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Business spending benchmarks
Spend data for construction companies
The spending patterns across construction company segments suggest several key trends for 2024:
- Digital acceleration: Smaller firms are catching up on technology adoption, with spending patterns suggesting an increased focus on efficiency and automation.
- Cost management: Companies are carefully managing expenses while still investing in growth areas, reflecting JLL's finding that "construction costs have stabilized" in their report 2024 mid-year construction update and forecast.
- Workforce development: Investment in professional services and technology suggests companies are finding new ways to address persistent labor challenges.
- Market segmentation: The varied spending patterns across company sizes indicate different strategies for growth and market positioning.
Very small businesses
Card spend trends
Quarterly change in spend (Q3 24 vs Q2 24)
Shift in spend over time
Top expenses
Fastest-growing software vendors
SMBs
Card spend trends
Quarterly change in card spend (Q3 24 vs Q2 24)
Shift in spend over time
Top expenses
Fastest-growing software vendors
Mid-markets
Card spend trends
Quarterly change in spend (Q3 24 vs Q2 24)
Shift in spend over time
Top expenses
Fastest-growing software vendors
Summary
Technology investment surge in small businesses
Ramp’s spend data show increased technology adoption across company sizes, particularly among smaller firms:
- Autodesk adoption grew 50% among very small businesses and 27% among SMBs
- Construction-specific software like PlanGrid (67% growth in SMBs) and Bluebeam are seeing rapid adoption
- Professional services spending increased significantly (28% for very small businesses, 17% for SMBs)
As Deloitte notes in their 2024 engineering and construction industry outlook, this surge in technology investment is aimed at improving "project design, schedule optimization, cost controls, site inspection, safety, compliance, and quality assurance."
Materials and cost management
Material spending patterns show interesting shifts:
- Home Depot spending remained flat for very small businesses (+2%) but increased for mid-market companies (+11%)
- Fuel costs decreased for very small businesses (-3%) while remaining stable for SMBs (+3%)
JLL's midyear update indicates that "material costs are trending at the low end of forecasts," with total cost growth projected at just 1-2% for 2024, helping explain these conservative spending patterns.
Labor and professional services
Ramp’s data reveals increased investment in talent and expertise:
- Professional services spending up across all segments
- Increased investment in training and development
- Growing technology adoption to support workforce needs
Deloitte's research underscores the urgency here, noting that the industry needs more than 342,000 new workers in 2024, with 68% of firms struggling to fill open positions.
Market competition and advertising
A notable divergence in marketing strategy emerged:
- Mid-market companies increased advertising spend by 8% QoQ
- Google Ads spending showed variations:some text
- Very small businesses: +17% QoQ ($11,357 average)
- SMBs: -19% QoQ ($34,553 average)
- Mid-market: -8% QoQ ($108,958 average)
This aligns with JLL's observation that "not all sectors are performing equally well, pointing toward variations around what industries grow and where."
Spend data for healthcare companies
As healthcare organizations prepare for PWC's projected 8.0% increase in medical cost trend in 2025, Ramp’s latest spend data for healthcare companies suggests they're already making strategic adjustments in their spending patterns. The emphasis on technology investment, particularly in AI and specialized healthcare solutions, indicates a sector-wide push toward efficiency and automation to help offset rising costs.
Very small businesses
Card spend trends
Quarterly change in spend (Q3 24 vs Q2 24)
Shift in spend over time
Top expenses
Fastest-growing software vendors
SMBs
Card spend trends
Quarterly change in spend (Q3 24 vs Q2 24)
Shift in spend over time
Top expenses
Fastest-growing software vendors
Mid-markets
Card spend trends
Quarterly change in spend (Q3 24 vs Q2 24)
Shift in spend over time
Top expenses
Fastest-growing software vendors
Summary
Technology and professional services investment
Healthcare providers are significantly increasing their technology investments across company sizes:
- Very small businesses: SaaS/software spending up 9% QoQ
- SMBs: SaaS/software spending up 10% QoQ
- Fast-growing vendors include modern healthcare platforms like Tebra (67% growth) and established players like Salesforce (46% growth)
This investment surge reflects what PWC identifies as a key opportunity to "unlock new value by leveraging digitalization and adopting generative AI" across healthcare operations.
Medical supply and equipment spending
The data show distinct patterns in medical-related spending:
- Very small businesses: Medical spending up 11% QoQ
- SMBs: Medical spending up 6% QoQ
- Mid-markets: Medical spending up 4% QoQ, representing their largest expense category at 28.3% of total spend
This escalating medical supply spending aligns with PWC's observation about "continued inflationary pressures" affecting healthcare operational expenses.
