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.
Amadeus and trend forecasting agency Globetrender released 'Travel Trends 2026,' highlighting six trends based on Amadeus proprietary data: The Pawprint Economy, Travel Mixology, Point-to-Point Precision, Pop Culting, Pick 'n' Stays, and Innovation Tourism. The report covers pet-friendly rail pilots, A321XLR long-range narrowbody jets, AI-driven trip planning, hotel personalization, and innovative destinations like Shenzhen.
Ctrip Corporate Travel CTO Weng Jie said at the 2025 partner conference that the company invests over 100 million yuan annually in system stability, continuously updates industry certifications for information security, and maintains 24/7 emergency response. Its AI travel assistant 'Chengxingtu' is built on the joint iteration of 'computing power + algorithms + knowledge,' rooted in Ctrip's extensive travel and business travel knowledge base, aiming to provide business travel insights beyond general large models.
Perk (formerly TravelPerk), a travel and spend management platform, signed a multi-year partnership to become the Official Work Automation Partner of the future Audi F1 Team. Perk will use its AI-powered platform to automate manual tasks such as travel bookings, expense management and invoice processing, supporting the team's complex operations across 24 race destinations on five continents. Perk branding will appear on designated team assets and trackside environments. Perk serves more than 10,000 companies worldwide.
Ekuaibao won the 'Enterprise Operations' award in the Huxiu Think Tank 2025 'GenAI Top Implementation Company' selection with its 'finance scenarios + AI' full-chain solution. The selection draws on a library of over 200 industry cases and is judged by more than 100 CIOs and technology experts. Ekuaibao offers aggregated business travel, expense control and reimbursement, payment and collection management, financial analysis and electronic accounting archives, and has launched AI Agent products including an AI approval assistant, AI form-filling assistant and AI itinerary assistant. Its AI approval assistant is said to cut average approval time per document to within 2 minutes, improve time…
Based on interviews with five corporate travel leaders, SAP Concur summarizes 2025 business travel trends and challenges. Economic and regulatory uncertainty led to unpredictable flight and lodging prices in some markets and tighter budgets; organizations used automation and AI to improve spending visibility, with Michigan State University identifying about 500 hotel nights eligible for tax reimbursement using booking and reporting tools. Communication and relationship-building were seen as essential, including collaboration with HR, finance, suppliers and TMCs. Sustainability, virtual payment cards and NDC remained priorities, with virtual cards facing rising costs and digital wallet incom…
Saudi travel company Almosafer and Amadeus announced an expanded partnership at the TOURISE Summit in Riyadh, focusing on AI and data analytics for hyper-personalized offers, enriched content distribution, machine-learning-driven hotel curation via Amadeus Value Hotels, AI-enabled airport services, and virtual card payments through Amadeus Outpayce. The partners will also scale NDC retailing, with Almosafer aiming to create a flagship regional use case supporting Saudi Vision 2030.
PhocusWire released its Hot 25 Travel Startups for 2026, spanning Asia Pacific, the Middle East, the U.K., the U.S. and Latin America. Ten of the class were founded in 2024 or 2025, and at least 60% lean heavily on AI. Phocuswright data shows travel tech funding was $5.8 billion in 2024, up from $5.3 billion in 2023, but is on track to decline again in 2025, standing at $1.1 billion by end-May. Since 2005, Phocuswright has tracked nearly 8,000 companies with over $230 billion in funding.
A SAP Concur blog post uses four personas to show how its platform integrates travel, expense and invoice management. It cites data that nearly four in ten CFOs list manual processes as a top challenge; teams using SAP Concur process about 35% more invoices monthly and 1.5 times more expense reports, and are five times more efficient than users of other solutions; users spend nearly 20% less time booking trips and 12% less time filing expenses.
