T&E Expert Concur Reaches Milestone

Travel and expense management service providers are largely investing in the development of solutions that can be run through mobile applications, signaling a rise in the adoption of new technologies aimed at reducing the friction that exists in producing and processing an expense report.

One of the leaders of the T&E management solution industry is Concur, part of software giant SAP, which has focused its expense report tools on integrating with cloud technologies. That focus seems to have paid off, as Concur announced Wednesday (April 1) that its app is now being used by 30 million individuals.

According to Concur Chief Product Officer Barry Padgett, hitting that milestone was largely propelled by integrating its services with key brands like Starbucks, Airbnb, and Uber, all within the last year. The expansion of the Concur App Center, Padgett added, is all part of Concur’s efforts to facilitate the “Perfect Trip,” allowing business travelers to seamlessly expense their purchases and travel managers to automatically monitor and approve of them.

The suite of solutions within the app center offers various T&E management tools including spend visibility and global regulatory compliance aids. The company has recently launched several new apps in the suite for business customers, including CheckMate, a concierge service that facilitates mobile checking, and Interfactura, which supports businesses with the e-invoicing validation mandates throughout Latin America. Together, Concur claims that the suite is the world’s largest T&E management platform.

Reports released earlier this week revealed that Microsoft is testing a beta version of its secret T&E management app codenamed “Phoenix.” Information is scarce on the product, and there is conflicting information as to whether the service must integrate with existing Concur platforms in companies, or if it would integrate with any other T&E management solution.