IDC research sponsored by SAP Concur, 'The Connected Journey: Evolving to the Next Level in Business Travel,' indicates that connecting travel to the cloud can improve employee experience and productivity. The research shows cloud-managed travel can reduce travel planning time by 49%, expense report creation time by 70%, and increase compliance by 35%.
A SAP Concur blog post highlights the impact of the pandemic on SMBs and their resilience. According to an Aberdeen report, 24% of SMBs expect to remain in survival mode in 2021, 29% expect revenue growth, and 57% plan to resume business travel. SAP Concur's expense management solutions helped customers like CAF America and Genevant Sciences adapt to remote work. The article also mentions resources for SMBs, including free trials and partner integrations.
A SAP Concur blog post notes that small businesses are actively adopting mobile business solutions due to their agility. An SMB Group report shows that 67% of SMBs agree that mobile solutions are changing how they work and collaborate, with top benefits including improved employee productivity, better access to information, and time savings. Mobility also expands the talent pool and attracts younger workers. The article cites Concur Expense and Concur Invoice as examples of mobile spend management enabling real-time tracking, approvals, and receipt capture, saving time and costs.
SAP Concur released its "The Robots Are Here" whitepaper exploring how AI and machine learning are applied to back-office business processes, including reviewing all expenses and invoices, detecting fraud, and automatically checking GST, HST, and VAT rules to find reclaim opportunities.
SAP Concur blog highlights that increasing employee-initiated spend channels complicate compliance and fraud risks. ACFE data shows asset misappropriation occurs in over 86% of occupational fraud cases with a median loss of $100,000, while financial statement fraud accounts for 10% of cases but a median loss of $954,000. Travel and expense is a major fraud area, with schemes including mileage padding, fake expenses, and unused airline tickets. Proactive data monitoring can reduce fraud losses by 33%.
SAP Concur case study shows a U.S. state accounting office transformed its paper-based reimbursement process into an automated, integrated travel and spend management system using Concur Travel and Concur Expense. The state's 70,000 employees benefit from mobile receipt upload, automatic mileage reimbursement, and automatic per diem calculation. 86% of users found approving reports easy, with approval taking no more than three days. The state also gained greater visibility into hotel spend through enhanced reporting, supporting more informed negotiation decisions.
SAP Concur published an article noting that faculty and staff at colleges and universities are spending more of their institution's money across more spend categories and using more payment methods than ever before. For finance departments still struggling with manual processes, accurately tracking spending is challenging. The article recommends that institutions adopt modern spend management solutions to increase visibility, prevent duplicate payments, flag unusual transactions, and take advantage of discounted supplier rates. It also outlines critical steps such as automating all spending, embracing an open strategy, strategically managing spending, and reviewing spending.
A SAP Concur blog post discusses the importance of employee happiness amid the pandemic and Great Resignation, arguing that happiness breeds engagement, which in turn affects loyalty, productivity and profits. It says the issue is not money but frustrating, menial day-to-day tasks, especially travel and expense processes such as keeping paper receipts, filling out expense reports, and booking on a legacy travel program only to find the purchase falls outside a corporate rule they had never heard of. The post lists common employee complaints and suggests improving the experience with apps that automatically build expense reports, replace paper receipts with digital records, provide location-…
A SAP Concur blog post states that a typical organization loses about 5% of annual revenue to fraud each year, and employee expenses, especially travel, are both a large budget category and an opportunity for fraudulent claims. It recommends a corporate credit card program to tighten controls, with credit and transaction limits plus merchant and location controls, and data flowing directly to the company for monitoring suspicious spend. It also suggests integrating corporate cards with automated cloud-based expense solutions for visibility and reporting data.
A SAP Concur blog post highlights that AspireHR, an SAP Gold Partner, is helping State, Local, and Education (SLED) agencies in North America kickstart digital transformation with SAP Concur's automated, cloud-based expense management solutions. The article notes that with remote work as the new norm, SLED organizations face pressure to improve efficiency, eliminate manual processes, and make decisions based on complete and accurate data. SAP Concur can accelerate approvals and reimbursements, streamline workflows, enforce spending policies, eliminate manual processes and lost receipts, and enhance productivity and employee experience.