SAP Concur is introducing Joule agents within Concur Travel & Expense, including the Booking Agent, Receipt Analysis Agent, Meeting Planning Agent, and Expense Report Validation Agent. The Receipt Analysis Agent and Booking Agent are available now, while the Meeting Planning Agent and Expense Report Validation Agent are planned for early 2026. The base Joule AI copilot is available at no cost to all customers.
The seventh annual SAP Concur Global Business Travel Survey added CFO perspectives, surveying 600 CFOs across six markets. 55% of CFOs expect AI to catch more errors and potential fraud than their teams currently do, while 45% are concerned about more errors and undiscovered fraud slipping through. 9% of CFOs know employees are using AI to attempt to falsify travel expenses or receipts, and 67% say it is at least somewhat likely.
Amadeus released global research, 'Connected Journeys: How Technology Will Transform Travel in the Next Decade'. It found 79% of Singapore respondents would consider using biometric gateways to replace repetitive document and identity checks at key airport touchpoints such as check-in, boarding and immigration, above the global average of 69%. 36% are interested in biometric security to speed up queues, 33% in real-time traffic and arrival updates, and 62% would check luggage from home. 32% would prefer a single 'super app' consolidating travel information; among business travellers, 34% prefer one consolidated app and 32% value smart luggage tracking. Generative AI usage nearly doubled fro…
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.
SAP Concur released the eBook Leading the Charge, Leading the Change in Travel Management, outlining modernization of its travel platform. Concur Travel improved car rental, hotel, air and rail content, with air connectivity ensuring full content access including GDS, NDC, EDIFACT and aggregators. AI and machine learning identify booking patterns and spot potential fraud and policy violations; the Joule AI assistant personalizes flight recommendations; Request Assistant uses generative AI for trip cost estimates; and ExpenseIt analyzes hotel folios. New virtual card payments for hotels add spending controls and visibility.
SAP Concur reviews its four early-2025 predictions for business travel, finance and AI. Slowing inflation made T&E budgets go further, with average transaction amounts flat or slightly down; 89% of travelers, 93% of travel managers and 90% of CFOs expect no budget cuts. AI adoption accelerated, with 57% of finance departments saying general finance tasks are highly automated and 88% of travelers comfortable using AI for some elements. TMC consolidation continued with the Amex GBT-CWT merger; NDC adoption grew slowly amid content fragmentation.
SAP Concur's seventh annual Global Business Travel Survey covered 3,750 business travelers across 24 markets, analyzing differences among Gen Z, millennials, Gen X and baby boomers. 97% are willing to travel for business, but Gen Z and millennials are more likely dissatisfied with current travel frequency. Younger generations more often report company travel cuts and are more open to AI and recommendations; older generations prefer manually sorting options. Air safety concern is similar across generations, 64% for Gen Z versus 52% for boomers.
Tongcheng Travel Holdings Limited reported unaudited 1H2025 results. Revenue rose 11.5% year on year to RMB9,046.9 million, adjusted EBITDA grew 35.2% to RMB2,344.6 million, and adjusted net profit increased 28.6% to RMB1,563.3 million. Monthly paying users rose 9.2% to 46.5 million, annual paying users grew 10.2% to 251.7 million, and the twelve-month accumulated number of travelers served increased 7.2% to 1,990.6 million. Core OTA business revenue grew 15.9% to RMB7,800.2 million, with transportation ticketing revenue up 11.6% to RMB3,881.2 million, accommodation reservation revenue up 18.8% to RMB2,561.0 million, and other businesses revenue up 24.1% to RMB1,358.0 million. International…
SAP Concur explains how mobile spend management apps improve business expense control. It notes that relying on paper receipts and manual tracking leads to lost documentation, delayed reimbursement, errors and non-compliant claims. Mobile spend management software enables instant capture and categorization of expenses, real-time syncing with cloud financial systems, faster travel booking, approvals and reimbursement cycles, and better visibility into spending trends. ExpenseIt uses OCR, machine learning and generative AI to read receipts and categorize expenses, while Concur Detect automatically checks expenses against company policies. SAP Concur cites data showing a 47% reduction in missi…
A SAP Concur blog post discusses practical applications of AI in spend management, including auto-categorizing transactions, identifying duplicate submissions and potential fraud, matching receipts to credit card charges, and recommending policy-compliant alternatives. Citing McKinsey, it notes AI could create up to $4.4 trillion in annual global economic value, 92% of companies are increasing AI investment, but only 1% consider themselves mature in their AI approach.
