Travel and expense management provider SAP Concur has announced that Aeromexico, the flag carrier airline of Mexico, will be integrating SAP Concur solutions in a bid to expand its services to its customers. 

Aeromexico joins the roster of major airlines that have established a strategic partnership with SAP Concur such as American Airlines, British Airways, Delta Airlines, Lufthansa, Philippines Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Southwest Airlines, and United Airlines to streamline the end-to-end airline distribution process, including providing business travel content to customers through intelligent travel expense solutions such as Concur TripLink. As part of the Concur TripLink network of connected suppliers, the Mexican flag carrier will now have the capacity to integrate its corporate customers’ direct supplier bookings into SAP Concur solutions– delivering enhanced visibility, control, and flexibility.

As a leading airline in Latin American aviation, Aeromexico offers an extensive network of destinations spanning the United States, Canada, Central America, South America, Asia, and Europe. As a founding member of the SkyTeam Airline Alliance alongside Delta, Korean Air, and Air France KLM, the airline company from Mexico is committed to providing passengers with a seamless, end-to-end travel experience.

Harnessing the SAP Concur Travel Expense System

The latest traffic results recently shared by Aeromexico reflect that air travel is ticking back up, and strongly, after the Omicron effect early this year. Just in May, Grupo Aeromexico transported more than 1.8 million passengers, a 38.7% year-on-year increase. Both international and domestic travel has also achieved double-digit growth last month at 75.4% and 27.9%, respectively. The airline company also expanded its fleet reaching 133 in May and aims to end up with 147 by year end.

The SAP Concur and Aeromexico alliance came at an opportune time when business travel rebound is gaining momentum and travel spending is inching closer to pre-pandemic figures. The SAP Concur Tavel expense system has been enabling organisations to integrate travel and expense processes and data to enhance employee spending, transaction visibility, and optimise policy compliance. Concur TripLink, in particular, offer travel managers a more comprehensive view and better control over travel programmes and spendings, such as Aeromexico itineraries and bookings regardless if they used the Concur Travel booking tool or booked directly with Aeromexico.

Concur TripLink streamlines the entire travel experience by leveraging its global network of travel partners, connecting trips and itineraries across multiple channels to ensure safety and deliver duty of care to travellers aside from increasing productivity.  Concur Travel and Concur Expense enhances the booking experience by automatically integrating itineraries, e-receipts, and even frequent traveller programmes back into the employee’s SAP Concur account. In addition, Concur TripLink customers will soon be able to earn rewards and exclusive offers when they connect their Aeromexico Club Premier account to their SAP Concur profile.

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In the past months, SAP has been conducting several kinds of research in partnership with credible research companies to help organisations around the globe get a better perspective of the impact of COVID-19 and help them prepare in the new world of work. For instance, SAP and Oxford Economics conducted a global survey on the digital maturity of SMEs and SAP Concur commissioned a study with Asia Insight about the finance transformation in APAC.

For the business travel segment, SAP Concur has released new research on the impact of the pandemic, new measures, and business travellers’ expectations from their companies. In partnership with Wakefield Research, the survey was conducted in May-June 2020 in 23 markets, including the Asia Pacific region. 

The Business Travel Survey

The report stated that despite the extreme changes and challenges in travel today, travelling remains irreplaceable in fulfilling critical business demands. As travel is anticipated to resume soon, it is expected though that the health and safety of travellers alongside stricter policies and trip preparation will be the absolute priority. 

In this article, we focus on the response of the 1,750 business travellers surveyed in the Asia Pacific region.

Dr. Carl Jones, Vice President and Head of Travel for the Asia Pacific and Greater China at SAP Concur, shared: 

“In this new normal, emerging expectations around health and safety requires the travel industry to adapt, innovate, and transform. We believe that only with such support can employees confidently resume travel, continue to deliver on work commitments, and service customers as they did before Covid-19.”

On Handling the Change

About 48{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} of the business travellers in APAC said that the actual trip is the most stressful part, an increase in last year’s 31{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}. 21{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} said that they find the preparation for a trip as the most stressful part while 31{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} shared they felt more stressed after a trip.

On Health and Safety

Concerning health and safety while travelling for business, more than two in five respondents said it is their utmost priority. Meanwhile, 17{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} of business travellers still believe that attending to business needs should be their top priority.

91{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} of businesses travellers in APAC had unequivocal concerns on travel resuming. The three countries in the region that had the majority of respondents place personal health and safety as a priority are China (57{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}), Malaysia (55{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}), and Taiwan (53{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}).

Globally, 96{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} identified at least one measure they consider to be critical for their company to implement when travel resumes. These are mandatory personal health screenings for traveling employees (39{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}), limiting business travel to only the most business-critical trips (39{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}), and easier access to personal protective equipment like gloves or facemasks (33{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}).

