All published updates

SAP Concur Launches Global Tax Management Solutions Amid E-Invoicing Mandates

SAP Concur has launched global tax management solutions to help companies keep up with rapidly evolving tax regulations. The solutions support various phases of the tax management process, from expense report creation to approval, payment, and reconciliation, and leverage AI and machine learning to maximize tax recovery. Digitized receipts and e-invoice mandates are already in place in countries such as China, Japan, and Mexico. SAP Concur's solutions currently support France, Spain, Japan, China, Mexico, Australia, and New Zealand, with support for Portugal, Belgium, and Switzerland coming soon.

SAP Concur Report Explores the Changing Role and Responsibilities of the CFO

SAP Concur surveyed 220 finance leaders across seven markets and released a CFO Insights report. Findings show four of five top external challenges relate to global economic turmoil; CFOs respond by increasing market monitoring (57%), investing in innovation (40%), and automation and AI (33%); 68% of CFOs see AI as a threat to their position, while 82% believe it will make operations leaner.

Breaking Barriers: How Digital Transformation is Reshaping Spend Management with Dermalogica

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.

The Digital Transformation of Spend Management: Journeying Towards Streamlined Processes

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.

IDP Education Streamlines Spend Management with SAP Concur and Ariba

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.

What Is Top of Mind for SMB Travelers in 2022?

The SAP Concur Global Business Travel Survey polled over 1,100 business travelers at SMBs (fewer than 1,000 employees). Key findings: 34% cite diminished travel budgets as a top-three threat; 50% include rising oil prices and inflation as a threat, higher than 44% at larger organizations; 98% are willing to travel in the next 12 months, but 60% say their current travel schedule falls short of expectations; 48% of unhappy travelers are willing to take action, and 26% will search for a new position; 89% are willing to decline a trip for safety, personal, or environmental reasons; 94% value sustainability info when booking, and 94% plan to act to reduce environmental impact in the next 12 mont…

TripIt Adds COVID-19 Travel Guidance Feature

TripIt has added a COVID-19 travel guidance feature covering more than 200 countries and territories, providing destination infection rates, quarantine rules, testing requirements, mask mandates, curfews, and entry restrictions. Data comes from partner Riskline. Users can access it via a guidebook button on the trip summary screen, with some countries viewable by state or province.

Impact and considerations

COVID-19 travel restrictions change frequently, and business travelers need quick access to destination entry requirements, testing rules, and health risk information before travel. TripIt consolidates multiple sources into the itinerary, helping travel managers and travelers make informed decisions.

SAP Concur Survey Reveals Top Concerns Among Business Travelers

SAP Concur released its 2019 Business Traveler Report based on responses from 7,850 business travelers in 19 global markets. The survey found that more than three in four female business travelers have experienced harassment, and 58% of respondents changed travel arrangements because they felt unsafe. Among LGBTQ+ travelers, 95% have hidden their sexual orientation. Additionally, 43% of respondents forfeited expenses in 2018, averaging $893.

What Are Companies Doing to Prepare for the Return to Travel?

The SAP Concur blog analyzes the outlook for business travel resumption in Asia-Pacific, noting wide variation in restrictions. China's domestic seat bookings were up 7% year-on-year, while international seats were down 98%. It recommends companies understand employee concerns, track fast-changing information, and build traveler safety into processes. It also mentions travel insurance exclusions for COVID-related costs, the burst Singapore-Hong Kong travel bubble, and the impact of supplier safety commitments on traveler confidence.

Do You Understand Your Travel Footprint and the Risks Associated with Cross-Border Travel?

A SAP Concur blog post notes that economic, political, and social shifts make cross-border business travel more complex. Governments are tightening border protection, and data digitization increases risks for multinational corporations. The U.S. IRS uses DHS data to check company tax returns against employees', with similar approaches in Canada, Singapore, and Australia. Companies need to understand where business travelers are, for how long, and what work they do to comply with global tax and immigration regulations. The article recommends integrating compliance checks into the travel booking workflow.

TripIt Launches COVID-19 Travel Guidance Covering 200+ Countries

TripIt launched a COVID-19 travel guidance feature providing all users with the latest COVID-19 travel guidelines, restrictions and requirements for destinations, sourced from partner Riskline. The feature covers more than 200 countries and territories and 79 airlines, with regional breakdowns for some countries (Australia by state, Canada by province, the US by state, France by region, Spain by autonomous community). Users can view vaccination rates, vaccine requirements, approved vaccines, testing requirements, quarantine rules, infection rates, and airline-specific cleaning procedures, health documentation requirements and testing scheduling. TripIt Pro users can also search destination…

Impact and considerations

For travel managers, real-time, destination-level COVID-19 entry and health requirement information is fundamental to travel decisions and duty of care. TripIt consolidates multi-country policies and airline requirements into a single app, helping reduce compliance risk and improve travel preparation efficiency.