GOL Linhas Aéreas Inteligentes S.A., one of Brazil's leading airlines and part of the Abra Group, has selected Amadeus SkyCAST to improve and accelerate network decision-making through accurate prediction of proposed schedules' profitability. The tool evaluates new hubs, routes, partnership opportunities, fleet mix changes and competitor actions, using mathematical models and machine learning to simulate passenger choice and revenue management, cutting what-if scenario evaluations from days to minutes.
SAP Concur released a guide for finance leaders on AI return-on-investment, covering AI terminology, AI-powered spend management features and steps to accelerate ROI. The article states companies using its solutions report a 92% audit automation rate and expense report approval times under two days. SAP Concur offers AI-powered solutions including Concur Travel, Concur Expense, ExpenseIt and Concur Invoice, citing data showing AI reduces travel booking time by 19.2% and improves policy compliance by 78%.
SAP Concur's seventh annual Global Business Travel Survey found 88% of global business travelers are comfortable using AI-powered automation for some elements of business travel, rising to 94% among U.S. travelers. Gen Z (95%) and millennials (91%) show the highest comfort. 44% are comfortable with AI re-booking before a trip and 39% with AI curating options during initial booking. 67% of CFOs believe employees may use AI to falsify travel expenses, and 55% expect AI approvals to catch more errors and fraud than their teams currently do.
SAP Concur announced new features at the GBTA Convention in Denver, including the Booking Agent conversational booking tool that generates policy-compliant itineraries, available to early adopters in August with general availability planned for Q4. Concur Request adds budget authorization supporting single requests covering multiple trips or employees, plus travel advisories powered by Riskline. Trip Extras offers third-party travel services, initially ground transportation with Groundspan, available to early adopters in August with general availability planned for Q4.
Amadeus announced a partnership with Microsoft to develop AI integrations for its Hospitality portfolio using OpenAI models on Azure. Two new tools: Amadeus Advisor chat will be integrated into Demand360, enabling customers to instantly produce customized analysis and insights; Email to RFP within MeetingBroker will automatically generate contextual, property-specific RFP responses. Demand360 is based on insights from 44,000 hotels and 35 million short-term rental properties, providing a 12-month forward-looking view of occupancy and market ranking plus two years of retrospective data. Advisor chat was rolled out to Agency360 in 2024, saving some analysts about a day each week. Omni Atlanta…
SAP Concur published an article advising organizations to use finance automation, AI, and clear strategies to improve financial forecasting, cost control, and agility. It cites data: 41% of finance leaders see worsening economic conditions as their top external challenge; 57% of small business CEOs expect the economy to worsen in the next 12 months. The article suggests strategies such as honing spend management, getting an early grip on costs, and refining metrics, and describes AI applications in travel bookings, receipt management, and expense auditing.
