Almosafer, Saudi Arabia's leading travel company, announces plans to migrate its ERP to RISE with SAP on AWS cloud, to support operational scale and long-term tourism growth aligned with Vision 2030. The move will enhance data unification, AI capabilities, and operational agility.
This article by Fenbeitong analyzes the demand and trends of digital travel transformation for listed companies and large enterprises. It highlights 2026 industry hotspots including compliance-driven demand, AI implementation, ESG disclosure, and normalization of overseas travel. It introduces Fenbeitong's core capabilities, differentiation, and practical application scenarios, emphasizing its value in cost reduction, efficiency, and compliance.
Italo, Italy's premier private high-speed rail operator, has renewed its partnership with Navitaire, an Amadeus company, through 2030. The renewal expands retailing capabilities with advanced APIs and pricing optimization tools, and develops new features for easier integration with other carriers and services, reducing time to market.
OAG released its industry report "The Future of the Airline Passenger Experience," examining three areas reshaping modern air travel: flight booking, inflight entertainment, and airline loyalty. The report analyzes how digital platforms and personalized experiences are redefining booking, how inflight entertainment has evolved from communal screens to personalized streaming, and how traditional loyalty models are shifting toward more flexible approaches to engage a new generation of travelers. OAG Chief Commercial Officer Jeremy Burke said the airline industry is undergoing a transformative shift propelled by technology and data.
SAP Concur gathered insights from global CFOs on the core skills finance leaders need, including agility and a growth mindset, strategic foresight and data leadership, digital and AI fluency, change management, and communication and collaboration. It also recommends building future-ready finance teams through training, automation, and cross-functional collaboration while addressing the ongoing finance talent shortage.
ACI World and Amadeus announced the winners of the 2025 Technology Innovation Awards at Airports Innovate 2025 in Busan, Republic of Korea, recognizing airports for advances in digital transformation, data-driven operations, identity-enabled self-service, and sustainable climate-smart terminals. Winners include Kempegowda International Airport for biometric baggage drop and Queen Alia International Airport for smart cleaning.
UOB Travel, the travel management company subsidiary of Singapore-based United Overseas Bank (UOB), has selected Amadeus as its digital transformation partner to develop an updated end-to-end travel system. UOB Travel will implement digital retailing, automation, productivity and back-office solutions, and gain access to modern distribution channels including NDC for broader travel content. UOB Travel's services span managed business travel, bespoke itineraries and cruises for its cardmembers and banking customers.
Amadeus released its Connected Journeys: How Technology Will Transform Travel in the Next Decade study, surveying 9,500 travelers across China, France, India, Singapore, Spain, the UK and the USA. Generative AI usage rose 64% year over year; 42% valued time savings, 37% personalized recommendations and 36% discovering new destinations. 64% would pay for an in-trip AI travel assistant, and 17% would pay up to five percent of total trip value. However, 25% encountered outdated or inaccurate AI information and another 25% found AI unable to capture personal preferences. 90% of air travelers reported some anxiety, 69% favored biometric gateways and 66% showed interest in remote baggage check-in.
Kuala Lumpur-based Malaysian business travel management company Corporate Information Travel (CIT) selected Amadeus as its digital transformation partner and will migrate its business to the Amadeus Travel Platform for more comprehensive air content and modern capabilities. Founded in 1985 and recently marking its 40th anniversary, CIT offers instant airline reservations, ticketing and corporate ticketing facilities with fares from more than 130 airlines worldwide. CIT said it aims to build a future-proof, scalable system so consultants spend less time on repetitive tasks, and to launch a modern client-oriented website including NDC content.
Saudia, the national flag-carrier of Saudi Arabia, translated traditional booking records (PNRs) and electronic tickets into Orders, becoming one of the first airlines globally to operationalize Orders. The milestone was achieved using Amadeus' smart bridging capabilities, translating traditional records from Saudia's existing Amadeus Altéa PSS into single order records in its new Amadeus Nevio environment. An Order is a single, dynamic record of everything the traveler has purchased, providing a real-time consolidated view.
