burden for employees who are fronting the cost of essential business tools. It may also suggest employees’ loyalty to these tools, as many are willing to follow this process to have access.

Marketing Technology News: Proactive Marketing vs. Reactive Marketing – Key Differences

“Unmanaged spend is expensive and presents significant risks for finance departments because it forces organizations to absorb unplanned expenses that threaten productivity and profitability,” said Adriana Carpenter, Chief Financial Officer at Emburse. “It’s crucial for companies to gain visibility into decentralized spending and implement intuitive controls to manage it effectively. By leveraging AI, analytics, virtual cards and automated workflows, companies can set pre-approved budgets and simplify the spend management process, easing the burden on finance teams and employees while ensuring compliance with company policies.”

The index shows the importance of balancing the demand for innovative tools that drive business growth with effective spend management practices. Emburse is dedicated to helping organizations control expenses while equipping employees with the tools they need to enhance productivity and improve their overall experience.

Write in to psen@itechseries.com to learn more about our exclusive editorial packages and programs.