Tongcheng Travel Holdings Limited reported unaudited Q1 2025 results. Revenue rose 13.2% year over year to RMB4,377.4 million; adjusted EBITDA rose 41.3% to RMB1,159.4 million with a 26.5% margin; adjusted net profit rose 41.1% to RMB788.2 million with an 18.0% margin. Monthly paying users rose 9.2% to 46.5 million and annual paying users rose 7.8% to 247.3 million, both record highs; the 12-month accumulated number of travelers served rose 7.3% to 1,959.5 million. Core OTA revenue rose 18.4% to RMB3,792.4 million, with transportation ticketing revenue up 15.2% to RMB2,000.2 million and international air ticket volume up over 40%; accommodation reservation revenue rose 23.3% to RMB1,189.6 m…
SAP Concur published a case-study article describing how Stephen, CFO of a mid-sized U.S. company, uses SAP Concur solutions for AI-driven spend management. It says he gains real-time visibility into spending across departments, regions and categories via the dashboard, uses Intelligence for real-time analytics, and relies on Concur Detect by Oversight and Concur Tax Assurance by Blue dot to improve compliance. The article cites figures: AI technology captured 10x the number of errors and fraud, automated audits reduced the cost of mistakes in expense reports by 60%, and using AI for initial investigation of expense reports reduced audit time by as much as 90%.
A SAP Concur blog post argues that modern expense reporting and accounts payable (AP) management should start with AP automation, then build resilience through AI and cybersecurity investment and a rethink of ESG. Its research shows 71% of companies say integrated, AI-enhanced travel and expense (T&E) technology improves expense-related fraud detection, and that adding automated AP solutions to integrated T&E solutions yields 22% annual cost savings. It also recommends spend-request tools to approve and control spending before it occurs and AI-embedded invoice solutions to deter fake vendors, duplicate payments and other fraud, while stressing financial storytelling to win leadership suppor…
A SAP Concur blog post summarizes the Accounts Payable Automation Trends research study it sponsored, conducted by The Institute of Financial Operations and Leadership (IFOL). The report shows 52% of AP professionals now spend fewer than ten hours per week processing invoices, down from 62% a year earlier; manual entry of invoices into ERP or accounting systems dropped to 60%, from 85% in 2023. However, 64% of respondents still cite stress from outdated processes as their biggest hurdle, and 40% point to strained vendor relationships. AI adoption remains limited, with only 7% of respondents using AI for spend management, though 40% are considering adoption within the next year.
A SAP Concur blog post summarizes business travel trends and challenges. Research shows 42% of travel managers anticipated company directives to cut travel costs within the year; 88% of travelers reported significant travel disruptions and 74% felt unsafe on a trip; 61% of businesses without integrated travel and expense solutions are likely to move to a connected system within two years; and 34% of travel managers need better training to benefit from AI-powered tools. The article also notes 44% of travelers would refuse a trip over safety concerns, and 95% of travelers are open to using AI-fueled technology for business travel booking.
A SAP Concur blog post for IT leaders outlines strategies including using AI for operational efficiency, strengthening cybersecurity through cross-functional collaboration, and optimizing IT policies for vendor management and data privacy. Citing the 2025 CFO Insights global survey, it says IT leaders' main observed AI benefits include increased operational efficiency (46%), better data insights and analytics (42%), and improved decision-making (38%). On cybersecurity, 71% of IT leaders feel 'somewhat prepared' to respond to increased cyberattack risk, while only 26% say they are 'very prepared'; 43% rank phishing and social engineering attacks as a top-three vulnerability.
Tongcheng Travel Holdings reported 2024 results: revenue up 45.8% YoY to RMB17,340.7 million, adjusted net profit up 26.7% to RMB2,785.4 million, GMV up 5.9% to RMB255.7 billion. Core OTA revenue rose 22.1% to RMB14,199.4 million, with international air ticket volume up over 130% and international room nights up over 110%. Annual paying users reached 238.3 million, MPUs 43.1 million. The company launched Chengxin AI system, integrated DeepSeek, and fully operates HOPEGOO international platform.
SAP Concur released its third CFO Insights report, based on a survey of 350 CFOs and senior finance leaders across eight countries from December 2024 to January 2025. 69% of finance leaders cite optimizing costs and efficiency as the top goal for growth, with 58% turning to automation and AI. 94% say AI has helped improve decision-making, and 73% say AI has positively impacted cost and risk reduction. Top external challenges cited are worsening economic conditions (41%), geopolitical tensions (37%), and supply chain constraints (32%).
