Something is not adding up for finance teams.
Across Europe, organisations are placing greater emphasis on financial health, integrating it into core business strategy as a way to drive growth and navigate an increasingly volatile economic climate. The aim is clear: reduce guesswork, rely less on hindsight and build the foresight needed to respond to the unexpected.
Yet just as this capability becomes more critical, making confident, timely financial decisions is becoming harder. Research from Pleo suggests that more than two-thirds (68%) of decision-makers across Europe believe they could be making better-informed decisions than they currently are. This represents a significant pool of untapped potential – so what is holding them back?
While there are undoubtedly more decisions to make, and greater pressure to get them right, the underlying problem is how those decisions are made – or, more often, how they are not. At the heart of this challenge lies fragmentation.
Where risks fall through the cracks
Poor business decisions are nothing new. What has changed is the scale of the consequences. In today’s environment, missteps have a greater impact on confidence, often leading to ‘decision freeze’ – a state in which uncertainty becomes so overwhelming that progress stalls altogether.
The anxiety is understandable. According to Pleo’s research, nearly a third of decision-makers say poor financial decisions result in a lack of business growth, lost revenue and cash flow challenges.
For many, finance has simply become harder to track. Spend is scattered across cards, invoices, reimbursements and subscriptions, often managed through disconnected systems. Without a single, consistent view of the data, information slips through the cracks.
Pleo’s research also shows that almost half of decision-makers say their confidence is undermined by a lack of contextual financial information, while 40% of organisations report insufficient collaboration. These are capabilities businesses cannot afford to lose, particularly as they face another year of economic uncertainty, shifting trade conditions and unexpected disruption.
Piecing finance back together
The starting point for fixing a fragmented finance function is simple in principle, if not in execution: bringing everything together in one place. Businesses cannot rely on the hope that decision-makers are working from the same data set. Guesswork is not a strategy.
It is also important to recognise that financial decision-making no longer sits solely within the finance function. Spend decisions are made across organisations by marketing teams, operations leaders and office managers, as well as finance professionals. This makes shared visibility, collaboration and consistency even more critical.
Pleo was built with this reality in mind. What began more than a decade ago as a way to simplify expenses has evolved into a broader effort to democratise finance. Today, Pleo’s platform brings together fragmented spend into a single, connected environment that integrates with existing finance stacks, giving organisations greater control over every aspect of their spending.
Cash management
For many, visibility is the foundation of effective finance. Pleo’s cash management add-on brings bank accounts, Pleo balances and investment accounts into a single, live dashboard. With plug-and-play integrations for platforms such as Xero, NetSuite and others, finance teams can gain a comprehensive view of cash positions in real time.
This level of visibility supports more confident budgeting through sub-accounts, automated transfers governed by simple rules and multi-currency management that can eliminate unnecessary foreign exchange (FX) costs. By uniting finances in one place, teams regain time to focus on decision-making, advising the business and accelerating value creation.
Smart company cards
Spending is another common source of finance fragmentation. Traditional credit cards offer little real-time visibility, and late or missing receipts create gaps that distort financial reporting.
Pleo’s business expense cards allow employees to make purchases when needed, while giving finance teams instant visibility and control. Every transaction is tracked in real time, with automated receipt reminders. The result is fewer expense reports, less manual reconciliation and far greater confidence in the accuracy of spend data – all without micromanaging employees.
Reimbursements
However, fragmentation does not stop at company cards. Reimbursements can be slow and opaque, potentially leaving employees out of pocket for weeks at a time and creating uncertainty over what the business actually owes.
Pleo reimbursements streamline this process, allowing employees to submit claims directly and receive repayment in minutes rather than weeks. This reduces financial strain on staff and gives businesses a clearer, more accurate view of their true cash position.
Accounts payable
Similarly, invoices managed across multiple tools also introduce further financial risk. Fragmentation can mean approval statuses become harder to track, errors multiply and late or duplicate payments put strain on supplier relationships and cash flow.
Pleo’s accounts payable offering can bring invoice capture, approvals and supplier payments into a single workflow. Combined with Pleo overdraft, it also enables organisations to bridge short-term cash gaps, ensuring suppliers are paid on time and operations continue without disruption.
By bringing finances together, organisations can gain clarity and control. This reduces second-guessing, strengthens confidence and allows decision-makers to keep pace with an increasingly demanding business environment.
From fragmented data to financial control
Once financial data is unified, decision-making can move from reconstruction to anticipation. Real-time visibility, analytics and insights allow teams to understand spending patterns, identify opportunities and optimise resources. This includes unlocking additional value through cashback, FX savings and interest-bearing accounts.
Time is as valuable as capital. Leaning into automation can free finance teams from routine administrative work, creating space for strategic priorities. Features such as automated transfer rules ensure cash is where it needs to be, when it needs to be there, without constant manual intervention.
However, no organisation gets every spending decision right. While leaders focus on major investments, smaller purchases can quietly drift out of policy. Pleo embeds spend policies directly into day-to-day transactions, applying controls and guardrails in real time – reducing risk without adding friction.
Addressing fragmented finance can fundamentally change how a business operates. Doing so with Pleo can help organisations overcome this fragmentation and push their operations further.
By replacing outdated, restrictive processes with connected, automated ones, organisations gain the foundation to save money, generate value and grow with confidence. The result is a culture of empowered decision-makers equipped to act as change-makers and ready for what comes next.
Download Pleo’s ‘The power of better business decisions’ report
Something is not adding up for finance teams.
Across Europe, organisations are placing greater emphasis on financial health, integrating it into core business strategy as a way to drive growth and navigate an increasingly volatile economic climate. The aim is clear: reduce guesswork, rely less on hindsight and build the foresight needed to respond to the unexpected.
Yet just as this capability becomes more critical, making confident, timely financial decisions is becoming harder. Research from Pleo suggests that more than two-thirds (68%) of decision-makers across Europe believe they could be making better-informed decisions than they currently are. This represents a significant pool of untapped potential – so what is holding them back?
