SAP Concur blog offers tips to help finance teams handle the year-end expense report peak. According to Concur data, around December 19 is the peak for expense report submissions. Recommendations include reviewing processes early, minimizing steps, adopting mobile automation, and ensuring approval backups to reduce stress.
In a SAP Concur podcast, Oversight's Mike Eberhard and Chris Juneau discuss how AI and machine learning help finance teams identify spending patterns. SAP Concur's Jeanne Dion says SaaS lets finance professionals implement technology quickly with a lighter IT lift, positioning them as more strategic partners. Juneau notes humans aren't ideally suited for pattern matching across vast data, and AI could be liberating for finance professionals. Dion points out that without AI, identifying fraudulent behavior can take up to 14 months. Eberhard sees back-office processes like expenses or payables as a perfect spot to automate, ignored for 20 years.
SAP Concur explores the evolving role of CFOs, emphasizing the importance of tech skills, multitasking, strategic advisory skills, and soft skills. Finance leaders will be more involved in company strategy and data analysis, leveraging technologies such as cloud computing, big data, machine learning, and AI.
SAP Concur blog notes post-pandemic employees expect flexible work locations and efficient tools. Finance and IT must collaborate on digital spend management to maintain employee satisfaction and support growth. An Oxford Economics study shows organizations that have digitalized expense or invoice management see increases in spend visibility (37%), organizational agility (47%), cross-functional collaboration (36%), and employee productivity (43%).
SAP Concur blog notes that state and local government finance departments face pressure from reduced funding, increased service demand, and fewer staff. It recommends automating, integrating, and digitizing AP processes to address remote work challenges and improve financial discipline.
SAP Concur blog cites IDC research showing that cloud-based accounts payable and invoice management solutions can significantly improve efficiency, compliance, and visibility. IDC study found organizations using Concur Invoice achieved average benefits of $2.75 million over five years, with a 505% ROI.
SAP Concur blog post discusses VAT recovery on corporate travel expenses. It cites GBTA data that over 480 million business trips are taken annually and notes a €137 billion VAT gap in the EU. The article recommends using automation and digitalization to improve VAT compliance and recovery efficiency, citing examples of Electrolux and Citrix Systems achieving significant VAT recovery increases through automation.
This SAP Concur blog post offers tips for small business spend management. It cites Concur data showing small businesses receive an average of six duplicate invoices totaling over $12,000 each month. It recommends tracking all spending in real-time and automating AP processes to increase efficiency and reduce costs.
SAP Concur cites a global Oxford Economics survey with SAP and Concur of 1,500 finance executives, summarizing six traits distinguishing top financial performers: strong influence beyond finance, driving strategic growth initiatives, improving efficiency with automation, being very effective at core finance processes, collaborating regularly with business units, and working closely with governance, risk and compliance to handle regulatory change. The survey shows companies with 5-10% revenue growth are twice as likely as slower-growing companies to strongly agree automation improves finance function efficiency, and more than twice as likely to rate themselves 'very effective' at T&E expense…
AMI Partners surveyed over 400 SMBs and found that businesses automating expense, travel, and invoice management saw the greatest performance boost. Key trends include mobile workforce, multi-supplier invoice processing, and cost reduction pressures. Automation reduces invoice processing time and frees finance staff. 64% of businesses cite reducing operating expenses as a strategic goal.
A SAP Concur blog emphasizes the responsibility of the public sector in travel, expense, and invoice management, noting that manual processes and siloed data hinder fraud and compliance management. It recommends automated solutions using AI and machine learning to spot anomalies, and OCR and three-way matching for accuracy, to help public sector meet higher fiscal responsibility.
A SAP Concur blog post reviews its annual event, SAP Concur Fusion 2019, where more than 3,200 customers, partners, and employees gathered in San Diego for four days of networking, learning sessions, and micro-forums. It highlights Innovation Award winners: Alteryx eliminated manual processes and applied analytics to travel and expenses; Discovery used Concur Expense and TripLink to connect travel and expense and integrated Uber and Airbnb to let employees book directly with suppliers while staying in policy; and George Washington University moved from a paper-based system to Concur Expense for improved controls and traceability, and uses Concur Locate to protect student safety. The article…
A SAP Concur blog post cites an Oxford Economics study: cost-conscious SMB finance leaders achieve better outcomes while keeping expansion costs in line. The study reports 93% of cost-conscious SMB executives agree they have the right platforms and systems to adapt to their growing organization, versus 79% of less cost-conscious executives. The post notes that as companies grow, discretionary expenses such as travel, expenses, marketing, and office supplies can add up quickly, and intelligent automated technologies can help finance leaders proactively control costs and optimize cash flow.
A SAP Concur blog post looks at how intelligent technology will affect travel and expense management: trips that book themselves, expense reports that write themselves, and data that analyzes itself. It cites data: 80% of business travelers rely on their phone to conduct business and 88% believe technology makes travel easier to navigate; 63% of business travel managers feel travelers' risk has increased and 52% fear it will rise more in the next year; 88% of CFOs point to T&E costs as a way to optimize working capital; and 49% of today's jobs will be affected by automation.
