SAP Concur blog discusses how business travel programs can help attract and retain talent. It recommends simplifying travel policy language, clarifying stances on sharing economy and bleisure, soliciting employee feedback, and investing in employee experience. Solutions like Tripkicks can reward cost-conscious travel decisions.
SAP Concur notes that the pandemic shifted employee travel and spending behavior, such as moving from hotels to apartments or vacation rentals and extending business trips with personal vacation. These changes create significant gaps between organizations' travel and expense (T&E) programs and employees' real-life needs. The article recommends gathering and measuring employee sentiment data, combining it with operational data, assessing how policies affect sentiment, and using the data to improve T&E programs, which can enhance compliance, cost efficiency, and duty of care.
SAP Concur published a blog post introducing SAP's Climate 21 program, which aims to help enterprise customers understand and minimize the greenhouse gas (GHG) footprint of their operations. The article notes that business travel can account for more than half of a non-manufacturing organization's carbon footprint and provides a method for calculating travel emissions by multiplying EPA emission factors by distance traveled. It also cites the Paris Agreement goal for European countries to reduce emissions by 55% by 2030 and a survey finding that 94% of Generation Z consider a company's social purpose when deciding where to work.
A SAP Concur blog post discusses how colleges and universities can establish travel programs with strong duty of care principles. It reviews the historical evolution of duty of care, including the impact of the UK's Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act of 2007. Four optimization areas are proposed: establishing travel approval and booking processes, optimizing traveler communication, encouraging campus-wide engagement, and using technology to mitigate foreseeable risk. SAP Concur has moved to providing all itinerary services from Concur Request, Concur Travel, Concur TripIt, and Concur TripLink for outside bookings via API automation to university-based DOC providers.
Part two of SAP Concur's blog series discusses how to prevent employee expense fraud by reviewing T&E policies, establishing prevention and detection processes, using reporting to monitor data, and comparing control benchmarks. ACFE's Global 2020 Study on Occupational Fraud shows companies with internal policy controls have lower fraud losses and quicker detection. The article recommends regularly updating T&E policies, clarifying acceptable expenses, and setting up automated audit rules.
Concur analyzed $36 billion in travel expenses processed between Q1 2015 and Q1 2017, revealing spending differences between millennials (ages 22-35) and older employees (ages 36-65). The data shows that older employees' total expenses per employee are 66% higher than millennials', but millennials spend slightly more on hotel-related expenses. The article also explores industry and regional differences and suggests companies adapt travel policies to meet millennials' demand for a seamless experience.
The article emphasizes combining employee sentiment data with operational data to create more effective T&E policies. By understanding the reasons behind employee behaviors, companies can adjust policies to improve compliance and satisfaction. For example, discovering issues like low meal limits or poor supplier performance and making improvements.
A SAP Concur blog post cites Gallup data that only 15% of full-time employees are highly engaged, while 85% are not engaged or actively disengaged. AMI-Partners research shows 93% of SMBs have employees who travel for work regularly, but only 21% use a dedicated travel and expense solution, and more than half lack well-defined travel and expense policies. The article says SAP Concur customers save on average US$23 per expense report.
World Environment Day 2021 focuses on ecosystem restoration, encouraging businesses to adopt more sustainable travel policies. SAP Concur research shows 59% of European travel decision-makers don't know how to implement sustainable travel policies, yet 97% of business travelers are willing to invest extra journey time for sustainable options. Companies can drive change through carbon offsetting and alternative transport modes.
This SAP Concur blog discusses changes in loyalty programs post-pandemic. It notes that traditional mileage and stay-based programs are no longer sufficient, and companies should renegotiate contracts and integrate loyalty programs into travel policies. A survey shows only 31% of aerospace and defense customers incorporate ground loyalty programs and 49% incorporate frequent flyer programs.