Luxair, the national airline of Luxembourg, has renewed and expanded its long-standing agreement with Amadeus. Under the new agreement, Luxair has signed a renewal of its Passenger Service System (PSS) and an extension of its Full Content Agreement (FCA) with Amadeus. The deal also includes the adoption of several advanced Amadeus solutions designed to enhance customer experience, optimize operations, and support Luxair's strategic growth ambitions. These include: Amadeus Self-Reaccommodation, empowering travelers to manage disruptions independently via mobile; Amadeus Reference Experience, a responsive, component-based user interface ensuring a consistent booking experience across all devi…
SAP Concur released its 2025 CFO Insights report, surveying 350 finance leaders, 115 IT leaders, and 115 HR leaders across eight countries. It found 58% of IT leaders want more regular cross-functional meetings with C-level colleagues; 43% rank phishing and social engineering among their top three vulnerabilities; 57% want finance to prioritize cybersecurity in planning and 51% want higher security budgets; 59% of finance leaders plan to increase cybersecurity budgets. IT leaders also seek CFO support on digital transformation (54%) and IT ROI metrics (43%), and cite conflicting departmental priorities (57%) and unclear roles (49%) as collaboration barriers.
A SAP Concur blog post explores digital transformation of travel and expense (T&E) management in the public sector. A GovTech study found that approximately 60% of employees identify legacy infrastructure and lack of automation as significant operational barriers. The article notes non-compliant expenses are estimated at roughly 29% of annual T&E spend, and modern T&E solutions can increase policy compliance rates by 32%. It provides a change management framework including impact assessment, strategic foundation, and leadership support, and cites success cases from Booz Allen Hamilton, the University of Alabama, Cardinal Health, and others.
A SAP Concur blog post explores digital transformation of travel and expense (T&E) management in the aerospace, defense, and government contracting industry. Research suggests inefficiencies in T&E management can lead to as many as 20% of expense reports being delayed or lost, heightening the risk of triggering Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) audit issues. An IDC report found 90% of decision-makers see room to improve spend controls. The article recommends modern T&E solutions with FedRAMP moderate certification, multi-factor authentication, and encrypted data transmission, and emphasizes change management best practices.
A SAP Concur blog post notes that 72% of energy and utility companies still rely on manual processes for travel and expense (T&E) management. Industry research shows 45% of sector leaders are prioritizing advanced T&E solutions to address evolving regulatory requirements, while 41% are focusing on supporting sustainability initiatives. Digital T&E management can achieve a 54% reduction in travel booking time, 43% improvement in expense report processing, and 50% acceleration in reimbursement cycles. The article also discusses FERC compliance requirements and change management strategies.
An SAP Concur article notes that higher education institutions often face inefficiencies and compliance risks due to outdated T&E systems. A survey shows that 67% of U.S. business travelers in higher education feel business travel is key to career advancement, and 94% have experienced travel cutbacks. Modern T&E solutions can streamline processes, reduce costs, and improve faculty and staff experience.
SAP Concur research shows finance leaders are getting involved in areas where they traditionally had a lighter touch, and the strategic nature and crossover of C-level roles has increased. CFOs must ensure financial accountability and ROI across the organization, leading to collaboration with HR and IT on initiatives and spending. In the 2023 CFO Insights research, 87% of finance leaders said their crossover with HR is more significant than ever; in the 2024 survey, virtually every finance leader regarded the HR relationship as important, with top collaboration priorities including incentivizing high performers, diversity, and addressing the gender pay gap. With CIOs/CTOs, cost control (58%…
This SAP Concur blog post outlines nine business travel trends for 2024, including digital transformation, bleisure travel, sustainability, safety and well-being, cost optimization, TMC evolution, cross-department collaboration, corporate incentives, and multi-channel booking. It highlights technologies like AI, virtual queuing, and biometrics to improve efficiency, and notes TMCs must adapt to digital and sustainability demands.
The Ardent Partners report 'Accounts Payable 2024: BIG Trends and Predictions,' sponsored by SAP Concur, says AI and automation will deepen their impact on accounts payable, allowing AP teams to focus on strategic decision-making. Report topics include AI and digital transformation, fraud prevention, supply chain shifts, tightening invoicing standards, best-practice sharing, data value and AP career development. The report says AP is becoming a 'hub of intelligence' as well as a 'center of efficiency.'
In the SAP Concur Conversations podcast, Satya Mishra, Director of Product Management at Amazon Business, and Jeanne Dion, Vice President of the Value Experience Team at SAP Concur, discuss procurement's shift from tactical to strategic. E-procurement paired with systems integration can reduce manual reconciliation, improve spend visibility and enhance the employee buying experience. For example, when an employee purchases on Amazon Business, data can flow instantly into Concur and be auto-reconciled.
