SAP Concur Fusion Exchange highlights innovations for European travel management

Right next to Big Ben in the heart of London was held this year’s SAP Concur Fusion Exchange EMEA, an event that brought together SAP Concur customers and partners across the continent to explore the future of integrated travel and expense management – with a major emphasis on the transformative impact of generative AI on the industry.

The travel industry so often feels like it is stuck in the past, with many travelers still printing their tickets or waiting weeks and weeks to get their trip expensed. Can SAP Concur and its new string of advancements deliver on its lofty promises? ERP Today went behind the scenes to find out how SAP Concur is reshaping the landscape to fit modern enterprises.

At Fusion Exchange, Concur aimed to showcase how its AI is enhancing its business travel management solutions for EMEA users. The company offers a suite of platforms, including Concur Expense, Concur Travel, Concur Invoice and TripIt Pro, designed to consolidate expenses related to flights, rail, hotels, meals and transportation into one integrated platform. This move is aimed at simplifying the travel process, making it more efficient for SAP users.

Elena Parker, CRO for Intelligent Spend and Business Network, MEE, SAP Concur, explained during the keynote at Fusion: “It’s really about how to get the information on the go when there is a certain flight delay, how [to] reschedule your meetings potentially and everything that’s required. That is really by being able to have access to data on the go.”

The updated Concur Travel booking experience, launched last August, features a streamlined booking and checkout process with omni-search capabilities that combine options for various locations. It also expands global content coverage with additional New Distribution Capability (NDC) content through the Sabre GDS. The platform is designed for both web and mobile use, aiming to provide a modern and intuitive experience for travellers.

The new integration of Microsoft Teams is set to simplify itinerary sharing among users, aiming to improve communication effectiveness. This integration could make it easier for teams and individuals to share travel plans seamlessly. Moreover, the integration with Concur Request seeks to automate spend requests and approvals, potentially streamlining the process with automated workflows. This move is expected to enhance efficiency in managing financial requests within organizations.

SAP Concur also introduced new sustainability initiatives at Fusion Exchange to further enhance Concur Travel, including in-app emissions data through an integration with Thrust Carbon, allowing users to view and sort greenhouse gas emissions of travel options. Enhanced hotel and rail content is also provided through direct integrations with American Express GBT, BCD, CWT RoomIt, FCTG and HRS, along with the ability to search, book and purchase UK rail content.

Fusion Exchange highlighted SAP Concur’s commitment to sustainability, reflecting current regulations and CFO priorities. Parker said: “Sustainability for us in Europe, that is on top of our mind. Some employees choose not to travel… if sustainable choices aren’t available. We as a company have an obligation with all the regulations popping up around sustainability. Hence it is also something that is a key metric nowadays for the CFO, of course along with ESG, spend management and cash flow.”

Investments in Concur TripLink ensure that travellers have access to a wide range of fares while maintaining corporate benefits and allowing travel managers to manage travel programs effectively. TripIt Pro has also been updated to include real-time risk alerts, notifying users of potential travel disruptions due to weather, political unrest, labor actions, and communication outages. SAP Concur says it wants expense reports to ‘practically write themselves.’ 

The reimagined Concur Expense experience is AI-powered, and optimised for mobile. Features include automatic expense entry, itemization, categorization with ExpenseIt, timeline views of expenses, intelligent notifications and attendee suggestions based on expense type and amount.

Additionally, the new Data Delivery Service provides customers direct access to their Concur Expense data flows, enabling better data management and improved decision-making by integrating data sources across the organization.

SAP Concur emphasized ‘staying curious’ about AI and at Fusion, new Business AI capabilities were introduced, such as generative AI for intelligent cost estimates in Concur Request, enhanced AI-powered expense creation in ExpenseIt, and generative AI search capabilities within Concur Support.

SAP Concur Fusion Exchange EMEA was summarized in these apt words fromCharlie Sultan, president of Concur Travel at SAP Concur: “The evolution of Concur Travel isn’t a destination. It’s a standard – one that will continue to evolve and set the stage for greater innovation and acceleration for a truly integrated corporate travel and expense experience that can take advantage of the latest developments in AI.”