What Happened When Mamee Replaced Spreadsheets with Zoho Expense

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Company Background

When reminiscing on the most memorable childhood snacks in Malaysia, it is almost impossible for one character not to emerge in your mind - the beloved blue Mamee monster! Since 1971, Mamee Group of Companies has been operating as a prominent Malaysian food manufacturing company. Renowned for its diverse snack products, ranging from Mister Potato chips and Double Decker crackers to instant noodles and even beverages. However, it was only in 1974 when the company introduced its innovative flagship product: Mamee Monster Noodles, dry noodles made to be eaten straight out of the packet. Altogether, these various snacks have burrowed a reputable fondness in the hearts of children and adults alike as a nostalgic staple in Malaysian homes.

After being in the market for 54 years, Mamee has strived to produce “better-for-you” goods using healthier ingredients than its competitors. Mamee's growth is also depicted through their strong commitment to innovation where, at its main Malacca factory, automation have replaced most of the company's manual labour.

With operations originating as a small instant noodle factory in Malacca, it is a stark contrast to see the company's flourishing development today with international ventures across Southeast Asia and South Korea, investment in the US and Singapore and even a partnership with Manchester United. Going strong in its 4th generation as a family business, Mamee’s history has Datuk Pang Chin Hin to thank for founding the company that has brightened childhoods not just in Malaysia but all around the world.

The Challenge

Mamee faced multiple issues directly relating to the capabilities of its claim management system - specifically because the entire process was being done manually. The general process of managing claims requires many steps. Being done with traditional methods meant that claims had to go through multiple stages of communication and levels of authority before finally being approved. From creating the form and spreadsheets to sending emails and managing and submitting the claim, the approval process was certainly not straightforward - and certainly not quick. Because of this, the workflow just to get a claim approved was unstructured, tedious and time-consuming.

Moreover, there was no centralized data system to which information was kept. This meant that no controlled entitlements were set for each employee. Without a proper system in place, employees could take advantage of this issue and submit claims that were higher than their determined entitlement. Thus, it was the responsibility of finance personnel to individually check each claim submitted, further exacerbating the already time-consuming process.

Finally, they previously managed claims by fully relying on spreadsheets thus, it could not provide any sort of claim reporting, such as analytics or insights, that would have clarified the bill allowance for each department. The inability to generate reports puts the company at a disadvantage, as it may struggle to identify trends and patterns in employee claims, whether related to specific expense types like transportation costs or business units such as across Mamee's various branches. Being able to identify such patterns is important as it enables data-driven decisions that may help optimize costs, address inefficiencies and improve the company's overall operational effectiveness.

Finding the Solution

There was one pivotal aspect of Mamee's claim management system that caused many of the company's setbacks, especially in terms of efficiency and productivity - the fact that it was being run manually. Our proposed solution to solve their issues? Digitalization.

Implementation and Results

Our recommendation of choice was to transform their existing system by equipping them with Zoho Expense - a comprehensive software for claim management that addresses all their previous problems!

As a cloud solution, not only will they be able to retrieve their documents on demand, but their approval flow will also become much more structured. After submitting the expenses for the month, the relevant superior will be notified and given the choice to approve the claim with just a click. The task of managing claims suddenly becomes convenient and easy for both the employees and their superiors.

Superiors can immediately approve a claim, whilst an employee can receive an instant notification along with the superior's reasoning if their claim was rejected. Due dates can also be set for the submissions of expenses and the superiors’ approvals, ensuring that expenses are completed within a set timeframe preventing delays in reimbursements. Wherever they are, both parties can access information regarding the matter quickly through the application, either on desktop or mobile.

Additionally, Mamee was now able to customize details, such as defining expense policies and limits to ensure that each employee's entitlement was controlled. This allowed them to choose from their designated expense types whilst removing the cumbersome task of rechecking each claim, which in turn saves time. Through customization, certain fields can be mandated as mandatory, which ensures that all required information is submitted for each claim, reducing the time that would have been wasted from mistakes or incomplete submissions and improving the system's overall efficiency.

With Zoho Expense, Mamee also unlocked various other features to streamline the expense tracking process, which is especially beneficial for their accounting team. By allowing the organization to categorize expenses, it is now easier for them to align with the company’s chart of accounts in their accounting system - further ensuring accuracy in the company’s financial tracking and reporting. Even mileage claims can be made through the software’s auto-mileage tracking, calculated based on the set criteria, vehicle type and rate per kilometre.

Moreover, Mamee’s expense system was truly digitally transformed, maximizing productivity and accuracy through digitalization. The cloud-based solution enables the ability to import expense data from other sources and export reports for further data analysis. This streamlines efficiency by reducing manual data entry and ensuring that expense reports and their data can be accessed on various platforms. Furthermore, using Zoho Expense’s digitalized platform means that employees are no longer required to keep physical receipts as attachments to their claims, saving the physical efforts of printing and filing which saves costs and space while enhancing their accuracy.

Even more time is saved by eliminating the formerly time-consuming back and forth that came with processing each claim through the relevant people. In addition, without the physical labour of printing and filing the expenses, costs and space are also saved with Mamee's new digitally transformed system. Zoho Expenses also exceeds its existing capabilities with the ability to generate reports and analytics that give them an insight into the patterns within their organization, enabling them to spot discrepancies amongst their several branches or even policy violations. Additionally, they are now able to clearly visualize this data by producing various types of graphs and charts, thus allowing for more well-informed decisions to be made based on the company's data patterns.