Why Every Business Needs an Alaan Card

Every dirham counts when running a business, yet many companies unknowingly lose money due to inefficient expense management. Traditional corporate cards and manual tracking systems create more problems than they solve. 

Employees pay out of pocket, finance teams struggle with delayed approvals, and businesses lack real-time visibility into spending. These outdated processes waste time and expose companies to unnecessary risks, from policy violations to cash flow disruptions.

A Abu Dhabi SME Hub survey found that 25% of UAE businesses still rely on manual expense reporting, leading to higher administrative costs and frequent errors. Another report shows that 19% of expense reports contain mistakes, each taking an average of 18 minutes to correct—a hidden drain on productivity.

This is why businesses across the UAE are choosing a smarter way to manage spending. Alaan cards for businesses replace inefficiency with automation, real-time tracking, and full control over business expenses.

In this post, we’ll explore why traditional corporate cards are failing businesses and how Alaan Corporate Cards is transforming expense management for companies that want better financial oversight and savings.

The Problem with Traditional Corporate Cards

Traditional corporate cards were designed to make business spending easier, but they create more challenges than solutions. From lack of control to inefficient tracking, these outdated systems cause financial bottlenecks that slow down business operations.

Here’s why traditional corporate cards fail to meet the needs of modern businesses:

1. Lack of Real-Time Spend Visibility

With traditional corporate cards, businesses often find out about transactions days or even weeks later, only when the bank statement arrives. 

This lack of real-time visibility makes it impossible to track expenses as they happen, leading to budget overruns and financial mismanagement.

2. No Customisable Spending Controls

Most corporate cards provide limited control over how employees use them. Without the ability to set spending limits, restrict merchant categories, or lock payments to specific vendors, businesses are exposed to unauthorised transactions, overspending, and compliance risks.

3. Manual Reconciliation Creates Delays

Traditional corporate card transactions often require manual reconciliation, where finance teams must match receipts, verify expenses, and correct errors. This time-consuming process increases the risk of mistakes, leading to delayed approvals and accounting inefficiencies.

4. Employees Still Rely on Reimbursements

Since traditional cards are issued to only a few senior employees, most staff still pay out of pocket and wait weeks for reimbursement. This creates frustration and puts financial strain on employees handling frequent business expenses like travel, subscriptions, and vendor payments.

5. Hidden Fees and Limited Rewards

Many corporate cards come with hidden fees, high foreign transaction charges, and limited cashback rewards. Instead of helping businesses save money, these cards often increase operational costs, making them less effective for modern financial management.

Businesses today require instant control, automation, and transparency in their expense management. Traditional corporate cards fail to provide these capabilities, leaving companies with inefficiencies, compliance risks, and unnecessary financial burdens.

The Benefits of Using an Alaan Card

Alaan Corporate Cards isn’t just another corporate card—it’s an AI-powered solution designed to eliminate inefficiencies and give you complete control over business spending. 

Whether you’re managing daily expenses or handling large-scale transactions, Alaan streamlines expense management, making it effortless and efficient. Here’s how your business can benefit from using Alaan Corporate Cards:

1. Instant Issuance and Unlimited Cards

With Alaan, you can issue unlimited virtual and physical corporate cards instantly. No more waiting weeks for a bank to process applications—your team gets access to corporate cards in minutes.

• Virtual cards for online payments, SaaS subscriptions, and digital ads
• Physical cards for in-store purchases, travel, and vendor payments
• Single-use and recurring cards for specific projects or one-time expenses

2. Full Control Over Business Spending

Unlike traditional cards, Alaan gives you complete control over how and where your money is spent:

• Set custom spending limits per employee, department, or project
• Lock cards to specific merchants (e.g., fuel, travel, SaaS subscriptions)
• Enable or disable foreign transactions to prevent unauthorised use
• Restrict cash withdrawals to ensure policy compliance

This level of control prevents overspending, reduces financial risk, and ensures every transaction aligns with company budgets.

3. Real-Time Expense Tracking and Insights

Forget waiting for monthly bank statements. Alaan provides real-time tracking of all company spending:

• See every transaction instantly on a central dashboard
• Receive instant alerts for unauthorised spending or policy violations
• Categorise expenses automatically, eliminating manual tracking
• Monitor budgets in real-time, ensuring better financial oversight

This instant visibility allows finance teams to act proactively, prevent budget overruns, and make informed financial decisions faster.

4. AI-Powered Receipt Matching and Automated Reconciliation

Manually matching receipts to transactions is a thing of the past with Alaan. Our AI-powered platform automates expense reconciliation, saving hours of admin work:

• Automatically captures and matches receipts to transactions
• Eliminates manual data entry and human errors
• Integrates seamlessly with accounting software like Xero, QuickBooks, and NetSuite
• Ensures accurate bookkeeping and VAT compliance

By reducing manual workload and reconciliation errors, Alaan frees up your finance team to focus on high-impact financial planning.

