Unifying Travel and Expense to Boost Travel Spend Visibility and Policy Compliance

Business travel is critical to the success and growth of your organization but can prove elusive when it comes to policy compliance and travel spend visibility and control. Fortunately, there are multiple ways SAP Concur can help organizations connect their travel and expense processes to improve their ability to see and manage travel spending.

The route your organization chooses depends on its specific needs and whether you work with a travel management company (TMC). Each approach varies in breadth, and a deciding factor can be the level of support the business and your travelers desire. The results, though, can be sizable. Companies using Concur Travel & Expense, for example, average annual savings of $1.6 million and achieve a three-year ROI of 406%, IDC reported earlier this year.

The Challenges of Managing Travel Spend

Even with strong travel policies, policy compliance and travel spend visibility can be hard to maintain. Corporate travel booking occurs across multiple channels both inside and outside your approved system, expenses roll in long after the traveler returns home, data is fragmented, and policy compliance can be less than systematic. As a result, budgeting gets complicated and potential savings slip away. You need a better system for travel and expense.

This blog explores three routes organizations can take to add travel to their spend management itinerary for a better system:

• Add Concur Travel to Concur Expense, choose your TMC, close travel spend visibility gaps, and boost policy compliance.

• Use Complete by SAP Concur and Amex GBT and its built-in TMC to obtain a well-supported, all-in-one place for travel and expense management.

• Employ the Concur TripLink and TripIt Pro tools to capture corporate travel bookings from suppliers, collect details, compile itineraries, and assemble a complete spending picture.

A Connected Travel Ecosystem for Easier Travel Management

Learn how Concur Travel and Expense, Complete by SAP Concur and Amex GBT, Concur TripLink, and TripIt Pro link travel and expense to meet your travel, spend visibility, and compliance needs.

Read the brochure

Why to Consider Adding Concur Travel to Concur Expense

The native integration of Concur Travel and Expense helps businesses control spending and policy while providing flexibility for their travelers. And organizations can keep their current TMC or choose from over 300 TMC partners in the Concur ecosystem, and you’ll also have access to an extensive ecosystem of app partners for integration with tools like Uber or Lyft. Artificial intelligence (AI) is along for the journey, with the Joule AI solution embedded in travel request, booking, and expense processes to guide employees toward compliant choices.

Benefits of Pairing Concur Travel with Concur Expense

• Travelers can confidently select in-policy flights, hotel, and other business travel options, while businesses gain compliance and the ability to readily adjust policies.

• Travelers obtain a consumer-like, all-in-one-place booking experience, while organizations tap numerous booking options from both the Global Distribution System and New Distribution Capability.

• Employees connect to their loyalty programs and can assess sustainability for each travel option, while the company has a scalable modern platform that can help manage complex requirements such as tax compliance, meeting planning, and duty of care.

• Organizations can grow with the assurance of a global corporate travel platform behind them—serving 50,000 customers across more than 170 countries and supporting more than one million weekly transactions in 30 languages and countless currencies.

How Complete by SAP Concur and Amex GBT Delivers a Better Experience

With Complete by SAP Concur and Amex GBT, the TMC is built in, and everything is in one place: corporate travel booking, expense reporting, and the customer service to support both. With one connected experience, travelers can quickly access world-class service, and travel managers can readily see spending, traveler movement, and trends via a unified dashboard.

Benefits of the Combined Powers of SAP Concur and American Express Global Business Travel

• As travelers plan and book, Joule provides guidance. When a traveler needs human expertise, they’re connected to an Amex GBT representative who can see their itinerary and policy and resolve issues—without multiple phone calls or fumbled handoffs.

• Itinerary changes and traveler locations appear in one place, always visible to travel managers monitoring spend and managing approvals and duty of care. Spending is detailed by type of transport and lodging, allowing managers to see shifts in categories and monitor supplier use.

• Exclusive and compliant Complete supplier offers are displayed during booking, and travelers’ loyalty status will soon be able to reveal available bonuses and upgrades while displaying their personal airline and hotel preferences.

How Concur TripLink and TripIt Pro Connect Travel and Expense

If your organization handles business travel without a TMC, Concur TripLink and TripIt Pro deliver a way to close gaps in visibility and control by connecting travel and expense without altering how travelers set up trips. Concur TripLink gathers spend data and itineraries by connecting directly with travel suppliers, while TripIt rounds out the picture by scanning confirmation emails for additional details.

Benefits of Using Concur TripLink and TripIt Pro to Close Travel Management Gaps

• Businesses can better see supplier usage and categories of spend, while gaining a way to guide travelers to preferred options.

• Travelers obtain a tool for organizing travel plans, receiving flight and risk alerts, and tracking fares and loyalty points.

• Employees receive health-related information and neighborhood safety scores for their destinations, while organizations increase their ability to support travelers and ensure duty of care.

You Decide What Solution Fits Your Travel and Expense Needs

No two organizations are exactly alike, and neither are their business travel and expense needs. And while it would be wonderful if travel didn’t bring expenses, the fact is they are two halves of the same workflow. That makes it sensible to connect your travel and expense processes for improved visibility and compliance. As you can see, SAP Concur has options for you.

A Connected Travel Ecosystem for Easier Travel Management

Learn how Concur Travel and Expense, Complete by SAP Concur and Amex GBT, Concur TripLink, and TripIt Pro link travel and expense to meet your travel, spend visibility, and compliance needs.

Read the brochure

FAQ: Connecting Travel and Expense for Visibility and Compliance

Q: Why Should Organizations Connect Travel and Expense Management?

A: Connecting travel and expense improves policy compliance, increases travel spend visibility, and helps control costs while simplifying reporting.

Q: What Options Does SAP Concur Offer for Managing Business Travel?

A: Organizations can add Concur Travel to Concur Expense, use Complete by SAP Concur and Amex GBT, or adopt Concur TripLink and TripIt Pro.

Q: Can Organizations Keep Their Existing Travel Management Company (TMC)?

A: Yes. Concur Travel integrates with your current TMC or lets you choose from hundreds of partners. Complete by SAP Concur and Amex GBT includes a built-in TMC.

Q: What Are the Benefits of Concur Triplink and Tripit Pro?

A: They capture travel bookings from multiple suppliers, organize itineraries, improve spend visibility, and provide travel alerts and duty-of-care support.

Q: How Does Artificial Intelligence (AI) Support Travelers?

A: The Joule AI solution provides guidance during travel requests, booking, and expense reporting, helping employees make policy-compliant decisions. With the Complete solution, Joule can smoothly connect travelers to human experts to resolve issues and questions.