SAP Concur joins American Express's 'Stand for Small' initiative, offering SMBs free trials of Concur Expense and Concur Invoice, helping them gain spend visibility and automate invoice processes.
SAP Concur blog highlights that growing businesses need a single, real-time view of spending to effectively control budgets and drive growth. The article recommends centralized finance teams obtain integrated travel, expense, and invoice data analytics, use role-based dashboards and reports, set up spending alerts, and address challenges like VAT reclaim, mobile spending, and tax compliance.
SAP Concur commissioned Wakefield Research to survey 100 U.S. finance managers and 1,000 U.S. business travelers in January 2022. 88% of finance managers said their company lost revenue over the past year because employees could not travel at pre-pandemic levels; 44% of travelers said their company needs more business travel to remain viable beyond 2022. 84% of finance managers said their company is less than completely prepared for a 2022 travel rebound, 98% saw more non-compliant expenses, and 89% of travelers admitted submitting questionable expenses averaging $3,397.
The second part of SAP Concur's podcast series discusses how organizations can enhance sustainability through reporting, awareness, behavior guidance, and direct contributions. Experts discuss practical applications in T&E, including adding sustainability as the 18th metric in the TCO approach, and reducing emissions by choosing rail over short-haul flights and optimizing payment processes.
SAP Concur blog cites research showing finance automation saves significant time. Vanson Bourne survey found 46% of UK finance leaders cite errors as top challenge, 68% lack confidence in T&E compliance. AMI-Partners research found invoice management solutions reduce task time by 16% on average, and expense/travel solutions by 15%.
The article encourages businesses to seek growth in 2021, emphasizing cost control through investment in travel, expense, and invoice management tools. A whitepaper with Deloitte shows financial leaders using these tools to make decisions and investing in AI and machine learning for spend analytics. They also pursue 100% audit and VAT reclaim.
A SAP Concur blog post shares insights from K.G. Subramanyam (KGS), Global VP of Enterprise Platforms at NielsenIQ, on four key T&E trends for 2021. Trend 1: 'Safe travels' takes on new meaning, with employee well-being central, vaccine passports, health checks, and screenings becoming more common, and employers strengthening duty of care. Trend 2: Sustainability goes beyond recycling, with younger employees focusing on ESG goals and technology enabling carbon footprint transparency. Trend 3: Shift to cloud solutions, with real-time data driving decisions and AI, ML, and RPA providing data-driven analytics. Trend 4: Compliance with changing tax laws, with VAT compliance a CFO priority and e…
The article notes that as employees book directly through hotels, airline websites, and dozens of travel sites, corporate travel data becomes increasingly fragmented, leaving companies unaware of where employees are, how they are traveling, or what they are spending. It suggests evaluating travel system connectivity in three areas: connection to existing systems to capture every itinerary; connection to supplier data to manage bookings made outside the booking tool; and connection to third-party applications to improve compliance and find savings. A unified expense and travel solution sends every itinerary and purchase straight to the system and addresses duty of care.
A SAP Concur blog post outlines six ways companies can save money by tapping into business expense data: avoiding emergency borrowing, negotiating better rates with commonly used suppliers, preventing rogue spending, preparing audits with ease and reclaiming VAT effectively, making cost-effective strategic decisions, and enjoying efficiency savings. The post emphasizes that accurate, actionable data from automated expense, travel, and invoice systems helps identify spend patterns, anomalies, and savings opportunities.
SAP Concur, citing a mileage trends report from partner Motus, notes that business mileage activity has recovered to about 54% of pre-pandemic levels, and companies should revisit their vehicle programs. The article cites 2019 Motus Benchmark Study data: average vehicle program cost per mobile worker rose 5% year-over-year, 70% of organizations with vehicle allowance programs have not reviewed allowance amounts in the past 12 months, mileage reporting fraud cost U.S. organizations roughly $665 million in 2018, fuel accounted for 25% of vehicle ownership and operating costs in 2018, and 88% of organizations do not measure employee satisfaction with their business vehicle program. Traditional…
SAP Concur's blog published a guide to choosing a travel and expense (T&E) solution, citing IDC MarketScape and recommending that enterprises look for workflow automation, advanced analytics, conversational interfaces and APIs, and evaluate modern capabilities such as ecosystem support, data security, advanced payment methods and intelligent automation.
