SAP Concur Travel is an SAP product that helps businesses automate business expenses management and save time by eliminating various manual routines.
Yet, the implementation of SAP Travel solutions may also come with challenges, especially if the business architecture you own requires considerable updates.
In this article, we will discuss Concur Travel and Expense Management, the benefits it brings to businesses, and the ways you can effectively implement this software.
Let’s get started!
What Is SAP Concur Travel?
SAP Concur Travel is an SAP product that allows companies to plan, book, and manage corporate trips efficiently.
It offers features such as accommodation and transportation booking, processing of electronic receipts, physical tracking of paper receipts, and loading information into the system, as well as automated invoice management and reporting. In other words, SAP Concur Travel streamlines many manual tasks that were previously performed manually.
Business Benefits of SAP Concur Travel
Working with SAP Concur Travel gives businesses multiple benefits, including the following:
1. Seamless booking & integration
SAP Concur solutions provide a unified and intuitive interface for booking flights, hotels, cars, and trains directly from the system. At the same time, every booking is registered in the system and used for analytics, which will further simplify decision-making.
For example, based on analytics, a company can spot seasonal drops in travel prices and plan business travel accordingly.
Additionally, bookings are automatically populated into expense reports, significantly reducing the burden on employees responsible for these tasks.
2. Policy compliance & spend control
In cases where a company wants to implement a spending policy or already has one in place, SAP Concur Travel can help enhance the policies, verify if employees adhere to the requirements, and ultimately curb overspending.
The product’s functionality also helps businesses implement pre-trip approvals and avoid unpleasant situations where employees have to explain their expenses after the trip..The existence of strict guidelines for employees is also a significant benefit. This reduces the frustration level and eliminates misunderstandings.
3. Integration with TripLink
In cases where users still make bookings outside the Concur Travel software, thanks to the integration with Trip Link, it is possible to capture and integrate bookings made directly with suppliers, thereby eliminating the need to make bookings outside the system.
Such a feature enables consistent expense reporting, which can still be automated and optimized.
4. Expanded content & modern UX
The makers made Concur Travel attractive to the average consumer. It features richer imagery, sustainable filtering options, and omni‑search capabilities.
Additionally, such a system integrates with global distribution systems (GDS), NDC, and direct supplier feeds, offering a wide range of choices for employees to make their bookings with minimal fuss, making the process feel like a leisure travel booking.
5. Mobile access & duty of care
The mobile version of the software allows employees to manage their bookings on the go, capture receipts using the phone camera, and form reports based on the captured data with just a couple of clicks. That is why the whole process of booking management and reporting gets much simpler.
6. Visibility & reporting
SAP Concur Travel helps finance teams track budgets and maintain compliance with ease. The automated reports lower the risk of manual mistakes and data omission, and also all the processes become relatively faster.
Additionally, a business has the opportunity to view travel spending in real-time, as soon as employees pay for services online or scan printed receipts.
As the insights are consolidated, they are great for shaping the general vision of trip expenses and their dynamics, allowing businesses to get the best of both worlds: providing their employees with a comfortable travel experience while maintaining effective spending policies.
7. Multi-currency support
SAP Concur Travel also helps businesses automatically manage receipts from international travel. This way, the finance department doesn’t have to track currency rates, as the system converts spending in real time and adds the correct data to the list immediately.
How To Implement SAP Concur Travel Effectively?
SAP Concur Travel can be implemented as part of an SAP offering or as a standalone product. Yet, the implementation can come with challenges.
For example, suppose a business has a legacy system that is outdated or uses older versions of SAP software. In that case, it may need restructuring or even a complete rebuild of the system. If the company needs to migrate to the cloud, another need may arise – the need for data analysis and cleaning.
All of these tasks run more smoothly and effectively with the help of SAP Concur Travel consulting services, which can assist with all transition-related and other associated tasks.
Summing up
SAP Concur Travel is a complex and feature-rich product that eliminates the headaches and exhausting routines associated with financial, human resources, and other departments, enabling businesses to achieve more effective travel expense management.
With this, any company can gain better visibility into its inner processes and gain deeper insights into decision-making.