5. 2% Cashback on Business Spend—With No Limits

Unlike traditional corporate cards that charge high fees, Alaan rewards your business with 2% unlimited cashback on eligible transactions. This means:

• Earn cashback on all business purchases, including software, advertising, travel, and utilities
• No upper limits or hidden restrictions—the more you spend, the more you save
• Reduce operational costs and reinvest savings back into your business

6. Enhanced Security and Fraud Protection

Alaan is built with enterprise-grade security, ensuring that every transaction is protected:

• Instant card freezing and blocking in case of theft or misuse
• Real-time fraud alerts for suspicious transactions
• Built-in liability protection against unauthorised charges

This multi-layered security gives you peace of mind while managing corporate expenses.

By combining instant card issuance, smart spend controls, real-time tracking, and cost-saving benefits, Alaan eliminates the pain points of traditional corporate cards.

With Alaan, your businesses no longer deal with manual reimbursements, lost receipts, or financial guesswork—instead, you gain a seamless, AI-driven system that optimises every aspect of corporate spending.

Use Cases: How Companies Are Winning with Alaan Corporate Cards

Companies across various industries are transforming their expense management processes with Alaan. From reducing petty cash dependence to streamlining ad spend tracking, businesses are experiencing increased efficiency, cost savings, and greater financial control. 

Here are some real-world success stories that showcase the impact of Alaan corporate cards.

K4: Eliminating Petty Cash Hassles with an Automated Expense System

K4 was struggling with manual petty cash tracking, which created inefficiencies, increased administrative burdens, and left too much room for human error. By implementing Alaan, they reduced their dependence on petty cash by 90%, shifting to a transparent and scalable expense management system.

• Automated receipt tracking simplified the verification process, improving financial transparency and reducing time spent on manual reconciliations.
• Real-time transaction monitoring gave K4 instant visibility into company spending, helping department heads make swift, informed decisions.
• Easy issuance of multiple cards allowed them to manage expenses seamlessly across teams without additional costs.
• Cashback benefits on foreign currency transactions, including online advertising, helped optimise costs and increase savings.

“Alaan’s corporate cards not only streamlined our previously messy processes but also brought transparency and efficiency to our expense management. We’re relieved that petty cash dependence has reduced significantly. The added cashback on international transactions is a huge plus.”

With Alaan, K4 now operates with enhanced oversight, accurate reporting, and proactive budget management—empowering them to scale operations with confidence.

Markathon: From One Shared Card to Full-Fledged Spend Control

As a digital marketing agency, Markathon relies on multiple SaaS tools and advertising platforms to run client campaigns. Initially, the company used a single shared corporate card for all transactions—a process that became increasingly unmanageable as they expanded.

• Real-time spend tracking replaced blind spending, giving them full visibility over advertising expenses.
• Multiple cards for clients and projects enabled them to categorise payments instantly and streamline client billing.
• Merchant locks and spend limits ensured budget adherence while eliminating the risk of overspending.
• 2% cashback on ad spend helped Markathon maximise savings on high-volume digital campaigns.

“It has been super helpful in keeping track of all the ad spend we handle on behalf of our clients. What a game-changer it has been!”

With Alaan, Markathon shifted from chaotic expense management to a structured, client-level spend tracking system—allowing them to focus on growth and campaign performance rather than financial admin.

CarSwitch: Centralised Control Over Expenses Across Teams

For CarSwitch, managing multiple teams and operational expenses was a major challenge. Their finance team was drowning in paperwork, manually processing reimbursements and petty cash transactions. Switching to Alaan transformed their expense management process.

• 20+ corporate cards issued instantly, eliminating the hassle of petty cash and slow reimbursements.
• Alaan’s mobile app enabled team members to submit, verify, approve, and track expenses effortlessly.
• Centralised expense tracking provided finance managers with real-time oversight, improving visibility and control.

“Switching to Alaan saved CarSwitch about one week of work every quarter for our finance team, not to mention better visibility and control over business spend!”

With Alaan, CarSwitch automated expense approvals and reporting, freeing up valuable time and resources to focus on business growth.

SEE Engineering: Reducing Cash Handling and Enhancing Financial Oversight

SEE Engineering faced security and efficiency challenges with cash-based transactions. With Alaan, they achieved:

• 70% reduction in cash handling, minimising fraud risks.
• Stronger financial oversight, with all transactions consolidated into one digital platform.
• Improved spending discipline, as employees operated within pre-defined budgets.
• Elimination of cash withdrawals, making expense tracking seamless and automated.

“One of Alaan’s best features is the easy upload and approval of bills. With the maker-checker system, we can now assign expenses to cost centres effortlessly—saving us time and ensuring accuracy.”

By implementing Alaan’s smart financial tools, SEE Engineering improved financial discipline, reduced operational risks, and optimised expense tracking.

From reducing petty cash dependency to automating real-time spend tracking, these are just a few examples of how companies using Alaan are revolutionising their expense management.

Conclusion

Businesses today can’t afford to let outdated expense management slow them down. Manual approvals, delayed reimbursements, and hidden fees make traditional corporate cards a burden rather than a solution.

With Alaan’s AI-powered corporate card, you get instant expense tracking, automated reconciliation, and real-time financial control—all designed to eliminate inefficiencies and maximise cost savings. Instead of chasing receipts and fixing errors, your finance team can focus on strategic growth.

Companies across the UAE are already making the switch—reducing admin time, improving cash flow, and gaining complete visibility over their spending. Now, it’s your turn. Take control of your business expenses with Alaan. Book a free demo today.