What’s the Business Value of SAP Concur? IDC Put a Dollar Figure on It

Finance and travel teams have no shortage of challenges: shifting prices, incomplete financial data, poor spend visibility, insufficient compliance, manual processes, and many more. Complicating the task is the fact that travel and expense (T&E) processes are often managed with disconnected systems. The intelligent, automated, and AI-enabled solutions SAP Concur provides are a powerful tool for delivering the efficiency and T&E cost savings businesses need. We wouldn’t expect you to take our word alone, so we set out to find what customers and IDC analysts conclude about the business value of SAP Concur.

What Are the Cost Savings and Benefits from Concur Travel & Expense?

IDC recently conducted extensive research with Concur customers about what they gained from Concur Travel & Expense and then, data in hand, put dollar amounts to the benefits. From outright savings on travel to hours freed and staffing optimized, IDC found businesses received, on average, over $3.1 million in benefits annually. And the travel and expense cost savings and other gains delivered a substantial return – a three-year, 406% ROI.

For a closer look into IDC’s research, read on and learn about:

• The end-to-end capabilities of Concur Travel & Expense and how they have benefited real customers.
• Hard savings provided by improved travel and expense processes.
• Efficiency gains that bring additional returns.
• “The strong financial case for SAP Concur” and the platform’s measurable ROI.

The Business Value and ROI of Concur Travel and Expense

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What Capabilities Do Concur Customers Gain with SAP Concur?

Many organizations still struggle with disconnected approaches to T&E management, with financial data dispersed, spending not fully visible, and compliance jeopardized. Throughout, employees find often-manual processes cumbersome and time-consuming. In its report, IDC notes how the business value of SAP Concur results from a platform providing consistent end-to-end T&E management.

Here are operational benefits IDC identifies:

• Travel bookings, expense reporting, and card reconciliation occur in one integrated system.
• Automated policy enforcement guides employees to compliant choices.
• Streamlined processes and built-in audits allow finance teams to focus on exceptions instead of manual reviews.
• Mobile tools let employees and managers handle travel, expenses, and approvals on the go.
• Real-time, customizable dashboards strengthen compliance, spend analysis, and financial reporting, while producing actionable insights.

As one customer told IDC: “My company moved to SAP Concur from another platform because of the robust reporting capabilities and the ease of entering expenses, especially with the mobile app. The switch has allowed our travelers to submit expenses on the go and enabled us to run custom reports.”

How Do Integrated Concur Solutions Bring Hard Savings?

Lost receipts, costly payment errors, non-compliant travel bookings, incorrect mileage. They’re just a few examples of areas where IDC finds the intuitive tools, automated policy enforcement, and simplified processes SAP Concur delivers help organizations realize travel and expense cost savings.

Travel-Related Savings

When your travelers are guided to flights, lodging, and other trip options that are both cost-effective and compliant with company policies, the savings can be substantial. As one customer found: “SAP Concur helps my company put a system and rules in place on the travel side to help guide the associates to do the right thing and within policy.”

Average annual travel-related savings: $1,180,929

Expense-Related Savings

When your organization limits mistakes, captures instead of losing receipts, automates policy enforcement, records mileage accurately with an app, reduces duplicate payments, and automatically validates financial data, it can sizably lower costs and boost efficiency in its expense processes. “Automation tools like Verify, which uses AI to flag exceptions, have been instrumental in letting us audit by exception instead of reviewing every line,” one customer told IDC.

Average annual expense-related savings: $599,500

What Efficiencies and Benefits Add to the Business Value of SAP Concur?

Other concrete advantages that show the business value of SAP Concur are just as significant as hard savings. For example, the ability to refocus the finance team and other employees on more strategic tasks because they aren’t chasing receipts, laboring over expense reports, or hunting down every exception. Or, with intelligent tools and spend management automation doing the heavy lifting, a small team being able to handle higher travel and spend volumes without adding staff.

Here are some statistics –available in the IDC Snapshot – illustrating how organizations can conserve employee time and focus on work that matters most:

• 53% faster travel bookings and expense submissions
• 72% fewer lost receipts and 53% fewer expense reporting errors
• 55% faster expense report auditing
• 9.3 fewer hours per employee spent on expense report management
• 19% more employees following travel and expense policies
• 43% less time spent by managers approving expense reports

Efficiency Saves Staff Time, Increases Travel and Expense Cost Savings

Simplified workflows, easier-to-use technology, and improved compliance lead to increased efficiency and reduced travel and expense costs. Everyone benefits throughout the organization—from travelers arranging trips and filing expenses, to managers overseeing approvals, to finance staff reviewing and auditing reports. Time is, of course, money, and the hours saved translate into FTEs saved, IDC found.

• Expense reporting efficiency gains: $680,691
• Travel management efficiency gains: $77,649
• Processing team efficiency gains: $156,$521
• Auditing team efficiency gains: $129,784
• Value of hiring avoided: $718,000

Together, the efficiency gains and hiring avoided saved organizations more than $1.5 million annually. Add in the hard travel and expense cost savings and the tally exceeds $3.1 million a year for each business, a figure to keep in mind when weighing the ROI of travel and expense management solutions.

The Business Value and ROI of Concur Travel and Expense

Explore how Concur Travel & Expense creates business value, savings, and ROI for customers using the intelligent, end-to-end solutions.

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Conclusion: Concur Benefits Add Up to Substantial Travel & Expense ROI

Simplified processes, higher efficiency, greater productivity, strengthened spend visibility, bolstered compliance, and other operational improvements brought significant savings and comprehensive benefits to Concur Travel & Expense customers. The three-year travel and expense ROI of 406% and 5.1 month payback “underscores the strong financial case for Concur,” IDC concluded.

Customers mentioned such advantages as fewer manual processes and spreadsheets, trackable and audit-ready financial data, mobile solutions for travelers, consistent expense reporting, and efficient reimbursements. One succinctly noted the gains IDC quantified: “Our travel savings far exceed the amount that we pay for the SAP Concur platform; we have definitely earned back the cost of the platform with better travel policy compliance.”

Explore more real-world use cases from organizations who transformed their business travel and expense management with SAP Concur.

FAQ: The Business Value of SAP Concur

Q: What travel and expense challenges do finance and travel teams face?

A: Businesses often contend with shifting prices, incomplete data, poor spend visibility, weak compliance, and manual processes. Disconnected systems make travel and expense (T&E) management even more complex and time-consuming.

Q: What capabilities does SAP Concur provide?

A: SAP Concur offers an integrated, AI-enabled platform for booking travel, submitting expenses, enforcing policy, and conducting spend analysis. Automated audits, mobile tools, and real-time dashboards improve compliance, financial reporting, and user experience.

Q: Do SAP Concur solutions deliver hard cost savings?

A: IDC found customers achieved average annual benefits exceeding $3.1 million, including nearly $1.6 million in outright travel and expense savings, with a three-year ROI of 406%.

Q: How does Concur Travel & Expense add business value?

A: Organizations report faster bookings and audits, fewer errors, and reduced manual work. IDC found that efficiency gains and staffing optimization delivered over $1.5 million in annual benefits to SAP Concur customers, while freeing teams to focus on higher-value tasks.