SAP Concur published a blog discussing how automation, AI, and machine learning can reduce non-compliant T&E spend. Based on a webinar, it analyzes compliance trends, automation tools, data analytics, and audit strategies.
SAP Concur announced it has won multiple TrustRadius 2023 awards, including the Best Of Award (Best Feature Set, Best Value for Price, Best Relationship), Tech Cares Award, Top Rated Award, and Most Loved Award. These awards are based on user reviews and ratings, reflecting product performance in features, value, and customer relationships.
SAP Concur hosted a webinar with Michigan State University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and University of California San Diego, offering four tips for higher education travel management: simplify reporting and audit, support increased research travel, reduce traveler frustration and improve compliance, and make travel information easily accessible.
SAP Concur unveiled new Concur Travel experiences at the GBTA Convention, including an end-to-end booking experience for Sabre GDS from U.S. point of sale, with plans to extend to Amadeus and Travelport+ in 2024. The new experience offers consumer-grade UX, richer content including NDC, sustainability options, omni-search, and integration with Concur Expense. Concur Travel bookings are up 8% from Q2 2022.
SAP Concur published a blog on strategies for financial efficiency in higher education. Approximately 700 schools already benefit from its solutions. The article notes that higher education faces stability challenges and staffing shortages, with 43% of back-office teams managing three or more new responsibilities due to staff shortages. SAP Concur helps institutions optimize AP, travel operations, and policy compliance through communities like CHELF and CHEAB and ERP solutions.
At the GBTA Convention, SAP Concur announced a major evolution of Concur Travel, introducing a new end-to-end booking experience for air, hotel, and car rental on Sabre GDS from U.S. point of sale, with Amadeus and Travelport+ planned for 2024. The new experience emphasizes a consumer-grade UX, NDC content integration, sustainability options, and seamless integration with Concur Expense.
SAP Concur announced the integration of JTB-CWT with Concur TripLink, enabling companies with domestic business travel in Japan to book air, hotel, and rail through JTB-CWT's B+PLUS online booking tool, with automatic syncing to SAP Concur. The integration offers flexible booking options, real-time data integration, enhanced visibility and compliance, and improved duty of care.
SAP Concur published a white paper exploring changes in managed travel programs in a multi-channel environment. The article notes that new supplier distribution strategies bring more content channels, while organizations face challenges including cost, duty of care, and travelers' demands for choice and flexibility. Based on independent research with FESTIVE ROAD, the white paper helps travel managers assess their current state and develop strategies.
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.
The SAP Concur blog summarizes key takeaways from a podcast conversation between Nina Birger, VP of Climate Solutions at CHOOOSE, and Jeanne Dion, VP of the Value Experience Team at SAP Concur. The article covers the ESG framework, the importance of establishing a carbon baseline, travel carbon measurement methods, the risks of greenwashing and greenhushing, and the value of sustainability in employee recruitment and engagement.
The SAP Concur Conversations podcast features Hansini Sharma, who leads the Travel Practice at Acquis Consulting Group, discussing how travel managers can redesign travel programs to meet traveler expectations. Sharma emphasizes the importance of understanding traveler personas and distinguishing trip goals (cost-effectiveness, productivity, or convenience), noting that flexibility and bleisure integration have become key factors in employee retention.
A SAP Concur blog presents customer cases explaining why companies choose its travel and expense solutions. 83% of SAP Concur users give the solutions 4 or 5 stars on G2, and 93% say on GetApp they would recommend them to a friend or colleague. More than 48,000 customers worldwide use its solutions to automate travel and expense processes. Customers include PACCAR, Standard Chartered Bank, ASICS Europe, VMware, Merck, and PwC, with key needs including spend visibility, compliance, efficiency, and sustainability.
In the SAP Concur Conversations podcast, Hansini Sharma, who leads the Travel Practice at Acquis Consulting Group, discusses the importance of traveler personas and traveler experience in business travel. She identifies three traveler personas: the new entrant, the space cadet, and the 'pirate.' She recommends travel managers improve compliance by offering more options and some wiggle room, and use online booking tools and non-invasive data collection to understand traveler preferences. She also notes the travel experience has become an important factor in talent retention.
A SAP Concur blog video explains how Concur TripLink captures bookings made outside the managed travel platform. Users and experts say TripLink allows travelers to access the best content and rates, including NDC content. When employees book on airline or hotel websites, the information flows directly into SAP Concur. United Airlines was the first airline to implement Concur TripLink. The solution helps travel managers know where employees are going and how much they spend, and can push data to duty of care providers.