A survey by SAP Concur and Kelton Global shows public sector organizations lose over 3,000 hours monthly processing expense reports and invoices manually, with higher education losing over 2,000 hours. The survey of 300 financial decision makers found about two-thirds still use at least partially manual systems. Manual systems add five hours per expense report and two hours per invoice. About one-third reported increased inaccurate submissions, and one-fourth had reported incorrect budget data due to errors. Automation improves efficiency and accuracy.
The article outlines strategies to improve business cash flow, including understanding money movement, cutting unnecessary costs, and streamlining payment processes. It recommends invoicing promptly, offering discounts for prompt payment, asking for deposits, controlling travel and expense spend, and using automation tools like Concur TripLink and Concur Expense to get expenses into the system faster, improving visibility and optimizing cash flow.
Concur Travel and Expense has again been named a Top-Rated Expense Management Software by TrustRadius. The TrustRadius Top Rated awards are based entirely on customer feedback and have never been influenced by analyst opinion or status as a TrustRadius customer. Each month, about 400,000 B2B technology buyers use more than 208,000 verified reviews and ratings on TrustRadius to make purchasing decisions. The 600+ reviews from verified users of Concur Expense highlight a positive user experience, visibility into budget, mobile receipt capture, and time savings, and reviewers appreciate its integration with productivity tools and the convenience of the SAP Concur mobile app. Megan Headley, VP…
The pandemic has brought new spending categories and compliance challenges to higher education. 42% of finance and admin leaders struggle with new spending categories, and 41% are unsure how to manage unexpected expenses. CARES Act funding comes with compliance requirements; automated expense and invoice management provides real-time visibility and ensures compliance.
A SAP Concur blog post argues that process automation is an overlooked key to small-business scaling. It cites an AMI-Partners study of SMB finance decision-makers: 69% reported cumbersome manual processes, 60% struggled to track spending and 56% dealt with missing paperwork. The post says cloud automation improves visibility into spending and cash flow, saves accounting teams 16% of their time (about 40 hours per week on invoice processing), makes expense reporting up to 80% faster for employees and delivers average annual savings of about $34,000.
This SAP Concur podcast discusses optimizing mileage programs post-pandemic. Experts note that mileage spend is a top expense category, and optimization can save 21 hours per employee per year. Considerations include regional gas prices, tax viability, vehicle allowances, and policy resets.
A SAP Concur blog post notes that the return of business travel is inevitable. According to the 2020 Global Business Traveler Report, 39% of business travelers feel worried and 32% feel excited. The post recommends that finance, travel, HR and IT, and procurement departments prepare respectively, including updating policies, establishing return-to-travel processes, ensuring employees can submit expenses via mobile tools, and focusing on supplier availability and safety provisions. SAP Concur solutions can help create more flexible, compliant, and safe travel programs.
SAP Concur published a blog recommending that businesses use expense category summary data to manage budgets. The article cites a Forrester report that 60% of IT decision makers are unsatisfied with T&E reporting and analytical capabilities, and notes that 75% of finance leaders say their business often exceeds expense, travel, and invoice budgets. SAP Concur recommends a single platform, employee education, and audit rules to improve spend visibility, and regularly running spend-by-expense-category reports.
A SAP Concur blog post argues that automation alone does not capture the full value of spend management technology, and customers should focus on expense processing cycle efficiency from report submission and approval to payment. It cites IDC research finding accounts payable staff were 30% more efficient and audit staff 28% more efficient with an optimized SAP Concur solution. It also says optimization improves total spend visibility, increases corporate card rebates and reduces employee late fees.
This SAP Concur blog post emphasizes that even small businesses with fewer than 20 employees benefit significantly from having a formal employee expense policy. It cites that moving from manual to automated, cloud-based solutions can increase process efficiency by 42%. The policy should clearly outline rules, responsibilities, and expectations, and be reviewed regularly. Automation tools like Concur Expense streamline submissions and approvals, enhancing compliance and reducing risk.
