Why SAP Concur believes innovation and efficiency is key

In what continues to be a rapidly evolving digital landscape, SAP Concur is one step ahead in simplifying business travel and expense management.

Managing Director for ANZ Jonathan Beeby spoke with TechDay and outlined the company’s growing dedication to both innovation and efficiency.

"Over 30 years ago, we created the expense management category and since then, our primary aim is to simplify travel for business people," Beeby said. "We remove the complexity of the booking and expense process and provide finance and back-office teams with the necessary tools and visibility to manage that spend more effectively."

Beeby highlighted SAP Concur's comprehensive Spend Management Suite, which includes Concur Invoice for processing supplier invoices.

"Concur has always had innovation at its core," he expressed. "For example, we were the first company to create a mobile app that allowed you to take a photograph of a receipt and have that information automatically transferred into your expense report, matched to a credit card item."

More recently, SAP Concur has enhanced its AI capabilities, integrating AI into the travel booking process to further automate and streamline operations.

The latest release of their online booking tool promises a consumer-grade interface and advanced AI features designed to delight customers even further.

Reflecting on the origins of SAP Concur, Beeby recounted: "Concur was created over 30 years ago by two brothers who recognised the need for a solution to manage business expenses, which at that time was a cumbersome process involving spreadsheets and receipts."

"The mission was to address this problem by simplifying the entire business trip process, from planning to expensing."

Discussing the SAP Concur's innovative app, Beeby said it was created to allow people to photograph a receipt at the point of purchase to get a digital copy.

"It scans the photograph, knows the type of purchase, and creates an expense line item in your report, attaching a copy of the receipt. This removes the onus on business travellers to manually transcribe receipts into expense reports."

SAP Concur’s suite of products includes Concur Expense for expensing travel, Concur Travel for booking travel, and Concur Invoice for digitising supplier invoices.

"Concur Invoice digitises information quickly so that finance teams have visibility and can pay suppliers promptly," Beeby said.

As a global business, SAP Concur operates in nearly every country, accommodating the complex needs of businesses worldwide.

"We have business partners who extend our capabilities, such as a partner specialising in managing and measuring CO2 footprints for environmental and sustainability reporting," Beeby noted.

Travel management companies and consulting businesses also play a crucial role in SAP Concur's operations.

Beeby highlighted the company’s strong presence in Australia and New Zealand, where they have been operating for 20 years.

"We have customers ranging from small businesses with 10-15 employees to large organisations with complex global operations," he told TechDay.

The acquisition by SAP in 2014 marked a significant milestone for Concur. "We were acquired for $8.3 billion, which was a significant acquisition even by SAP standards," Beeby remarked. "Today, SAP has over 100,000 employees globally, with Concur retaining around 5,000 employees dedicated to maintaining and improving our solutions."

One of the key developments Beeby emphasised is the release of the new Concur Travel online booking tool.

"We rebuilt our entire online booking tool from the ground up. The new tool is more efficient, intuitive, and embedded with advanced AI functionality," Beeby explained. This includes an AI request assistant that sources quotes for travel, saving users significant time.

According to Beeby, Artificial intelligence (AI) plays a pivotal role in SAP Concur’s offerings.

"We use AI for digitising information, auditing expenses, and enhancing overall efficiency," he explained. "For example, our AI auditing tool can process all expense reports, identifying areas of concern and freeing up finance teams for more meaningful tasks."

Beeby acknowledged the challenges and trends driving customer adoption of SAP Concur’s solutions. "Organisations want to do more with less, ensuring efficiency, compliance, and effective spend management," he said.

"Our technology helps businesses manage these demands seamlessly."

Looking ahead, Beeby sees a bright future for SAP Concur. "We are focused on the next phase of customer needs, further automating processes, integrating with other applications, and leveraging AI to manage data effectively," he expressed.

"Organisations can rely on SAP Concur for a single source of truth for all aspects of their spend."