A SAP Concur blog post describes how the Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) in Salem, Mass., closed in mid-March during COVID-19 and needed to offer a museum experience online. PEM's decision three years earlier to digitize back-office operations using SAP Concur solutions for travel, expense, and invoice processes reduced administrative burdens and made vendor onboarding and payment faster and easier. Valerie Blatt, who heads SAP Concur global SMB, said that without automated processes and data visibility, organizations cannot pinpoint discount or cost-saving opportunities. She noted that more SMBs are turning to automation software to protect cash flow, improve efficiency, and control costs.
SAP Concur blog post discusses the challenges of expense management in a hybrid work environment and provides a checklist to help businesses assess whether their expense management processes meet remote work demands. It recommends automating expense management from data capture to reporting and analytics, and paying attention to new spending categories, approval times, and employee feedback.
A SAP Concur blog post cites an Oxford Economics report finding that 74% of small and midsize businesses said emerging technology is increasing the finance function's complexity, compared with 58% of larger companies. It outlines three ways emerging technology benefits finance leadership: scaling, replacing legacy systems and improving collaboration and visibility.
SAP Concur and Oxford Economics surveyed 500 IT and finance decision-makers at organizations with fewer than 1,000 employees globally. The survey found nearly 6 in 10 IT leaders report spending more time on manual processes than automation since the pandemic; nearly two-thirds say aligning growth strategy with executive leadership is a challenge; only 52% say they work effectively with finance; and just 36% say their organization has the financial visibility and data needed for decision-making, budgeting, and forecasting. Among companies that have digitalized key finance processes, nearly half report increased agility, collaboration, productivity, and spend visibility.
SAP Concur blog discusses challenges in K-12 school employee spending management. A 2018 New York Times article citing a Federal Department of Education survey states 94% of public school teachers reported spending an average of $479 of their own money on classroom supplies, with 7% spending more than $1,000. An audit of Denver Public Schools found $92 million worth of Visa transactions over two and a half years, with $2 million in purchases that appeared to contradict school policy but were approved. The article recommends automating travel, expense, and invoice processes to improve efficiency, compliance, and budget visibility.
SAP Concur published an accounts payable (AP) guide explaining that AP refers to money a business owes its creditors, with a typical process covering invoice delivery, review, approval, and payment. Citing a survey of 420 businesses across five countries, it notes 69% of respondents cited inefficiency of manual processes and 56% reported missing documentation. AP automation digitizes vendor invoicing; AIIM research shows an average 29.2% reduction in invoice processing costs, with nearly one-third of businesses cutting costs by 50% or more.
This SAP Concur blog post emphasizes the importance of automated expense reporting for small businesses. Manual reports pass through many hands and often face delays due to missing receipts or errors. Automated systems like Concur Expense allow employees to photograph receipts, reducing errors and speeding up approval and reimbursement. Cloud technology makes reports accessible anytime.
This SAP Concur blog explores AI applications in travel and expense management. AI analyzes data, provides insights, automates processes, reduces errors, and enables predictive analytics. For example, AI can detect fraud patterns and optimize budget negotiations. IDC predicts AI-powered enterprises will see 100% increase in knowledge worker productivity by 2025. SAP Concur invests in AI to help customers improve efficiency.
A SAP Concur blog case study describes how RXBAR, a whole-food protein bar company, needed more transparent expense data to support agile decisions during rapid growth. RXBAR implemented Concur Expense, a cloud-based automated employee expense solution. Kelsey Letizia, VP of Finance & Global Controller, said the tool makes it easy for employees and finance to track spending and includes a mobile app for on-the-go expense tracking. Better expense visibility let her make more informed business decisions quickly.
SAP Concur's 'Let's automate that' campaign collects employee-shared finance hacks. The article highlights the drawbacks of manual processes and suggests automating spend management to improve efficiency and reduce errors.
Citing research by Oxford Economics with SAP Concur, the blog notes that 1 in 3 employees who expect a seamless technology experience do not get one. Poor travel and expense technology can lower compliance, efficiency, and retention. Mobile receipt capture, automated approvals, embedded policy prompts, and integrated itinerary and safety information can improve employee experience while raising compliance and efficiency.
SAP Concur article discusses how expense automation and mobile AI are changing traditional expense reporting. It cites client PoHwer reducing claim compilation from 3-4 hours per month to 30 minutes. The article also notes that 95% of CFOs consider cloud-based applications critically or very important to financial performance, and advises businesses to embrace automation with an open mind.
SAP Concur's blog notes that AI can reduce manual effort and errors while improving employee retention, engagement, and productivity. It argues that barriers to AI deployment are lower than ever, with RPA and low-code/no-code tools enabling in-house bot development. AI-powered document analysis can automate expense and invoice approval, freeing employees for higher-value work.
SAP Concur published a blog post discussing the impact of technology on the future of K-12 schools. The article notes that automating administrative tasks can free teachers and staff to focus on teaching. Smart expense management systems can help schools control budgets, improve efficiency, and enhance supplier relationships. Additionally, technology can strengthen compliance and reduce fraud risk. The article was written by Sasha Nunes, COO and co-founder of N&B Team Consulting.