Advertising trends
A notable divergence in marketing strategy emerged:
- Very small businesses: Advertising spend up 46% QoQ, averaging $36,861 on Facebook Ads
- SMBs: Advertising spend down 16% QoQ
- Mid-markets: Advertising spend down 23% QoQ
This pattern suggests smaller providers are competing more aggressively for patients while larger organizations rely more on established patient bases and referral networks.
Emerging technology adoption
The fastest-growing vendors reveal a clear shift toward AI and specialized healthcare solutions:
- Anthropic (100% growth in SMBs) and Perplexity (100% growth in very small businesses) show healthcare providers are rapidly adopting AI tools
- Healthcare-specific platforms seeing strong growth:some text
- Tebra (67% growth in SMBs) - practice management software
- DentalXChange (60% growth in very small businesses) - dental claims processing
- YourMembership (80% growth in very small businesses) - healthcare association management
This trend aligns with PWC's observation that "GenAI and artificial intelligence broadly are expected to play a significant role in making healthcare more affordable as payers and providers leverage GenAI across different areas of the value chain."
Industry implications
The spending patterns across segments suggest several key trends for healthcare providers:
- Digital transformation: Organizations of all sizes are investing in technology to improve operational efficiency and patient care, with particularly strong adoption among smaller providers trying to stay competitive.
- Cost management: The varied spending patterns across segments reflect PWC's observation that organizations are "employing a holistic enterprise-wide approach to analyze multiple interconnected components that determine premium costs."
- Market competition: Smaller providers are increasing marketing spend to maintain patient volumes, while larger organizations focus on operational efficiency and cost control.
- AI integration: The rapid adoption of AI tools and specialized healthcare software suggests organizations actively seek technology solutions to address what PWC describes as "unprecedented inflationary pressures."
Spend data for hospitality companies
Ramp’s latest spend data for hospitality companies show three key takeaways:
- Service spending increased: Restaurant expenses jumped 29%, and travel-related spending rose 23% quarter-over-quarter, marking the largest categorical increase.
- Growth in spend continues: Median quarterly card spend hit $44,606, up from $43,812 in Q2, marking five straight quarters of expansion.
- Tech priorities shifted: While marketing ad spend declined (Google Ads -23%, Facebook -11%), operational tools saw massive adoption growth (Autodesk +100%, Zoho +80%).
Card spend trends
Quarterly change in spend (Q3 24 vs Q2 24)
Shift in spend over time
Top expenses
Fastest-growing software vendors
Summary
Restaurant supply chain evolution
The most significant QoQ change was in restaurant-related spending (+29%), followed by travel miscellaneous (+23%). Looking deeper:
- WebstaurantStore spending averaged $7,457 per business (-7% QoQ but +14% YoY)
- Supermarket/grocery store spending increased 10% QoQ, suggesting some businesses may be diversifying their supply chains
Digital marketing investment
Marketing remains a significant expense category with notable shifts:
- Google Ads: $13,522 average spend (-23% QoQ)
- Facebook Ads: $9,142 average spend (-11% QoQ)
- Overall advertising spend up 12% QoQ
The reduction in two of the largest advertising options, combined with the overall growth of advertising, suggests that hospitality companies are diversifying their advertising spend to other platforms.
Technology infrastructure
SaaS/software spending continues to grow steadily (+6% QoQ), now representing 8.3% of total expenses. Fast-growing vendors indicate key operational priorities:
- Business operations tools (Zoho: +80% customer growth)
- Security infrastructure (Cloudflare: +55%, Bitwarden: +60%)
- Document management (Docsend: +80%)
- Design and planning tools (Autodesk: +100%)
This technology investment trend aligns with McKinsey's emphasis on the importance of data-powered strategies and the need for better digital infrastructure to support modern hospitality operations in their article Six trends shaping new business models in tourism and hospitality.
Spend data for professional services
Ramp’s fall benchmark data show varying trends across segments within professional services companies, with smaller firms pulling back on traditional marketing while larger firms accelerated tech investment.