On Company Accountability

When business travel resumes, business travellers expect their companies to be accountable for ensuring their health and safety. To boost morale and confidence of business travellers, organisations are expected to endorse only approved and safe airlines and hotels; properly communicate changing ground situations; and provide accessible 24/7 assistance.

Helping the Business Travel Community

Aside from this survey that can help organisations strategise for their employees’ business trips, SAP Concur also recently launched a Traveler Resource Center in TripIt, which is a collection of resources including public health and safety advisories, cancellation policies and new travel guidelines to aid business travellers safely plan their next trip.

To further support the business travel segment, SAP Concur will hold the SAP Concur Travel Industry Summit on 17 September 2020. The one-day complimentary virtual event is designed to encourage cross-industry, government, and business community dialogue in addressing the current and future needs of business travel.

The post SAP Concur Studies Business Travel in the Asia Pacific appeared first on InsideSAP Asia.

In 2017, the World Travel and Tourism Council, a leading industry body, and Travelport, a U.S.-based travel commerce platform reported that business travel within Asia has grown twice the pace of the rest of the world and is anticipated to overtake the top-spending Americas within 10 years. Today, halfway through 2020, the business travel landscape has definitely changed leaving the tourism sector grappling on what business travelers now require. 

As a reliable provider of consumer-grade travel experience backed by innovative technology and vast experience, CWT continues to focus on exemplary B2B4E experience even in these trying times. CWT has expanded its integration with Concur Travel in its RoomIt by CWT entity. Now, CWT clients using Concur Travel can access an enriched source of hotel content by choosing RoomIt by CWT. 

Patrick Andersen, Chief Commercial Officer and President of RoomItby CWT said:

“We are proud to be a part of the first travel management platform to have this innovative connection in place with SAP Concur solutions, to provide an exceptional, consistent booking experience for travelers around the world, as and when they will need it.”

RoomIt and SAP Concur Enhancing B2B4E Experience

The integration with SAP Concur was launched in May 2020 with a phased rollout through the end of 2020, giving CWT’s clients visibility to all hotel content from RoomIt. The initiative offers the travel management company’s clients better mileage by earning more savings and additional reporting capabilities as their employees plan their future travels. As a B2B4E platform, the enhanced rate descriptions across web and mobile improve booking experience, which enables business travelers to get information on the source of the rate and loyalty eligibility. 

Moreover, the CWT and SAP Concur initiative also allows virtual payment for all types of rates, eliminating the need for corporate travelers to use their personal or corporate credit cards when paying for their travel expenses. 

Max Miller, Vice President TMC Business Development at SAP Concur stated: 

“Since the beginning, we have remained true to our focus on offering personalized choice for our customers.”

“CWT has embraced the SAP Concur ecosystem, extending the power of Concur Travel by providing an even more personalized customer experience for hotel bookings with RoomIt by CWT. This exemplifies the kind of ecosystem collaboration intended to keep the customer at the center of our partnerships,” he added.

Headquartered in Minneapolis, CWT has extended presence in the Asia Pacific and EMEA providing corporations consulting, travel, and events management solutions. As one of the world’s leading digital travel management companies, CWT offers travel programs to organisations of all sizes to help them engage employees and encourage productivity while working in the field. CWT also takes pride in its integrated myCWT platform that includes an award-winning mobile app, making travel itinerary planning easier.

As CWT’s hotel distribution arm, RoomIt works seamlessly with hotel operators as well as company and government partners in providing the best choice solution for booking hotels for business travel.

Leveraging innovative end-to-end technology, CWT’s hotel distribution arm supports hotel partners to expand their content offerings and drive more bookings. In the same manner, travel managers can boost compliance levels, cut costs, and keep their corporate travelers, from C-level to sales staffers, satisfied.

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The online survey conducted aimed to get a better understanding of the impact of business travels on individuals. 500 Indian business travelers participated in the online survey, which highlighted the travelers’ priorities in terms of comfort, convenience, and safety for each trip they take. It also noted the top concerns most business travelers in India encounter during their trip.

Indian Web 2 shares some of the highlights from the survey:

SAP Concur travel surveys adoption of travel technologies

When asked about their company’s adoption of technology into its operations, the SAP Concur travel survey revealed that 77{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} of the participants said that their employers are behind in terms of adoption of the latest business travel management technologies.

67{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} of the Indian business travelers said that they believe there is a visible experience gap in technology adoption for tools that handle bookings and expense reporting.

66{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} also rated that there is a lack of adoption for travel safety tools. These travel safety tools include automated safety alerts regarding their point of destination.

Opportunities of improvements on compliance, control, and productivity

32{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} of the business travelers who participated in the survey said that their company usually took 3 to 5 days to process a reimbursement for expenses from a previous business trip.

56{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} of these participants said that there is a higher chance for their travel expense reimbursements to be processed on time than having their flights leave on the designated time.