A SAP Concur blog post argues that manual expense reporting is slow, error-prone, and costly over time, with every step requiring manual handling. Paper receipts get lost, making reconciliation difficult. The post recommends moving to an automated system to save finance team time, reduce errors, speed reimbursement, and improve employee satisfaction. Automation also enables mobile receipt capture, eliminating lost receipts and improving real-time visibility into company spend.
The SAP Concur blog published an end-of-year survival checklist for finance teams, noting that December 19 was the busiest expense day last year. It recommends reducing distractions, holding team planning meetings, and evaluating and automating expense processes to handle the year-end peak. The checklist covers turning off message alerts, scheduling focused work time, holding year-end planning meetings, creating vacation calendars, reviewing current expense processes, and identifying automation opportunities.
A SAP Concur blog post says AI has entered the workplace, helping save time and reduce paperwork, for example by replacing paper receipts and tedious manual data entry with automated travel and expense management tools. A.G. Lambert, SVP of product strategy at SAP Concur, says "AI doesn't replace employees, it augments them." The post mentions a partnership with Forbes examining how technology improves business processes, highlighting AI-assisted auditing, travel policy bots and tools that improve cash flow management.
SAP Concur blog cites an AMI Partners survey of over 400 financial decision-makers at SMBs, identifying barriers to automation such as lack of IT expertise, cost, and resources. However, automation delivers time savings (15% decrease in expense report processing time, 16% decrease in invoice processing time), cost savings (average annual savings of $30,000 for T&E automation and nearly $34,000 for invoice automation), improved employee satisfaction (up to 80% reduction in reimbursement time), and better compliance.
SAP Concur announced its 2020 Innovation Awards winners at its annual Fusion customer event: Airbus Americas, Cisco, Globe Telecom, PACCAR and VMware. Airbus Americas adopted a paperless T&E solution, saving $1 million in employee hours over three years and lifting travel policy compliance to 85%. Cisco deployed Concur Travel and Expense in more than 88 countries in under a year, with employee satisfaction rising from 48% to 77%. Globe Telecom reached 100% adoption four months after go-live. PACCAR identified $100K in potential annual savings. VMware cut its expense processing and payment workflow from up to 11 days to four or less and saw a 75% reduction in employee complaints.
The Boy Scouts of America (BSA), whose employees spend most of their time outdoors, needed mobile expense management. The organization adopted SAP Concur's Concur Expense solution to automate expense report submission, review, and processing, integrating with enterprise resource management systems and credit card programs to give finance teams greater visibility into employee spend. Employees can submit expenses via mobile phone anytime, reducing paperwork and errors and speeding up reimbursement.
Global medical devices company Smith & Nephew shifted from an overly compliance-driven approach to an employee-centric focus after management changes, scaling operations across 44 countries. Using focus groups and surveys, it applied AI and Concur Detect to streamline travel and expense processes and ensure compliance, returning over 20,000 productivity hours to employees, with managers no longer approving expenses individually.
The article introduces how Concur Invoice helps higher education institutions automate accounts payable, reduce manual work, provide spend visibility, and enable remote invoice approval via mobile app, ensuring audit compliance.
SAP Concur published an article examining the hidden costs of manual, paper-based expense management. It provides a formula for calculating cost per expense report and cites multiple data points: 81% of finance leaders admit to blind spots in travel, expense, and invoice spend; automation can reduce AP data entry time by 37% and invoicing errors by 33%; the typical organization loses 5% of annual revenue to fraud. The article also notes that organizations creating exceptional employee experiences see 17% higher productivity, 21% higher profitability, and 24% lower turnover.
SAP Concur announced its 2019 Innovation Award winners at its annual Fusion conference. The awards received 58 entries from customers across 11 countries, with five best-run organizations selected. Winners drove automation, integration, and analytics into travel, expense, and invoice processes. Alteryx saved more than $130K on travel in the last year using SAP Concur and Rocketrip; NEC reduced time spent on travel and expense management by 40%, translating to approximately 200 million yen ($1.8M USD) per year; RED achieved more than 20% annual savings on taxi services by introducing Uber for Business.
A SAP Concur blog post offers four tips for optimizing expense processes: 1. Audit existing processes to identify bottlenecks and fraud opportunities; 2. Evaluate for change, leveraging mobile apps and automation tools to improve compliance and efficiency; 3. Focus on saving time to save money, streamlining processes reduces rework and delays; 4. Take the expense process to the next level by following best practices. The article emphasizes that a clear process reduces employee confusion, non-compliant expenses, and delayed reimbursements, while also decreasing fraud risk.
A SAP Concur blog post offers recovery preparation advice for small business owners, including setting up expense policies, optimizing AP processes, smart tracking and monitoring of spending, and using technology to increase efficiency. Citing U.S. Small Business Administration data, small businesses generate 44% of economic activity. The article also notes that companies adopting cloud-based technology to automate expense management increased process efficiency by 42%.