Very small businesses
Card spend trends
Quarterly change in spend (Q3 24 vs Q2 24)
Shift in spend over time
Top expenses
Fastest-growing software vendors
SMBs
Card spend trends
Quarterly change in spend (Q3 24 vs Q2 24)
Shift in spend over time
Top expenses
Fastest-growing software vendors
Mid-markets
Card spend trends
Quarterly change in spend (Q3 24 vs Q2 24)
Shift in spend over time
Top expenses
Fastest-growing software vendors
Summary
Very small businesses ($30K median quarterly card spend)
- Largest changes:some text
- Restaurant spend: +24% QoQ
- Advertising spend: -55% YoY ($6.4M → $2.9M)
- SaaS/software: +11% QoQ
- Key vendor growth: Anthropic (+35%), Perplexity AI (+47%)
SMBs ($80K median quarterly card spend)
- Major shifts:some text
- Cloud computing: -27% QoQ (largest category decline)
- Delta Airlines spend: +15% YoY
- Fast-growing vendors: Hover (+86%), Notarize (+75%)
- Professional services spend: +19% YoY
Mid-markets ($134K median quarterly card spend)
- Key changes:some text
- SaaS/software: +21% QoQ
- Airlines: +18% QoQ
- Traditional advertising down: Google (-39% YoY), Facebook (-44% YoY)
- AWS spend: +79% YoY
- Fastest growing: Scribe (+160%), Autodesk (+111%)
Cross-segment patterns
While individual segments show unique trends, several patterns emerged consistently across all company sizes, particularly in technology adoption and marketing spend:
Technology investment
- AI vendor growth strong across all segments
- Larger firms showing more aggressive tech adoption
- SaaS spend as % of total:some text
- Very small businesses: 14.9% (up from 12.2% YoY)
- SMBs: 13.2%
- Mid-market: 10.0%
The investment in AI supports Thomson Reuters' recent report on AI adoption in professional services, which shows:
- 44% of professionals are optimistic about AI adoption, with spending patterns confirming this sentiment through concrete investment.
- Most respondents (81%) see concrete applications for their work, suggesting practical rather than theoretical adoption.
Marketing transformation
- All segments reducing traditional ad spend (Google/Facebook/LinkedIn)
- Very small businesses showing the most pullback (-55% YoY)
Travel recovery
- Airline and lodging spend increasing in larger firms
- Restaurant spend up significantly in smallest firms
- Delta Air Lines/United Airlines showing consistent growth across segments
Spend data for tech companies
Ramp’s fall spending data reveals a divergence in tech company spending patterns across different segments. While median quarterly card spend grew modestly for very small businesses ($38,776, up 2.8% QoQ) and SMBs ($135,440, up 4.5% QoQ), mid-market companies remained relatively flat at $300,065 (up 2.2% QoQ).
The most notable shift was in spending priorities: office-related expenses saw double-digit growth across all segments, while traditionally dominant categories like advertising showed signs of optimization.
Very small businesses
Card spend trends
Quarterly change in spend (Q3 24 vs Q2 24)
Shift in spend over time
Top expenses
Fastest-growing software vendors
SMBs
Card spend trends
Quarterly change in spend (Q3 24 vs Q2 24)
Shift in spend over time
Top expenses
Fastest-growing software vendors
Mid-markets
Card spend trends
Quarterly change in spend (Q3 24 vs Q2 24)
Shift in spend over time
Top expenses
Fastest-growing software vendors
Summary
Return-to-office spending surge
One of the most striking trends is the significant increase in office-related spending across all company segments in Q3 2024:
- Very small businesses: 22% QoQ increase
- SMBs: 17% QoQ increase
- Mid-market: 6% QoQ increase
This consistent uptick suggests a broader industry shift toward workplace investment, possibly indicating a more widespread return to office initiatives or hybrid work model adjustments.
Cloud and SaaS
Cloud computing and SaaS continue to command the largest share of technology spending, with some interesting variations by company size:
- SaaS/software represents the highest category share across all segments (20-23% of total spend)
- Mid-market companies show more stable cloud spending (11% of total spend) compared to more volatile patterns in smaller companies
- AWS remains the top cloud vendor across all segments, with Q3 mean spend ranging from $22K (very small businesses) to $115K (mid-market)
Marketing spend
Digital advertising shows distinct patterns across company sizes:
- Very small businesses maintained strong ad spend growth (Facebook Ads up 128% YoY)
- SMBs and mid-market companies pulled back, with advertising spend down 11% and 5% QoQ respectively
- Facebook and Google Ads dominate across all segments, but with varying growth trajectories
Emerging technology adoption
The fastest-growing vendors list reveals strong interest in AI and development tools:
- AI-focused tools like Luma AI, Fireworks.ai, and GPT for Docs showing strong growth
- Development tools like Cursor and Redis seeing massive adoption increases across all segments
- Infrastructure tools like Elastic and Airbyte gaining significant traction in larger companies
Mixed signals for travel and entertainment
Business travel shows signs of stabilization:
- Airline spend remained flat or increased slightly across segments
- Lodging spend varied significantly: very small businesses (+2% QoQ), SMBs (-7%), mid-markets (+2%)
- Restaurant spend growth is modest but steady across all segments
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