SAP Concur announced on April 17, 2019 the establishment of a China Development Center in Shanghai to develop and deliver end-to-end spend management solutions optimized for China's market. The center will strengthen capabilities in mobile, Fapiao, central billing and payments, with mobile innovations from China benefiting global customers. SAP Concur also enhanced its integration with Ctrip Corporate Travel to simplify pre-trip approval, booking and expense management. The company said it will expand its ecosystem with global and local partners to support Chinese companies operating locally and abroad.
SAP Concur experts released predictions for business travel, expense and invoice trends in 2018 and beyond. Predictions include: paper receipts becoming obsolete as e-receipts standardize and countries such as France, Spain, China and Japan deregulate paper receipt requirements; non-traditional payment technologies like blockchain and vCards changing transactions and reimbursements; cloud technology enabling small businesses to adopt enterprise tools faster; predictive analytics and personalization transforming business travel; duty of care remaining a C-level priority; and employee-initiated spend becoming the largest unmanaged spend category.
Citing an AMI-Partners survey, SAP Concur says SMBs that keep managing travel, expenses, and vendor invoices with spreadsheets or pen and paper lose time and money to inefficient processes, a problem that becomes clearer beyond 50 employees. The survey found SMBs using T&E automation save over US$31,000 per year, with Concur Expense users saving an average of $40,000; firms adopting vendor invoice management saved nearly $34,000 annually, and Concur Invoice users saved over $42,000.
SAP Concur published an article outlining four steps for financial services firms to manage compliance and fraud in travel and expense programs. It cites data: nearly 20% of T&E expenses fall outside policy; companies with anti-fraud controls experience 52% lower fraud instances and detect fraud 58% faster; 41% of respondents spend 50+ hours per month auditing expense reports. The article also references a FINRA action against a former Merrill Lynch broker and notes FCPA violations can carry up to $100,000 in criminal fines and 5 years imprisonment.
SAP sponsored two global Aberdeen research surveys of more than 600 businesses with fewer than 1,000 employees, classifying the top 20% by performance metrics as 'best in class.' The research found 74% of best-in-class companies use an expense management solution to automatically capture receipts and manage reporting workflows; they are 87% more likely to use analytics, and 50% more likely to use spend data for auditing. Best-in-class companies save US$11.71 per expense report on average, spend nearly five fewer days on approvals, and report 26% productivity improvement, 24% profitability improvement, and 17% faster cash-to-cash cycle.
SAP Concur's blog notes that school districts using paper spreadsheets or hybrid systems to manage spending lack budget visibility, potentially leading to squandered resources, overworked personnel, and non-compliance. Automated systems can shorten reimbursement cycles, simplify compliance reporting, reduce fraud and waste, and help districts allocate resources more strategically.
A SAP Concur blog post cites data showing significant non-compliant corporate spend: 56% of organizations generally reimburse employees for out-of-policy spend, 52% of hotel and air bookings are made outside corporate channels, $19 billion of spend was labeled 'other' in 2019 by SAP Concur customers, and 20% of companies say they cannot recover VAT due to complex procedures. The post says employee spend is the second largest cost next to payroll, and notes that supplier-employee direct relationships, numerous booking channels, employees not waiting for formal processes, and COVID-19 and remote-work expenses falling outside policy make spend hard to track. It also cites ACFE data that during…
SAP Concur shares three pillars for a successful spend management solution rollout: strategy and planning, training, and communication and measuring success. Planning involves defining success, creating pilot groups, respecting the company calendar, and involving the implementation team early. Training should be tailored, with tipsheets, FAQs, user champions, and education on T&E policy. Continuous communication and feedback help improve user adoption and ROI.
SAP Concur published an article on how its partner ecosystem helps businesses manage travel and expense programs in the remote work era. The ecosystem includes more than 700 partners spanning platform partners, travel suppliers, distribution partners, financial services, resale and service partners, and travel management companies (TMCs). The article cites an IDC report noting that the pandemic-driven increase in remote work is accelerating digital transformation, with companies expected to spend more on cloud-based solutions.