SAP Concur Conversations

In the fast-paced world of business, success often hinges on the ability to adapt, innovate, and optimize. Yet, many organizations find themselves stuck in the rut of conventional travel and expense (T&E) programs, oblivious to the untapped potential to streamline and optimize their T&E systems and processes.

In this episode of the SAP Concur Conversations podcast, Meysam Foroughi, Senior Travel & Expense specialist at Roku, shares how he simplified and optimized Roku’s T&E program by harnessing a growth mindset, and why he believes “we’ve always done it this way” is the single most dangerous phrase for organizations.

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Data is one of the most powerful tools your organization has to monitor its health, plan for its future, and effect real change. But data is nothing more than rows of numbers unless you can interpret what those numbers mean and see the stories the data tells. To do this, data must be accurate, available, and actionable — and beyond that, it’s up to you to know the right questions to ask to extract meaningful answers.

In this episode of the SAP Concur Conversations podcast, CJ Cohick, a Product Manager (and recovering math major) at Motus explores the important role data plays in storytelling, how to provide data so it can be leveraged in strategic ways, and how automation and AI are shifting the roles of data in the industry.

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Most companies today know they can decarbonize and become more sustainable. But they don’t know the best way for their company to become more sustainable — or how to balance their sustainability initiatives against other business priorities. That’s because sustainability isn’t just about a company’s carbon footprint. It’s also about diversity, equality, inclusion, biodiversity, circularity, plastic packaging, and so much more.

In this episode of the SAP Concur Conversations podcast, Sammy Lakshmanan, Principle, ESG at PwC, and John McCormick, a Partner at PwC, explore how businesses can report on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) standards with a high level of trust. They delve into the use of sustainability data for growth, recent shifts in the world of corporate sustainability and the impact of those changes, and how businesses can leverage data and reporting to make sustainability decisions and deliver on those commitments.

Learn more about how to leverage technology to better track, manage, and analyze your ESG data.

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92% of business travelers believe the future of their careers depends on successful business travel. And yet nearly two-thirds (62%) feel they haven’t had equal opportunity to travel for business compared to their coworkers, and they attribute this primarily to their age, accent, or gender.

These are some of the staggering findings from the SAP Concur Global Business Travel Survey, which serves as an annual touchpoint to lay bare the realities of today's business travel landscape. Now in its fifth year, the survey explores some of the most pressing challenges facing business travelers and travel managers today, such as the lack of equal opportunity for travel among marginalized travelers, how that denial of opportunity can stunt professional growth, and how this impacts travel managers and informs their decisions.

Nathan Richter of Wakefield Research joins us in this episode of the SAP Concur Conversations podcast to explore key findings from the 2023 Global Business Travelers Report and 2023 Global Business Travel Managers Report, and to share data-backed insights into the current state of business travel and what the next year will bring.

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Change management is hard. And digital transformation can be overwhelming. So being tasked with the job of guiding employees through the changes digital transformation brings might feel nothing short of intimidating. But with a commitment to meeting your employees where they are and a game plan that considers the current state of your T&E systems and processes and maps to the desired end state, the change can be seamless.

In this episode of the SAP Concur Conversations podcast, Jenny Chen, Senior Accountant at Dermalogica, and Jeanne Dion, Vice President of the Value Experience Team at SAP Concur, discuss Dermalogica’s recent digital transformation, the smart approach the company took to change management, and why intentionally taking a long-term view in creating scalable systems and processes was crucial to Dermalogica’s success.

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Only 10% of businesses have fully automated their accounts payable (AP) processes, which means most businesses aren’t fully taking advantage of the visibility, control, and savings that AP automation affords. And while it’s not uncommon for most AP processes to be heavily manual, it’s certainly a major organizational disadvantage. Between better visibility into spend, more time back in the workday, fewer errors and costly mistakes, and empowered employees, the benefits of AP automation far outweigh the time and monetary costs to automate processes and effectively drive change across your organization.

In this episode of the SAP Concur Conversations podcast, Grace Swain, Senior Consultant at TCG Consulting, shares how, where, and why to start automating your AP processes, what the journey to full automation entails, tips for driving change across your organization, and the benefits AP automation brings to your business.

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Organizations with an eye towards tomorrow are increasingly incorporating sustainability not just into their travel practices, but into their broader business strategy. But any business leader working towards sustainability goals will tell you it’s a balancing act. After all, sustainability and other business priorities such as cost containment don’t always go hand in hand.

How can organizations appropriately prioritize their sustainability initiatives? How can they best understand their sustainability baseline and make the decisions that make the most sense for their organization? And as business travel regains momentum, how can organizations take action to reduce the inevitable carbon footprint of their business travelers?

In this episode of the SAP Concur Conversations podcast, Nina Birger, Vice President of Climate Solutions for CHOOOSE, answers these questions and more as she explores how leaders can balance sustainability goals against other competing demands to build a more sustainable business, and how they can effectively promote sustainable business travel.

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The traveler journey, traveler personas, and providing an optimized traveler experience…these haven’t historically been areas of focus for many businesses — especially during times of economic hardship where cost containment is often priority number one — but according to Hansini Sharma, who leads the Travel Practice at Acquis Consulting Group, they certainly should be.

“When I think about these personas and how we build programs, I think we want to think about how to build them without creating additional friction. How can we be creative in leveraging the tools that we have? How can we leverage our online booking tool solution to provide the maximum number of options to our travelers? When you give someone just a little bit of wiggle room, the likelihood of them adhering to the new policy or the new update is exponentially higher.”

In this episode of the SAP Concur Conversations podcast, Hansini discusses how and why travel managers and business leaders should change the way they approach their travel programs and policies to reflect the expectations of their travelers and explains why she believes the traveler experience is “the next big thing” in corporate business travel.

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Change is hard. But what if the pain of the same was greater than the pain of change? When it comes to accounts payable (AP) automation, this is the question businesses should be asking.

Automation is arguably one of the more controversial topics of recent times, evoking visceral reactions and strong opinions alike. Perhaps that’s why although AP automation has the power to increase operational efficiency, visibility, and control, all while reducing complexity, fewer than 20% of businesses have fully automated AP processes, and 70% of all invoice processing globally is still paper based. So, what’s stopping businesses from going all in on AP automation, or at the very least taking the first step towards automating their time-consuming AP processes?

In this episode of the SAP Concur Conversations podcast, Chris Elmore, Chief Evangelist of AvidXchange, explores this question, and provides colorful commentary about how the AP profession has evolved, the optimization opportunities AP automation opens for organizations, and how automation forces organizations to be more strategic and intentional with where and how they spend their time and resources.

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