A new study by travel and expense management service provider Emburse shows how mid-size to large companies are spending 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.

The study found that while broader economic conditions may not seem favorable to consumers, employees are continuing 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.

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%).

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Overall ad spending dropped by 6% in Q2 2024 over the same quarter the previous year, more closely reflecting broader economic headwinds. However, ad spend 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.

“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.