SAP Concur Travel & Expense has been named the 2025 Buyer's Choice by TrustRadius. Reviewers assess whether products and support teams meet expectations and whether they would buy again, covering capabilities, value for price, and customer relationship. Earlier this year SAP Concur was recognized as Top-Rated Expense Management Software in both the Expense Management and Travel Management categories, and it previously earned the 2022 Most Loved Award. More than 1,500 verified user reviews highlight a positive user experience, budget visibility, mobile receipt capture, and time savings.
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…
A SAP Concur blog post aimed at customers still using on-premise SAP Travel Management outlines the benefits of moving to the cloud-based Concur Travel & Expense. It describes an end-to-end travel and expense experience, automatic application of customizable policy rules, mobile access to expense management, faster approvals and reimbursement, and automatic expense report creation from receipt photos. It lists benefits including employee experience, compliance, productivity, visibility, duty of care, integration with systems such as SAP ECC or SAP S/4HANA, and sustainable business travel, and says migration requires minimal implementation costs and little to no additional infrastructure, wi…
SAP Concur published a blog explaining how customers can access American Airlines NDC content via Concur Select Access or TripLink after the airline removes certain fares from traditional GDS channels. American plans to provide all publicly available fare content via ATPCO starting April 2023, but some content will not be ticketable; GDSs will filter NDC fares through ATPCO Category 15 sales restrictions. Customers without Select Access enabled will see only ticketable fares in Concur Travel.
SAP Concur's podcast features Ben Claxton and Jeff Saydah of Fox World Travel discussing how to build a world-class travel program. They note the "set it and forget it" travel policy mentality is outdated; policies should be agile, regularly reviewed, and aligned with company goals and culture. The discussion covers using data to inform policy, measuring program success, and having policies reflect company culture.
A SAP Concur blog post notes that employee wellness has taken center stage, and duty of care—an organization's legal obligation to protect employees from harm—has become a strategic tool. The article poses six questions to help incorporate duty of care into travel programs: how employees book, where they purchase, when they book, what ground transport they use, how safe the destination is, and how to improve. It emphasizes that increasing booking tool adoption, encouraging corporate card use, booking earlier, increasing rideshare use, reviewing destination risk, and establishing a cross-functional task force can enhance employee safety, satisfaction, and business continuity.
A SAP Concur blog post notes that travel programs have been turbulent in recent years, with leadership demanding visibility into travel program ROI while travelers demand safer, smoother experiences. It poses key questions: Do travel program goals align with organizational goals? Are processes flexible enough to adapt to market changes? Is there a backup for TMC labor shortages? Where does traveler experience rank? The article references an eBook, 'Guiding Travel through Uncharted Territory: 6 Tactics for Personal and Program Growth,' for answers and tactics.
A SAP Concur blog post notes that budgets are tight and costs are out of control, with the C-suite demanding travel managers demonstrate travel program ROI. It references the 'Measure Up' eBook, which offers five ways to demonstrate ROI: focusing on foundational priorities (adoption, approvals, compliance), improving visibility (outside bookings, unused tickets, cancellation charges, cash spending), VAT and GST reclaim, updating metrics (traveler experience, sustainability, meetings bookings), and showing the right data to the C-suite. The 2022 Global Business Travel Report states 100% of travel managers expect their jobs to be more challenging in the next 12 months.
A SAP Concur blog post summarizes highlights from Fusion Exchange DC 2022, an event for regulated industries including federal, state and local governments, higher education, government contracting, utilities, and healthcare. Attendees discussed travel, expense, and accounts payable challenges and shared best practices. Topics included return to travel, expense reconciliation, sustainability, change management, travel safety, data & reporting, auditing, cost control & compliance.
A SAP Concur blog post offers 24 tips to optimize airfare spending and lower travel costs. It notes that airfares continue to rise due to soaring jet fuel prices, high travel demand, and pilot shortages, with ancillary fees also increasing. Recommendations include tracking ancillary fees, booking at least 8 days in advance, considering one-way or refundable tickets, rewarding policy-compliant booking behavior, using data to identify behavior and target areas with the most financial impact, and using mobile apps and self-service check-in. The article also cites U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data showing that airline fare inflation has climbed back into positive territory, rising far above…
A SAP Concur blog post shares predictions for business leaders' travel priorities in 2023. Citing an early 2022 SAP Concur pulse survey, it notes that 88% of U.S. finance managers said their company experienced a revenue loss in 2021 as a direct result of employees' inability to travel at pre-pandemic levels. Additionally, the GBTA CWT Global Business Travel Forecast 2023 report found that the cost per event attendee is expected to be around 32% higher in 2023 than in 2019. The article advises companies to weigh the costs and benefits of their travel programs and balance saving money with positioning for growth when the economy stabilizes.
