Travel and Expense Management: Discover why SAP Concur is still the one to beat

With over 30 years’ experience at the forefront of financial innovation, no one knows spend management like SAP Concur.

By connecting expense, travel, and invoice on one platform, SAP Concur empowers organisations to take complete control of their business spend – and with nearly a decade of AI driven automation experience, we strive to create even more value for your organisation with each advance in innovation. 

As businesses face increasing pressure to adapt to new financial trends, regulatory demands, and emerging technologies, SAP Concur remains the undisputed leader and the only choice for spend management.

Financial Trends: SAP Concur leads the way with new technologies

Automation and digitisation are presenting more opportunities than ever to reduce manual tasks, increase efficiency, and improve the accuracy of processes. As a result, CFOs and finance leaders must broaden their gaze to see how AI can help them gain an even greater advantage in the modern digital economy.

Our CFO Insights Top Trends and Priorities for 2025 report looking at trends and priorities for finance leaders in 2025 highlighted the rising focus on new technologies coming from the CFO’s office:

• 63% of CFOs stated investing in cutting-edge technologies as a priority (up from 33% in the previous year)
• 82% of firms are investing in AI (despite 50% being unclear on its business impact or how to implement it)

In addition to the increasing number of CFOs leading growth and reinvention strategies, other priorities and trends from the report include the ways in which integrated ESG reporting will drive performance, the growing presence of cybersecurity within the CFO’s remit, and the long-term benefits of AI.

SAP Concur continues to lead the way with the tools and insights that are critical for organisations navigating these changes, from automating spend management to enhancing visibility and decision-making.

• AI & Automation: SAP Concur uses AI and machine learning to automate tasks like expense report categorisation and fraud detection.
• Mobile Integration: Our mobile app allows users to manage travel and expenses on the go, offering features like receipt scanning and real-time updates.
• Data Analytics: SAP Concur provides powerful analytics tools to track spending patterns, make data-driven decisions, and optimise travel and expense management for better budgeting and cost control.

Curious about what else is next for finance leaders? Find out more in our CFO Insights Series report: The top five trends and priorities for finance leaders in 2025

From obligation to opportunity: unlocking business value

In our latest compliance report, regulatory compliance was ranked as the top external challenge by CFOs – even outranking rising capital costs and worsening economic conditions. One key area of concern is the growing issue of internal spend fraud.

In recent years, fraud losses have surged, with 70% of businesses reporting an increase. This trend is closely linked to a lack of in-person oversight when it comes to submitting expenses.

• Fraud goes undetected for an average of 12 months.
• Businesses lose $9,900 per month, on average, to fraudulent spend.
• 51% of cases were caused by a lack of controls or overrides of existing processes.

While fraud is just one example of the compliance challenges businesses face, it highlights the importance of integrating better controls, reporting, and visibility. 

But staying on top of things like financial reporting and tax compliance, travel and expense policy enforcement, data privacy, and audit documentation can be a burden.

However, with the right systems in place, your compliance obligations can be converted into significant financial and operational value.

The rise of AI-driven compliance offers new opportunities to enhance both operational efficiency and security. For instance, SAP Concur uses AI to let you:

• Automatically review every expense and check it against your organisation’s policies and local regulations.
• Flag any transactions that require human review or follow-up.
• Identify, calculate, and track taxable employee benefits to ensure compliance with global and local tax laws.

To learn more about how you can leverage compliance for commercial advantage, explore our guide, produced in partnership with Accenture: Turning Compliance Requirements into Business Opportunities.

Forging the future: How SAP Concur is leading the way with AI in finance

Artificial intelligence is revolutionising the way finance and travel teams operate, streamlining processes, improving accuracy, and enabling smarter decisions.

By leveraging AI, SAP Concur automates tedious workflows, improves decision-making, and uncovers opportunities for efficiency that competitors simply cannot match. From streamlining travel booking to detecting fraudulent expenses, SAP Concur uses AI to give finance teams the edge they need to thrive in a rapidly evolving business environment.

We recently produced an AI tip sheet outlining some of the most impactful ways our solutions can help you achieve greater efficiency and compliance with your travel and expense management:

• Streamline travel booking: Get AI-powered, cost-effective, compliant travel options and tailored recommendations for business travel.
• Automate expense capture and submission: Extract receipt data automatically to OCR and Machine Learning to save valuable time.
• Flag unusual expenses: AI reduces the risk of fraud by intelligently routing approvals and flagging anomalies for human review.
• Automate VAT reclaim: AI identifies reclaim opportunities in expense data and streamlines submissions for international travel.

To discover even more ways to leverage AI, check out our full tip sheet: The AI-Driven Travel & Expense Solution. 

SAP Concur: Setting new standards for spend management

The landscape of spend management is changing, driven by new business trends, technologies, shifting priorities and new compliance requirements. But in a world characterised by perpetual change, there is one constant truth when it comes to integrated travel and expense spend management: SAP Concur is still the one to beat.

Why?

• One connected platform for expense, invoice, and travel management
• AI-driven capabilities have enabled us to offer more accurate, efficient and user-friendly spend management solutions
• An extensive partner network with over 700 trusted partners and 250 app integrations
• We’re trusted by 92 million customers across 150 countries

Want to learn more? Check out our infographic: 5 Reasons why SAP Concur is still the one to beat.

Ready to see how SAP Concur can transform your business and See why SAP Concur is still the one to beat.