SAP Concur blog post discusses how to measure and maximize ROI from AI investments. It cites the 2024 CFO Insights survey showing 51% of CFOs have embraced AI, up from 15% in August 2023. However, 58% admit limited understanding. Gartner forecasts that by 2025, costs could overshadow returns for 90% of AI projects. The article suggests starting with small wins and considering non-financial impacts.
The U.S. Department of State reissued its Armenia travel advisory after periodic review, keeping it at Level 2 (Exercise Increased Caution) due to areas of potential armed conflict. The border region with Azerbaijan is Level 4 (Do Not Travel). U.S. Embassy employees and their families cannot travel for non-essential reasons to Gegharkunik region east of Vardenis, Syunik region east of Goris, and Syunik region south of Kapan; travel through Yeraskh village in Ararat region is allowed but stopping is not. The advisory mentions enrolling in STEP, reviewing the Country Security Report, preparing an emergency plan, and strongly recommends buying insurance.
The U.S. Department of State issued a Level 2 "Exercise Increased Caution" travel advisory for Armenia due to areas of potential armed conflict. The advisory says not to travel to the border region with Azerbaijan for any reason, and restricts U.S. Embassy employees and family members from non-essential travel to areas east of Vardenis in Gegharkunik, east of Goris and south of Kapan in Syunik. Travel through Yeraskh village in Ararat region is allowed, but stopping is not.
Amadeus signed an agreement with Scandic Hotels, the largest hotel chain in Scandinavia, to deploy the Amadeus Agency360 Enterprise Solution, marking the first enterprise adoption of Agency360 in Scandinavia. The travel intelligence software tracks travel agency bookings from the industry's three major GDSs and will help Scandic analyze agency data across its 280 properties in the Nordics as well as Poland and Germany. The enterprise edition provides 12 months of forward-looking data and 24 months of historical insight, with bookings analyzable by owner, property category, and region.
SAP Concur blog post offers four finance resilience strategies for CFOs: controlling costs, building certainty through compliance automation and spend visibility, learning from peers, and aligning finance with business strategy. It notes that 59% of finance leaders are frustrated by lack of spend data visibility and emphasizes measures such as automating invoice processing and centralizing spend data.
Booking Holdings announced that CFO Ewout Steenbergen will participate in a fireside chat at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference in San Francisco on September 11, 2025. The presentation begins at 10:10 am PT and will be available via live audio cast and replay. Booking Holdings is the world's leading provider of online travel and related services, with brands including Booking.com, Priceline, Agoda, KAYAK, and OpenTable.
Bulgaria Air expanded its long-term collaboration with Amadeus, broadening its IT deal and signing a full content distribution agreement. The carrier will migrate to Amadeus Reference Experience, a self-service interface, and adopt Enhanced Re-accommodation and Disruption Transfer for disruption management. Through Travel Intelligence modules such as Traffic Analytics and Schedule Analytics, the airline can use market data to improve route planning and capacity utilization. Amadeus-connected travel sellers worldwide will gain access to the carrier's up-to-the-minute schedules, fares, seat availability, and inventory.
A SAP Concur blog post notes that energy and utilities companies must comply with safety mandates such as NERC Critical Infrastructure Protection standards and sustainability guidelines including CDP, SASB and GRI. A survey found 34% say their current T&E solution will not meet evolving requirements over the next two years, 33% use a solution without sustainability tracking, and 44% treat sustainability data capture as a requirement of their T&E solution. The post argues automation and AI can cut manual errors, strengthen audit and cybersecurity, citing SAP Concur data that AP automation saves 12 hours per week per finance employee.
A SAP Concur blog post argues corporate compliance has moved from a back-office function to a business imperative. 77% of business leaders say detecting and managing risk is at an all-time high and nearly three-quarters worry they are falling behind. It outlines compliance team roles (officers, auditors, legal advisors, analysts) and responsibilities spanning regulatory compliance, policy development, risk assessment, monitoring, training and incident response, citing ACFE data that organizations lose up to 5% of annual revenue to fraud.
A SAP Concur blog post states financial crime accounts for up to 5% of global GDP, with an estimated $800 billion to $2 trillion laundered annually. In the U.S., financial institutions face penalties of up to $500,000 per violation. It says organizations handling international travel, cross-border payments or complex expense categories must comply with AML rules, and describes how real-time transaction monitoring, enhanced due diligence, intelligent risk assessment and simplified reporting can reduce compliance risk.
