My team supports the data integrations between our firm and Emburse Chrome River, and I also use it to submit expense reports. All of the expense reports previously were entered by our Accounts Payable team, but now the AP team are auditors to make sure the reports are filled out correctly, so it spreads the workload to the entire firm.
Pros
It is easy to attach receipts to the expense reports. I take a picture of the receipt, and send it to a specified email address with relevant information like reason for expense and receipt total. It automatically shows up on my dashboard so I can attach it to an expense.
It is easy to approve expense reports. An email is sent to the approver, and they can approve directly from the email or access Emburse Chrome River to approve.
Credit card items automatically appear on the dashboard within a day or two, so it makes it simple to merge credit card charges with attachments where receipts are required.
Cons
I would like to see reminders for expense reports that have not been approved. I think it only sends one email, so it would be nice to get follow ups for those that are not quick with approving expenses.
Likelihood to Recommend
It is great for larger companies where the AP team cannot enter expense reports themselves. It works well for companies that use corporate credit cards because those transactions automatically show up on the dashboard so they can be added to the expense reports. It is also easy to add personal charges for reimbursement.
VU
Verified User
Manager in Information Technology (1001-5000 employees)
I Review and Assist Employees to complete Chrome River expense reports and Pre Approvals. The Application is easy to use for my end of the process but we deal daily with Calls regarding the Itemization of hotels, as this area seems to be a struggle for most employees. Chrome River's ability to change and its flexibility is a great answer to most issues we experience. We are able to do So much more with the application as opposed to out previous tool.
Pros
Some Changes are made a lot easier than others, but the changes occur and problems are solved
Having the Currency exchange imbedded into the report for our OCONUS travels is an amazing tool, that reduces time expediently
Having Step by Step questions per expense allows the employee to be more independent when completing the report
Cons
Deleting the Entire report without anyway of retrieving it
Hotel Itemization needs more detailed steps to follow
There are a lot of "Errors uploading receipts" Glitches that occur
Likelihood to Recommend
Chrome River in my experience is suited to the employees being more independent when completing their reports, due to the extensive questions and steps. This allows us (the reviewers) to come in and assist the employees more efficiently. I think it fits well with out needs and easy to help our employees
VU
Verified User
Employee in Finance and Accounting (10,001+ employees)
Emburse allows us to use one system for all our expense reporting, invoicing, and purchase order processes. It houses all of these functionalities in one system allowing us to set up approval routings and easily account for all of our expenses. I use Emburse to manage users access rights and review expense reports to ensure our employees are following internal policies and procedures.
Pros
The OCR system is great at reading repeating invoices.
Allows users to setup multi-step approval processes.
Allows users to easily upload receipts through multiple different means.
Cons
Would be great to have pre-saved templates available to apply to line items at the expense report header level rather than having to go into each line.
Would be nice to have a mass upload functionality for things like cost codes, allocations, and credit card users.
Likelihood to Recommend
Emburse Chrome River is great for housing all of your expense functionality needs in one place and allows quite a bit of personalized customization. It's also great for reviewing expenses and setting up procedures to make sure all expenses go through the correct route of approval before being fully approved.
VU
Verified User
Analyst in Finance and Accounting (201-500 employees)
We use Emburse Chrome River to process our expenses and invoices. The business case is to provide an automated solution that has security protocols in place for approvals. Additionally, reporting needs to see trends.
Pros
Detailed approvals
Easy navigation
Performance
Cons
The way approvals are managed
Reporting performance and options
Lacking basic functions with their updated Mercury platform
Likelihood to Recommend
Chrome River has a great team to work with, their ticket logging system is easy to use. The CR application itself is easy to use and navigate, has an easy learning curve, and has a lot of options for routing and approvals.
Since our organization is a large law firm, we use Chrome River and only Chrome River for all our invoice payment processing, expense reporting, and reimbursements. It helps us organize and easily keep track of all invoices that are submitted for payment from our many vendors, and it also helps staff and lawyers submit expense reports for the many reimbursements they need to receive from things like travel, dining with clients, or professional development.
Pros
Invoicing
Expense Reporting
Record of Payments and Vendors
Cons
Image Upload Size Restriction
Search History for Invoice Submissions
Better way to catalogue vendor addresses vs payment addresses
Likelihood to Recommend
Emburse Chrome River is a highly suitable tool for any organization that is processing invoices for payments from many different vendors. It also works well for any organization that needs to have an easy tool for its staff to do expense reporting for reimbursements. I honestly think it is appropriate for any organization that needs to have an easy way for the Accounting Department or general staff to keep track and submit things for payment, although it probably works best for organizations that are larger than 50 or so staff.
VU
Verified User
Administrator in Information Technology (1001-5000 employees)
Chrome River helped us get out of paper reimbursements. We are now reimbursing our employees within days instead of weeks. Also, helps with client bill back we run the firm cards through the portal. So we can get the client charges in our system faster. Saves a month between when it is paid to when it is billed.
Pros
Faster cost recovery vs paper.
Faster employee reimbursement.
Better visibility of charges.
Cons
Help desk is on the slow side.