SAP Concur podcast features Chris Elmore, Chief Evangelist of AvidXchange, discussing the transformative power of AP automation. The conversation notes that although AP automation can increase efficiency, visibility, and control, fewer than 20% of businesses have fully automated AP processes, and 70% of invoice processing is still paper-based. The discussion covers the evolution of the AP profession, automation opportunities, and how to drive change by focusing on mission, purpose, and outcome.
SAP Concur podcast features Jenny Chen, Senior Accountant at Dermalogica, sharing the company's digital transformation and change management experience. Dermalogica grew from a 5-person company to over 150 employees and implemented SAP Concur's travel, expense, and purchase request and invoice platforms to streamline processes and improve efficiency. Chen emphasized understanding employee pain points, gradually introducing changes, continuous training, and a long-term perspective.
SAP Concur podcast summarizes Dermalogica's digital transformation case. Dermalogica grew from a 5-person company to over 150 employees and implemented SAP Concur's travel, expense, and purchase request and invoice platforms, reducing invoice processing time from 30-35 hours per week to one hour, achieving faster payment turnarounds and real-time spend visibility. The company also won the 2022 SMB Digital Innovation award.
SAP Concur outlines its commitment to modernizing government travel and expense management. SAP Concur solutions have served government organizations for over 20 years, providing centralized travel and expense services for the E-Government Travel Service (ETS) Program since 2003. The article discusses challenges in government IT modernization, key elements for investment success, and core principles of effective partnerships.
SAP Concur attended the HFMA annual conference to discuss four key challenges facing healthcare organizations: funding sources and cost transparency, rising airfares and room rates, Stark Law and Anti-Kickback Statute compliance, and staffing shortages. The article cites the HFMA 2023 Outlook Survey Report and Deloitte survey data, noting only 42% of healthcare workers are satisfied with work practices and 38% with work-related technology.
The SAP Concur Conversations podcast features Chris Elmore, Chief Evangelist at AvidXchange, discussing barriers to innovation in AP automation. Elmore notes that the risk-averse culture in accounting trains younger workers to uphold the status quo rather than drive change. He emphasizes that the real value of automation is freeing up time for accountants to focus on high-value work, citing the historical example of loom industry automation creating new markets.
A SAP Concur blog post analyzes five key challenges facing CFOs: talent recruitment and retention, supply chain issues, complex employee benefits, improving cash flow, and financial forecasting and planning. 53% of CFOs want to increase agility to better operate in a turbulent business environment. Gartner predicts 78% of CFOs will increase or maintain enterprise digital investments through 2023. The post recommends finance automation, data integration, advanced analytics, and AI to address these challenges, citing data that SAP Concur customers realized 11% cost savings.
SAP Concur offers arguments for adopting spend automation. Organizations using SAP Concur solutions achieved an average 406% return on investment over three years, with a payback period of just 5.1 months. After adoption, they reported a 72% reduction in lost receipts, a 53% decrease in expense reporting errors, and a 55% reduction in auditing efforts. The article recommends tailoring the business case to stakeholders including CFOs, AP, IT, and HR, and emphasizes automation supports AI, tax compliance, and spend management under remote work.
An SAP Concur blog post says T&E processes still relying on paper receipts, manual forms and employee-funded cards hurt productivity and frustrate staff. Automated T&E solutions provide an accurate, up-to-date view of travel spending that helps control costs, improve cash flow and target spending. Cloud solutions are now more affordable for SMBs, and the post cites Analysys Mason finding that businesses using SAP Concur T&E solutions save an estimated $54,000 a year and 148 hours weekly for finance or accounting teams. Selection should weigh integration, ease of use, and visibility and control.
An SAP Concur blog post for CFOs and finance leaders addresses navigating inflation, global instability and banking turbulence. Citing IDC, it says modernizing business applications and augmenting data are recommended approaches, and cloud travel and spend management solutions provide flexibility and timely insight. It outlines three focuses: rethink priorities to get ahead of change, using automation to cut manual processes and set criteria for weighing trips versus virtual meetings; align short-term actions with medium- and long-term goals; and invest in people during digital transformation. Renaud Heyd, CFO of SAP UK and Ireland, says CFOs must keep organizations honest about how busines…
An SAP Concur blog post says IT leaders adopting, integrating and implementing business applications face a tight labor market, budget pressure and the need to fold sustainability and social goals into metrics. A report by Oxford Economics and SAP Concur shows 46% cite increasing functional efficiency as their organization's top priority, 75% use basic automation to boost efficiency and 68% say advanced automation raises more efficiency. It suggests IT leaders focus on four areas: simplify integration, provide wide-ranging support, secure data, systems and people, and measure sustainability.