SAP Concur highlights four key benefits of Concur Expense: cash flow visibility, risk minimization, streamlined workflows, and scalability. By automating data imports and integrating with ERP and other systems, Concur Expense improves efficiency, enhances compliance, and supports multiple currencies and complex regulations.
SAP Concur emphasizes the importance of expense automation. Manual processes are inefficient and risky, while automated solutions streamline workflows, improve accuracy, provide real-time visibility, and enhance employee experience, helping businesses save time, reduce errors, and strengthen financial control.
SAP Concur analyzed international air bookings in Concur Travel from Jan 1 to Jun 30, 2025, comparing with the same period in 2024. Global international business travel volume rose 2.6% year over year in H1 2025, up 4.5% in Q1 and 0.6% in Q2. U.S. business travelers paid the most for international flights at $2,675 per ticket on average; Japanese travelers about $1,950; Italian travelers $719. The U.S. remained the top global destination, accounting for 15.3% of international business trips.
SAP Concur released a Travel and Expense Performance Benchmark Report based on data from the top 25% of customers, segmented by company size. It provides benchmarks for cash spend compliance, non-compliant expense reduction, and audit efficiency, helping businesses identify performance gaps and optimize T&E management.
SAP Concur reviews its four early-2025 predictions for business travel, finance and AI. Slowing inflation made T&E budgets go further, with average transaction amounts flat or slightly down; 89% of travelers, 93% of travel managers and 90% of CFOs expect no budget cuts. AI adoption accelerated, with 57% of finance departments saying general finance tasks are highly automated and 88% of travelers comfortable using AI for some elements. TMC consolidation continued with the Amex GBT-CWT merger; NDC adoption grew slowly amid content fragmentation.
Malaysia Airlines signed a new partnership with Amadeus to deploy Amadeus Travel Ready, becoming the first airline in Southeast Asia to adopt the technology. The solution digitalizes and verifies travel documents such as passports, visas and health documents within online and mobile check-in, reducing pressure on airport check-in counters. The carrier says it lays the foundation for a fully biometric, seamless journey. The solution aligns with the IATA One ID initiative.
SAP Concur's seventh annual Global Business Travel Survey covered 3,750 business travelers across 24 markets, analyzing differences among Gen Z, millennials, Gen X and baby boomers. 97% are willing to travel for business, but Gen Z and millennials are more likely dissatisfied with current travel frequency. Younger generations more often report company travel cuts and are more open to AI and recommendations; older generations prefer manually sorting options. Air safety concern is similar across generations, 64% for Gen Z versus 52% for boomers.
SAP Concur published a guide for small and midsize businesses on managing business expenses, noting that SMBs can be overwhelmed by expense data without a systematic approach. The guide defines business expenses and categorizes them, including operating expenses, payroll, office supplies, professional services, insurance, software subscriptions and travel expenses, while distinguishing capital expenses. It highlights the inefficiency and risks of spreadsheet-based management, such as manual entry errors, outdated data, delayed reimbursement, and elevated policy-violation and fraud risk, and recommends separating business and personal finances, standardizing expense categories, adopting mobi…
Tongcheng Travel Holdings Limited reported unaudited 1H2025 results. Revenue rose 11.5% year on year to RMB9,046.9 million, adjusted EBITDA grew 35.2% to RMB2,344.6 million, and adjusted net profit increased 28.6% to RMB1,563.3 million. Monthly paying users rose 9.2% to 46.5 million, annual paying users grew 10.2% to 251.7 million, and the twelve-month accumulated number of travelers served increased 7.2% to 1,990.6 million. Core OTA business revenue grew 15.9% to RMB7,800.2 million, with transportation ticketing revenue up 11.6% to RMB3,881.2 million, accommodation reservation revenue up 18.8% to RMB2,561.0 million, and other businesses revenue up 24.1% to RMB1,358.0 million. International…
SAP Concur argues that amid hybrid work, rising compliance risks and tighter margins, expense policies are shifting from paperwork to a strategic asset. It lists three signs of an outdated policy: teams still emailing spreadsheets to claim mileage, frequent employee questions about whether a claim is allowed, and finance discovering out-of-policy spend after the money is gone. Outdated policies lead to inconsistent tax and audit compliance, employee confusion over reimbursables, manual processes that delay reporting and skew forecasting, and hidden overspend in decentralized or remote teams. The article recommends clear guidelines, automated workflows, real-time spend visibility and flexibl…