Likelihood to Recommend
Chrome River is great for our firm because we are able to get costs into our billing system faster. We are also able to pay our employees faster.
VU
Verified User
Account Manager in Finance and Accounting (501-1000 employees)
Chrome River is our Expense Reporting system. Many people have company expenditure cards, and those who don't can submit for reimbursement of allowable expenses. While our AP department is the head of the process and application, most people in the firm use it to enter expenses for themselves or on behalf of others. The biggest benefit in my opinion is its availability from anywhere, especially in a remote world. It is web-based and has an app, so it is easily accessible in a few ways. Its use allows us to quickly submit and process expense and reimbursement requests with a geographically dispersed team.
Pros
CR Snap, a phone app that allows pictures of receipts with AI that recognizes expenses and enables submission of the expense at the point of expense.
Business logic rules that can be customized as to how to route expenses for approval or automatically approve.
Online platform that makes it accessible from anywhere without special equipment. Allows us to work remotely.
Cons
As a data analyst, I wish we could export their analytics to combine with our own internal data to make it richer.
It took a while to transition to our new accounting system, and was slightly difficult to get their team to work on customizations.
Sometimes the product has minor glitches that seem to resolve themselves within a few hours.
Likelihood to Recommend
Chrome River is very good for large, complex expense processing workflows. You can customize it as much as you need or want - though simpler is usually better. If you have a distributed workforce and/or many people submitting expenses, the app and tools make it easier to get the receipts and expenses in a timely manner. It also allows processing outside of a single location and reduces paper waste. If your company is very simple or isn't geographically distributed, it may benefit you less.
VU
Verified User
Analyst in Information Technology (1001-5000 employees)
Our organization uses Emburse Certify to receive and process reimbursement. We also use Emburse Analytics Pro with Insight Advisor to manage our reporting with up to the minute dashboards of our data. We currently have about 5 departments onboarded with the goal to have it company-wide in 2022. Emburse Chrome River allows us to manage our expense reporting in real-time with reduced error, reduced spending, reduced time on the user end. We are able to view trends, make projections, and reduce non-compliance. This suite of tools has really changed my life, both personally and professionally. I can't recommend it enough!
Pros
Our data is at our fingertips with our Emburse Analytics Pro Dashboards.
We have a team of Insight Advisors to assist us as we navigate our new reports and needs.
All users can view their reimbursement status in real time.
Cons
The mobile app of Certify needs an overhaul to modernize it.
The mobile app also needs overhauling to improve functionality in accessing desktop options like Configuration.
There should be a dedicated support line and email for the Insight Advisor Team.
Likelihood to Recommend
If a company handles T&E then that company should consider using Emburse Certify and Emburse Chrome River to meet their company needs. While all reimbursements can be handled through the software, there are also added options for AP/AR, company credit cards, travel, and more. Emburse stores the data on their end so there is no need for downloading reports or storing endless data. Their suite of software really reduces the time spent creating, submitting, and processing expense reimbursements.
Emburse [Chrome River] will be used across our entire firm - still implementing. Our employee reimbursement practices were largely manual, or through a solution provided by our ERP provider which has very limited functionality and workflow options. Additionally, our invoice payments are scanned daily and attached to the ERP invoice requests, routed for approval (again limited functionality) and sent to AP where most payment requests generate a check - or require an ACH to be manually prepared on the bank site. Emburse [Chrome River] will allow all of our payment requests, including check requests for court costs and experts to be routed through one system across the firm and allow for routing dependent on a combination of user, account, vendor and client.
Pros
User Interface is BEST IN CLASS - live the Mercury UI!
Administration is straight forward making maintenance a breeze
Rules based submission and approvals force the user to make decisions instead of the approvers
Cons
Allocations need to be more flexible to allow multiple optional items like attorney, marketing purpose (initiative) to be added and reference discreet entity tables.
Likelihood to Recommend
We initially tried to implement a competitor - which was a dismal failure and cost us valuable time for project success. Having used the older version of [Emburse] Chrome River previously, I quickly changed courses since I was aware of [Emburse] Chrome River's ability to easily interface with a law firm structure.
[Emburse Chrome River is] Globally used by my organization and it covers all the travel-related and non-travel related expense reimbursements to the employees and payments to the corporate card company. Also, it helps in extracting useful information to see the spending of employees, how controls can be implemented to avoid overspending and duplicate claims.
Pros
On-time Migration from the current to Emburse Chrome River
Experience Resources
Sound Support
Cons
Adhoc requirements must be analyzed faster, they take more time
Sometimes keep some gaps with controls
Showing interest to close the case faster than closing the issue
Likelihood to Recommend
Globally used by my organization and it covers all the travel-related and non-travel-related expense reimbursements to the employees and payments to the corporate card company.
Covers multiple corporate cards like American Express, Citi, and Barclays.
Auto Remittance details to the Corporate card companies
Easy reconciliation
Also, it helps in extracting useful information to see the spending of employees, how controls can be implemented to avoid overspending and duplicate claims.
VU
Verified User
Manager in Finance and Accounting (5001-10,000 employees)