A SAP Concur podcast episode discusses how the next generation of business travelers, particularly Gen Z and Gen Alpha, is shaping the future of business travel. SAP Concur thought leader Ralph Colunga notes that the travel and expense industry is experiencing a major paradigm shift, requiring a modernization of T&E management mindset and end-to-end processes. The article mentions that Gen Z is on track to comprise roughly 30% of the workforce by 2030, bringing different expectations. Organizations need to evolve from a recovery state to one of resilience and adaptability, adjusting policies, simplifying processes, and eliminating friction points for employees.
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.
Christopher Juneau returns to SAP Concur as Head of Market Strategy, his second stint after first working at Concur in 2001. He notes SAP is ranked #1 in T&E technology with 49% market share and Concur Travel is the largest OBT. He cites survey data: 94% of business travelers plan to reduce environmental impact in the next 12 months, and 92% want sustainability info in booking tools. SAP Concur is making a significant platform modernization investment, with Concur Travel evolution through 2023 to deliver consumer-grade UX, sustainable travel options, improved policy compliance, and intelligent integrations.
TripIt introduced a Lock Screen widget for iOS, among the first to offer this feature. The widget displays upcoming trip details without unlocking the phone, including flight number, departure time, arrival countdown, gate number, and post-landing details like rental car or hotel bookings. Tapping the widget opens the TripIt app for the full itinerary. TripIt also offers medium and small Home Screen widgets.
The article discusses challenges travel managers face when employees book directly with suppliers, leading to invisible itineraries and impacting duty of care and cost control. SAP Concur TripLink and TripIt capture all bookings, providing visibility.
The article notes that travel policies are often lengthy and complex, making them difficult for employees to read and follow. It suggests companies redesign travel policies to be more concise and modern, guiding employees to make optimal travel decisions.
The article encourages travel managers to proactively reshape their travel programs amid outdated policies, evolving expectations, and budget cuts. It proposes four key pillars: flexibility, sustainability, safety, and ROI.
In an SAP Concur community AMA recap, Ralph Colunga discussed travel policy and new trends. On New Distribution Capability (NDC), he said Concur offers NDC connections through Travel Fusion to multiple carriers including the Lufthansa Group, United Airlines, and American Airlines, and supports hundreds of low-cost carriers and 42 NDC direct airlines. On sustainability, he noted corporations elevated it to a top-tier focus over the past two years, recommending training so employees understand the impact of individual actions and considering rail instead of flying where available. On supplier direct booking (SDB), he argued the key is not control but transparency, with TripLink feeding direct…
SAP Concur announced it is re-platforming Concur Travel, rebuilding it from scratch with microservices technology to improve scalability, reliability, and flexibility. Over the past two years it added more than 200 engineers and product managers, one of the most significant development investments in its history. The roadmap includes a new car rental experience by end-2022, an end-to-end hotel booking experience in early 2023, a new air experience around GBTA Convention 2023, and additional rail carriers in Europe and the US. SAP Concur says it has the only truly integrated global T&E platform, serving 50,000+ customers with 700+ ecosystem partners.
SAP Concur survey shows 55% of travel managers find this year as or more stressful than last, and 100% expect the next 12 months to be worse. Top concerns include rising oil prices, inflation, shrinking budgets, COVID risks, and sustainability. The report recommends capturing all booking details to control costs and fulfill duty of care.
SAP Concur introduces a new partner category 'Endorsed Apps' for partner applications that have passed security review and proven customer success. The first five include CHOOOSE, Motus, Zylo, MedPro, and International SOS, aiming to extend solution capabilities.
SAP Concur announced that Concur Travel & Expense has again been named a Top-Rated Expense Management Software in both the Expense Management and Travel Management categories by TrustRadius, and earned the 2022 Most Loved Award. The awards are based entirely on customer feedback, drawing on 800+ verified user reviews that highlight budget visibility, mobile receipt capture, time savings, and integration with productivity tools.
In an SAP Concur podcast, Andrew Walker and Crystal Schoenhals from EY discuss using employee sentiment data to improve employee experience. They note that top reasons employees leave include total compensation, flexibility, benefits, and well-being. Collecting sentiment data must be operationalized and ongoing, not a one-time survey. They advise organizations to proactively understand employee needs and close gaps to retain talent.
The article notes that SMBs face challenges including improving employee productivity, cash flow, and visibility. Travel and expense is the second largest controllable area of business spend, and automation can help address these issues. However, more than 70% of small businesses say lack of IT expertise causes them to delay implementing IT solutions. The article cites DRC Capital, a 16-person company, as an example that small businesses can also benefit from automation, achieving faster processing, time savings, greater employee satisfaction, and cost savings.