SAP Concur published five steps for strategic spend management in growing businesses: understand the business impact of spend management, build flexibility into processes, give everyone real-time insight into spending, simplify and automate compliant spending, and align spend strategy with broader business goals. The article cites Ben Wright of Oxford Economics saying a spend-management strategy is critical not only to control costs but to potentially drive growth and profitability. It recommends mapping spending rules to goals such as cashflow resilience and sustainable travel, including eco-friendly travel options in booking tools, enabling mobile receipt capture, and integrating expense,…
SAP Concur published a guide to help accounts payable teams craft a vendor invoice policy. It notes that without a written policy, AP staff burn hours hunting for approvals, correcting coding errors and untangling exceptions. A clear company-wide standard speeds approvals, reduces the risk of lost, late or duplicate invoices, and strengthens vendor relationships through on-time payments and fewer disputes. The article offers seven tips: invite participation from finance, IT and business units; prepare for objections; streamline vendor workflows by encouraging emailed PDFs and ACH payments; post the policy on the intranet and require annual e-sign-off; run a broad review for clarity; optimiz…
The U.S. Department of State issued a Mexico travel advisory at Level 2: Exercise Increased Caution due to terrorism, crime and kidnapping. The advisory notes violent crimes including homicide, kidnapping, carjacking and robbery occur in many parts of Mexico, there is a risk of terrorist violence, and the U.S. government has limited ability to help in many areas. Several states are at Level 4: Do Not Travel, including Colima, Guerrero, Michoacan, Sinaloa, Tamaulipas and Zacatecas; others are at Level 3: Reconsider Travel, including Baja California, Chiapas, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Guanajuato, Jalisco, Morelos and Sonora. The advisory also lists restrictions for U.S. government employees, such…
Sun PhuQuoc Airways, Vietnam's first resort airline, selected Amadeus solutions including the Altéa Passenger Service System (PSS), Amadeus Sky suite and Amadeus Revenue Accounting to support full-service operations and customer experience ahead of its official launch. Developed by Vietnamese tourism operator Sun Group, the airline aims to offer direct connectivity between Phu Quoc and major cities in Vietnam and abroad. Altéa PSS will power booking, ticketing, inventory, departure control and customer management; SkyWORKS is an intelligent schedule editor; and Revenue Accounting tracks passenger sales revenue in real time and reconciles data. The airline is developing a hub-and-spoke netwo…
SAP Concur explains how mobile spend management apps improve business expense control. It notes that relying on paper receipts and manual tracking leads to lost documentation, delayed reimbursement, errors and non-compliant claims. Mobile spend management software enables instant capture and categorization of expenses, real-time syncing with cloud financial systems, faster travel booking, approvals and reimbursement cycles, and better visibility into spending trends. ExpenseIt uses OCR, machine learning and generative AI to read receipts and categorize expenses, while Concur Detect automatically checks expenses against company policies. SAP Concur cites data showing a 47% reduction in missi…
SAP Concur highlights the importance of spend visibility in business management. It says companies with deep insight into how, where and why money is spent have a major advantage in controlling costs, and that spend visibility is the foundation of good financial management, helping identify cost-reduction opportunities, optimize budgets and make strategic decisions. Without visibility, organizations may struggle with low-return or redundant spending and, in increasingly complex regulatory environments, face policy violations, audit red flags, financial penalties and reputational damage. The article also notes challenges from fragmented data, inconsistent cross-department categorization, lag…
Riyadh Air, the new national carrier of Saudi Arabia, signed a global distribution agreement with Amadeus. By joining the Amadeus Travel Platform, Riyadh Air will connect to travel agencies and sellers in more than 190 countries, making its offers accessible to travelers worldwide, supporting its growth plans and contributing to Saudi Vision 2030. The agreement also includes Amadeus distributing Riyadh Air's future NDC content, allowing the airline to deliver more dynamic, personalized offers and take greater control of its indirect sales strategy. Backed by the Public Investment Fund and unveiled by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in 2023, Riyadh Air is expected to contribute over USD 20…
A SAP Concur blog post discusses the definition and implementation of sustainable growth, emphasizing a balance of environmental, social, and economic considerations. It notes that the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) measures a company's maximum growth without financial leverage, and describes how SAP Concur solutions support sustainable development in travel and expense management through automation, green labels, and carbon budgets.