The annual AP trends and predictions report from Ardent Partners, sponsored by SAP Concur, shows that 74% of AP departments planned to use artificial intelligence in some way by the end of 2024, a record-high adoption rate. AI and AP automation are improving invoice processing, fraud detection, forecasting, and cash flow management while freeing AP staff to focus on exceptions. The report also notes that AI risks must be addressed through governance and security controls, and that geopolitical conflicts and tariffs could raise prices and inflation, increase global invoicing complexity, and disrupt supply chains. It predicts that 80% of routine tasks will be handled by AP automation within t…
The article notes that CFO and operations manager roles are changing and blurring, with both more deeply involved in overall business strategy. Survey data shows 52% of CFOs see a risk that costs can rise quickly and 41% say cost controls become more technically challenging as companies grow; 57% of CFOs are investing heavily in growth strategies despite economic concerns, 63% say investing in cutting-edge technologies is critical to success, yet only 4% say they have strong knowledge of AI. The article says CFOs need strategic communication, technological fluency, change management, and cross-functional leadership, while operations managers need technology-driven process optimization, stra…
A recent SAP Concur survey shows that if given an extra hour a day, finance professionals would most likely invest in career growth, strengthen leadership skills, and keep up with AI and finance technology. 60% would take an online professional development course, 17% would build relationships with peers outside finance, 16% would take on a stretch project, and 7% would seek mentorship and feedback. On leadership, 45% want to use tech to boost employee engagement and retention, 34% want best practices for managing hybrid teams, 34% want new ways to motivate their team, and 25% want to use tech to support duty of care. On AI, 50% want to learn how AI is used in finance, 39% would attend a we…
SAP Concur recapped its major 2024 updates to travel and expense (T&E) management solutions. User experience updates include integration with SAP Cloud Identity Services, the SAP Fiori horizon theme, a redesigned home page, a refreshed Concur Invoice interface, and expansion of the new Concur Travel standard edition. Process and approval updates include a generative AI-enabled request assistant, quick request, hotel itemization in ExpenseIt, an invoice payment manager with virtual cards, and adding Trainline to the Concur TripLink hub. Security and data insights updates include PGP key replacement, SAP Analytics Cloud data templates, an IBM Cognos 11.2.4 interface upgrade, and new Concur Tr…
In the SAP Concur Conversations podcast, Philippe Dutkiewicz, co-owner of HR Campus, and HR consultant Philipp Brunner talk with Jeanne Dion, Vice President of the Value Experience team at SAP Concur, about collaboration between travel and expense (T&E) management and human resources (HR). HR is responsible for payroll, benefits, duty of care, employee data, and corporate policies, all closely related to T&E. Employees want T&E programs to offer flexibility, ease of expense submission, and peace of mind about following processes. The article recommends simplifying processes, using AI for conversational expense reports, and showing or hiding T&E policy in real time based on user actions. Dut…
The SAP Concur Conversations podcast features Joaquín Buscarons, IT enterprise architect at ESTEVE, an international pharmaceutical company based in Spain, speaking with Jeanne Dion, Vice President of the Value Experience team at SAP Concur, about the strategic role of IT. The discussion covers cloud computing, evolving job descriptions, the importance of pilot projects, and how technology supports business objectives. ESTEVE uses one-to-two-month pilot projects to test new technologies and has begun hiring digital experience specialists.
SAP Concur published a blog on generative AI applications in travel and expense management. It cites survey data: 51% of CFOs are investing in AI technology, up from 15% in August 2023; 58% of CFOs have very little knowledge about AI and only 4% are confident they have a strong grasp of it. The post says 34% of travel managers feel constrained by expectations to implement AI tools without adequate training, and only 7% of AP teams currently use AI. SAP Concur says it has integrated AI and machine learning into its solutions for over a decade and lists four application areas: automation, compliance, fraud detection and spend analytics.