A whitepaper published by BTN Group reveals that 54% of small to midsize business leaders are concerned about traveler safety, well-being, and satisfaction. Executives cited cyber threats, trade conflicts, and terrorism as chief concerns impeding travel, along with fears of infection and economic downturn. The whitepaper also notes that most executives found the following cost-avoidance methods highly effective: reviewing regular travel budget reports (77%), enforcing travel policy compliance (72%), proactively educating travelers about preferred suppliers (70%), and using a pre-trip approval system (70%).
A SAP Concur blog post discusses how to create T&E policies that support employees while controlling costs. It recommends keeping policies simple to avoid ambiguous booking rules that lead to mistakes and hidden spend; talking to road warriors to understand their needs; and making it easy for employees to find and follow the rules. The article notes that when compliance is simpler, more people do it, leading to better spend control and employee satisfaction.
SAP Concur published three tips to save on business travel. GBTA reported 514 million business trips were taken in 2016. The article recommends booking at least three weeks in advance, as tickets booked fewer than seven days before departure are on average 44% more expensive than the same ticket booked 15 days in advance; considering ridesharing instead of renting a car for short trips; and researching meal options ahead of time to control costs. It also suggests companies set booking guidelines and approval processes and use expense systems to simplify reporting.
A SAP Concur blog post notes that U.S. companies are restarting domestic travel to varying degrees, while international travel remains business-critical and requires special approvals. Travel managers from Harman, ServiceNow, and Barclays, speaking at the SAP Concur Travel Industry Summit, said employees are eager to resume face-to-face interactions, but approval processes are stricter, involving senior management and security officers. Companies are enhancing communication through internal microsites, travel portal prompts, and personalized outreach, while integrating sustainability into travel policies. The role of travel managers has been elevated during the pandemic, taking on more resp…
SAP Concur commissioned Wakefield Research to survey 4,850 business travelers and 800 travel managers in May-June 2020. 59% of travelers felt positive about their next business trip, but 45% identified the trip itself as the most stressful stage, a 50% increase from last year. 96% of travel managers said their company was not fully prepared to manage evolving travel demands during the outbreak, and 65% of travelers placed personal health and safety in their top three considerations.
SAP Concur's global experts share 2021 predictions covering responsible business travel resumption, accelerated AI adoption, DE&I progress, changing consumer travel, and SMB responses. Predictions include travel providers potentially requiring COVID-19 health status disclosure, digital health passports and travel corridors becoming mainstream, and sustainability becoming table stakes.
A GBTA and SAP Concur poll of 226 travel managers and buyers examined how digital transformation is reshaping corporate travel management. The findings show travel managers' responsibilities shifting from managing people and policies toward overseeing the technology that enables modern business travel management. 72% expect bookings through their online booking tool (OBT) to increase over the next three years, while only 4% expect a decrease; four in ten expect bookings made directly through airline (40%) or hotel (38) websites to decline. 58% of travel managers either already include or expect to include NDC bookings within the next year. Facing airline fees on TMC and GDS channel bookings…
SAP Concur blog published its 2022 top book and podcast recommendations from T&E industry thought leaders. Ashely Lehman, Concur Administrator in Accounts Payable at Geisinger, recommended 'The Anticipatory Organization' by Daniel Burrus. She connected the book's hard and soft trends concept to hard and soft stops in audit rules, and suggested approaching travel policies with a hard and soft trend vision. She also noted that pandemic-related travel disruption provided an opportunity to re-examine travel programs and processes.
A survey commissioned by SAP Concur and conducted by Wakefield Research in April–May 2021 polled 3,850 business travelers across 25 global markets and 700 travel managers in seven markets. It found 96% of business travelers are willing to travel for business over the next 12 months, including 65% very willing. 68% are pushing for a return to business travel, while just 32% feel their company is requiring it. Flexibility is now the most pressing need, ahead of vaccination-related demands (72% vs. 62%). 89% plan to add personal vacation time to business trips. If companies fail to meet health and safety expectations, 31% would ask to limit travel and 20% would look for a different position.