A SAP Concur blog post discusses the unique expense management challenges nonprofits face, including donor transparency requirements, compliance complexity, multiple funding source restrictions, and limited resources. It recommends adopting automated expense management solutions, such as SAP Concur's cloud platform, to improve transparency, reduce administrative burden, and ensure compliance.
A SAP Concur blog post discusses challenges U.S. state and local governments face in expense management, including outdated systems, manual processes, and compliance risks. Citing Wakefield Research data, it notes 29% of industry leaders use outdated T&E solutions and 30% use outdated accounts payable solutions. It recommends automated systems to improve transparency, security, and efficiency.
A SAP Concur blog post discusses challenges healthcare organizations face in spend management, including strict regulations, manual processes, and compliance risks. Citing Wakefield Research data, it notes 29% of healthcare leaders say their T&E solution relies on manual data entry, and 22% know their T&E solution does not meet regulatory requirements. It recommends automated systems to improve compliance, reduce errors, and enhance employee satisfaction.
A SAP Concur blog post discusses strict compliance requirements aerospace, defense, and government contracting organizations face in spend management. Citing Wakefield Research data, it notes 37% of government contractors say their T&E solution lacks real-time visibility, and 40% say the same for their AP solution. It recommends automated systems to improve compliance, reduce risk, and enhance financial reporting.
A SAP Concur blog post discusses practical applications of AI in spend management, including auto-categorizing transactions, identifying duplicate submissions and potential fraud, matching receipts to credit card charges, and recommending policy-compliant alternatives. Citing McKinsey, it notes AI could create up to $4.4 trillion in annual global economic value, 92% of companies are increasing AI investment, but only 1% consider themselves mature in their AI approach.
China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism released H1 2025 domestic tourism data. Based on sample surveys, domestic residents made 3.285 billion trips in H1 2025, up 20.6% year-on-year, with spending of 3.15 trillion yuan, up 15.2%. Urban residents made 2.452 billion trips, while rural residents made 833 million trips.
A SAP Concur blog post discusses the risks of corporate non-compliance, including legal and financial consequences, reputational damage, operational disruptions, and fraud and financial loss. Citing ACFE data, it notes about 5% of revenue is lost to occupational fraud annually, with a median loss of $145,500. It recommends clear policies, formal approval workflows, automated compliance tools, and employee training.
A SAP Concur blog post discusses the impact of expense process improvement on productivity. It notes that manual expense processes consume significant employee time, create cognitive load, and affect team collaboration and organizational efficiency. It recommends automated expense management solutions, such as ExpenseIt, to automatically capture and categorize receipts, streamline approvals, and provide real-time data visibility.
Amadeus released H1 2025 financial results, with group revenue up 6.8% to €3.26 billion, or 7.6% at constant currency. Operating income rose 8.1% to €938.1 million, and profit increased 12.3% to €727.4 million. Air IT Solutions revenue grew 7.1%, Hospitality & Other Solutions revenue grew 6.2%, and Air Distribution revenue grew 6.8%. Asia Pacific saw strong growth, with passengers boarded up 9.9% and bookings up 10.4%.
GOL Linhas Aéreas Inteligentes S.A., one of Brazil's leading airlines and part of the Abra Group, has selected Amadeus SkyCAST to improve and accelerate network decision-making through accurate prediction of proposed schedules' profitability. The tool evaluates new hubs, routes, partnership opportunities, fleet mix changes and competitor actions, using mathematical models and machine learning to simulate passenger choice and revenue management, cutting what-if scenario evaluations from days to minutes.
The U.S. Department of State issued a Level 2 travel advisory for Cambodia, recommending increased caution. Reasons include crime, unrest, and unexploded ordnance. Some areas carry increased risk. Areas along the Cambodian-Thai border are marked Do Not Travel due to unrest. Phnom Penh requires increased caution due to crime. Battambang, Banteay Meanchey, Pursat, Siem Reap, Pailin, Kampong Thom, and Preah Vihear provinces require increased caution due to unexploded ordnance.
The U.S. Department of State raised Cambodia's travel advisory to Level 2 (Exercise Increased Caution), adding an 'unrest' risk indicator and an area of increased risk. The advisory cites crime and landmines, with frequent street crime in Phnom Penh and occasional violent crime. Areas within 50km of the Cambodia-Thailand border are Level 4 (Do Not Travel) due to armed conflict, with reports of rocket and artillery fire and civilian casualties.