The Business Case for Connected Travel, Expense, and Servicing

Business travel is a strategic investment, yet proving its value remains a persistent challenge. SAP Concur research found that 89% of CFOs say their travel manager needs to do a better job demonstrating the value of business travel — while 44% of travel leaders say they lack the data and insights needed to demonstrate ROI. When booking, servicing, and expense data live in separate systems, finance and travel teams spend their time piecing the story together rather than acting on it.

Why Disconnected Travel Data Is Costing Your Program

When every stage of the travel journey operates in its own system, organizations lose more than efficiency — they lose the context needed to manage spend and measure program performance. Research shows that inaccurate travel data is the second-biggest frustration in business travel after cost, and 49% of all conversations about where the travel process breaks down point to employee reimbursement — the single biggest failure point. Finance teams and travel managers are left working from partial information, making it harder to apply policies consistently, identify overspend, or demonstrate that travel is delivering business value.

How Connected Booking, Servicing, and Expensing Changes Outcomes

A connected travel program unifies every stage of the journey into a single view, giving finance leaders, travel managers, and travelers access to the same data from booking through reimbursement:

• Finance leaders gain greater visibility into travel spend, making it easier to strengthen policies, manage costs, and demonstrate business value.
• Travel managers see every journey in one connected view — with the context to support travelers effectively and improve program performance. This matters because 67% of travel managers feel undervalued and unable to meet the growing expectations of their CFOs.
• Business travelers experience one consistent platform for booking, support, and expenses, with policy and preferred rates built directly into the experience.

Complete by SAP Concur and American Express Global Business Travel (Amex GBT) delivers this connected experience — unifying travel booking, servicing, and expense into a single AI-powered platform that compounds intelligence across millions of transactions to deliver personalized, policy-aligned recommendations in real time. Amex GBT was named an SAP Concur 2025 Innovation Award Winner for its work advancing this connected approach.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a connected travel program?

A connected travel program is one where booking, servicing, and expense data share the same platform and inform each other at every stage of the journey. Instead of reconciling fragmented information after the trip, finance and travel teams can work from one continuous view — from planning through reimbursement.

Why do finance leaders struggle to prove the value of business travel?

When booking, servicing, and expense systems are disconnected, it is difficult to link travel spend to business outcomes. SAP research found that 89% of CFOs say their travel manager needs to do a better job demonstrating that value — largely because fragmented data makes spend analysis and ROI tracking unreliable.

How does connected travel data support policy compliance?

When all travel data shares the same platform, preferred rates, policy guardrails, and perks are embedded at the point of booking — not applied retroactively. This makes it easier for employees to stay within policy by default rather than by exception, reducing out-of-policy spend across the program.

What role does AI play in a connected travel and expense program?

AI delivers the most value when it draws from complete, unified data. In a disconnected program, AI capabilities stay siloed within individual systems. A connected platform allows AI to compound intelligence across bookings, service interactions, and expenses — enabling more personalized recommendations and consistent policy application over time.

How does Complete by SAP Concur and Amex GBT address disconnected travel?

Complete unifies travel booking, servicing, and expense into a single AI-powered solution with global reach. It draws on data spanning millions of transactions to fine-tune recommendations in real time, supports travelers in 65 countries, and adapts to each organization's needs as its travel program evolves.

Download the Ebook

Download this ebook to explore the business case for a connected travel program and discover how unified booking, servicing, and expensing helps finance and travel teams gain the visibility they need to demonstrate ROI, strengthen policy, and manage spend more effectively.