An SAP Concur blog post summarizes a webinar on the changing travel and expense landscape attended by over 700 business professionals. Experts say T&E is undergoing a major shift, manual entry will fade out and repetitive tasks will be handled by AI and emerging technologies. It cites data: 91% of business travelers see travel flexibility as essential for health and safety; 98% of Gen Z respondents plan steps to reduce environmental impact over the next 12 months; 61% of finance and IT leaders say finance leaders lack enough visibility into near-real-time employee spend data; and 72% of businesses see digital transformation as key to growth.
SAP Concur released an e-book, Seven Key Habits of Successful Finance Leaders, gathering insights from finance executives. The article notes that amid an unpredictable economy, talent shortages and productivity pressure, finance leaders must intentionally grow their skills. Habits include staying on the cutting edge of technology, identifying blind spots, embracing a 'say yes' philosophy and committing to continuous learning. Several finance executives shared specific approaches.
SAP Concur released a whitepaper, 5 Trends for CFOs to Watch, examining topics including business resilience, technology and automation, employee experience and data insights. Citing a 2022 Analysys Mason study, the article notes 65% of finance and IT leaders see efficiency and productivity as a top strategy for containing costs, and 72% say digital transformation is central to their growth. The whitepaper advises finance leaders to work with IT and downstream users to assess business applications.
SAP Concur's blog states SAP was named a Leader in the IDC MarketScape: Worldwide SaaS and Cloud Enabled Travel and Expense Applications for Enterprise 2022-2023 Vendor Assessment. The article cites IDC research on market trends including continued emphasis on health and safety, sustainability and diversity, more in-company travel amid remote work, demand for easy-to-use fully digital solutions, and greater acceptance of corporate cards. SAP Concur also launched a Travel & Expense Maturity Assessment tool.
SAP Concur's blog notes that despite global inflation and recession concerns, many CFOs expect investment in digital tools that deliver efficiency and insights to continue. The article cites views from SAP CFOs across regions, covering sustainability, recruitment and retention, and confronting inflation-related challenges. CFOs can view digital transformation as a way to boost enterprise resiliency and navigate major disruptions like recession.
SAP Concur's blog cites Accenture data stating 68% of CFOs are driving three or more enterprise-wide transformation initiatives in parallel. The article discusses how CFOs can break down silos by running initiatives in parallel, improve employee experience, and offers three ways to future-proof organizations: scenario-planning capability, collaboration, and continuous improvement. It also recommends starting with areas like expense management that engage employees early.
SAP Concur's podcast features Aneel Delawalla and Paul Carr of Accenture discussing how CFOs can make better, faster, and more strategic decisions in an age of complexity. The article cites data that 68% of CFOs are driving three or more enterprise-wide transformation initiatives in parallel, and more than 90% feel asked to do more than their predecessors. The discussion covers scenario planning, cross-functional collaboration, continuous improvement, and expense management as a transformation starting point.
A SAP Concur blog post cites a 2022 Analysys Mason study finding that nearly half of finance leaders worldwide say fraud and risk management are their biggest challenges, and 44% cannot make informed decisions due to lack of timely financial information. The article highlights that manual expense management is costly, while automated solutions can mitigate fraud and noncompliance risks and improve productivity and profitability. The study estimates a T&E solution saves 13 hours weekly per finance or accounting team member. One customer reports spending 65% less time processing expense reports. 72% of businesses believe digital transformation is key to growth.
IDP Education, a global international education services provider, deployed SAP Concur Expense and Travel solutions to address inconsistent purchase-to-pay processes across multiple platforms. It became the launch customer to integrate SAP Ariba purchasing with Concur Invoice for payment processing. The nine-month project was completed in three phases, with the final phase managed remotely due to COVID-19. Within a year, user feedback was positive: purchase orders created in Ariba map to Concur Invoice, Invoice Capture uses AI to eliminate manual entry, and mobile access plus audit trails improve accuracy and timeliness of payments.