When it comes to traveling for business, some people love it and some people don’t, but everyone can agree on one thing – the burden of a complicated travel expense tool is like a grounded flight - no fun! SAP clearly recognized this dilemma. The recent acquisition of Concur is allowing SAP to integrate its solutions with IT solutions for airlines, hotels and more to simplify every aspect of travel for customers, while fortifying its own business network. This will by most calculations instantly propel SAP into the second largest cloud vendor on the planet.
SAP CEO Bill McDermott believes the move is yet another step towards greater innovation noting that, “The acquisition of Concur is consistent with our relentless focus on the business network.”
What’s also really cool is the fact that Concur is the owner of Tripit, a trip planner that keeps all of your travel plans in one spot. Tripit allows travelers to create a master itinerary that can keep them one step ahead of potential delays with personalized travel alerts in real-time.
Concur will instantly bring 23,000 customers and 25 million people to the SAP user network. Even better news for existing Concur customers is that the SAP HANA Cloud Platform will allow them to build, extend, and run applications in the cloud. With flexible subscription models and optional services for apps, database, and infrastructure, the new partnership provides the opportunity for Concur customers to access the full power of SAP.
But just how does something so transformational make things simpler for an organization? Let’s look at a few examples of Concur customers that reduced complexity.
Career Builder - Saved $500,000 through improved vendor negotiations as well as an additional $420,000 in savings through mobile e-receipts. Career Builder also saw its online booking compliance improve from 80% to 95%.
Kellogg’s - Needed a simpler expense solution that included local language capabilities that were easy to use across continents. With Concur they consolidated six processes into one. Kellie Whitaker, a travel manager with Kellogg’s believes that it’s all about, “visibility and understanding” and that Concur was the best tool she’s seen.
Skype - Amid its rapid international growth, Skype also reduced complexity with Concur. In need of a scalable tool that could offer a consistent travel and expense experience, Concur automated the entire process by providing an intuitive, flexible and standardized tool.
Traveling is already a taxing activity. For the individual, stuffing receipts in wallets and hand bags has always been a frustrating process full of disorganization and inefficiency. In today’s mobile world, it seems unimaginable to continue dealing with unneeded complication. Imagine immediately uploading your travel expense to your mobile device the second you grab lunch.
The SAP acquisition of Concur is consistent with their focus on both the business network and a commitment to the innovation and simplification of business. As Tolstoy famously said, “there is no greatness where there is no simplicity.”
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