SAP Concur 2025 Forecast Review: Inflation, AI and TMC Consolidation
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.
Impact and considerations
The review validates 2025 trends for travel and finance managers: an improved budget environment, rising AI acceptance, and TMC consolidation with NDC progress but unresolved content fragmentation. Companies can use this to adjust travel program strategies, including AI tool evaluation, distribution channel management…
Key points
- 89% of business travelers, 93% of travel managers and 90% of CFOs expect travel budgets to increase or stay the same in 2025, with no planned cuts.
- Concur Expense data shows average transaction amounts flat or slightly down in nearly every expense category in 2025.
- 57% of finance departments say general finance tasks are highly automated, up from 7% in 2024; fraud monitoring automation rose from 28% to 45%.
- 88% of business travelers would be comfortable using AI automation for some elements like booking, re-booking or expense management, but seek data protection, training and bias guarantees.
- TMC consolidation accelerated with the Amex GBT-CWT merger; according to Sabre, 91% of agencies operate with four or more booking systems.
- Bleisure travel remains popular, with 27% of business travelers recently adding personal travel to business trips to save on personal travel costs.
Sources and time
- Primary source
- SAP Concur
- Other sources
- 0
- First source publication
- 21 Aug 2025, 19:41
- Page published
- 13 Aug 2026, 08:31
- Last updated
- 21 Aug 2025, 19:41
- Original links
- SAP Concur Blog：From Forecast to Fact: How SAP Concur Predictions for Business Travel, Finance, and AI Are Playing Out in 2025 (opens in a new tab)Primary source · en · Published 21 Aug 2025, 19:41