In terms of reporting, 55{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} of Indian business travelers said that they lost money on travel-related business expenses because they forfeited it thinking it was not worth reporting or because their company previously failed to reimburse it.

Skipping safety as a priority

It is alarming that 29{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} of the participants said that they put business first and that only 28{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} said that they prioritise safety.

88{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} said that they had experienced some safety concerns during their business trip within the last 12 months. They also added that business travel is not becoming easier or less stressful as they expected it to be. 36{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} claimed that the most stressful part of their business trip is the actual trip itself.

When it comes to accommodations and location sharing, 68{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} said they changed their travel accommodations because of safety concerns. Meanwhile, 98{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} said that they had shared their locations during the trip which 9{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} greater than the global average of 91{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}.3 out of 4 travelers surveyed said that it was for safety reasons which make up 73{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} which is second to Mexico which has a response rate of 76{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}.

Millennials and current events

50{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} of millennial business travelers claimed to have selected flights based on the aircraft type. This is 2{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} higher than the responses from Gen Xers and 21{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} higher than that of Boomers.

52{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} have claimed that they reduced traveling to a certain location due to potential health hazards and political unrest. This is 9{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} higher than the responses from Gen X participants and 2{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} higher than Boomer participants.

When it comes to booking, 73{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} of the Indian business travelers said that they prefer to book via travel agencies online. 45{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} said that booking a hotel via a mobile app is their most desired service with booking air travel following behind with 41{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}.

Female travelers’ concerns and harassment

Alarmingly, 87{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} of female Indian business travelers experienced harassment during the trip. 62{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} said that they had suffered the indignity of being asked if they traveled with their husbands.

Mankiran Chowhan, SAP Concur India’s Managing Director, noted the potentials of the Indian market in adopting automated travel technologies. He also highlighted India’s fast-paced transition in the business travel market and that safety and security is a must for business travelers. He said:

“…at SAP Concur, we are constantly innovating to help organizations streamline and integrate their travel, expense, and invoice solutions, enabling them to prioritize duty of care.

Additionally, Christopher A. Juneau, SAP Concur’s Senior Vice President for Global Cloud Strategic Programs, noted how societal issues and employee experiences affect the way people travel. He said:

“While companies continue to try and maximize traveler satisfaction, the reality is that employees are hungry for more empathy, guidance, and better technology as they run into both common frustrations and unique individual concerns, leaving room for improvement among organizations of all sizes.”

The post Biz Travelers Respond to SAP Concur Travel Survey appeared first on InsideSAP Asia.

Andy Watson, Senior Vice President & General Manager of SAP Concur Asia Pacific Japan and Greater China said,

“APJ and Greater China is an important region for SAP’s core business. With the rapid economic development and pivoting of global businesses, this region is poised to expand even further as the largest business travel spending region globally.”

He expressed that he is honored to deliver SAP Concur solutions in the region to help businesses simplify and manage the complexities of a growing travel cost component while ensuring compliance and duty of care for their employee.

In a recent article by TechBarrista, Watson’s “Decluttering Your Business Travels” is compared to transforming a chaotic home into a neat abode that sparks joy with reference to the KonMari Method. He said that with the right methods and technological ingenuity, it’s possible to turn business travel from pain to pleasure.

Business travelers simply need less time doing multiple tasks so they can focus on their agenda, be it attending a conference, visiting their HQ or closing a deal.

SAP Concur helps organizations and business travelers in the following aspects:

Enhanced Mobility and Efficiency

The SAP Concur solutions are accessible on a smartphone or on a tablet, even on the cloud to deliver an effortless experience for employees and total transparency into spending, helping organizations of all sizes, industries, and locations run better.

“This integration ability lets travelers save time on bookings and leverage a B2C experience while staying within the policy needs of their company. These features are particularly attractive for millennial travelers. And that’s an important demographic for corporates and travel companies to cater to,” explained Watson.

According to UNWTO World Tourism Barometer, Asian millennials spend on international travel is expected to increase by 1.6 times to US$340 billion by 2020. In Singapore, Expedia found that 84{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} of millennials travel at least once a year, higher than baby boomers (73{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}) and Generation X (82{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}).

Better Visibility

The SAP Concur connected travel and expense, allowing organizations to get a new level of visibility into spending – before, during and after the trip was completed.

Watson said that the Finance Team also benefits from the data of employees’ bookings across multiple channels giving them more visibility and greater insights, so they can apply policy on direct bookings and better manage compliance and approvals as well as anticipate needs, predict challenges, identify opportunities on the fly, and tackle everything from taxes and compliance risk to mobile phone expenses and fraud.

Going Paperless

With SAP Concur, pictures of paper receipts or e-receipts for reimbursements can now be submitted instantly. By automating the expense management process, SAP Concur would make expense reporting a whole lot easier for employees and get them reimbursed faster, saving companies time and money.

“Without doubt, technology can free employees of the mundane hindrances of travel, giving them a clear mind to get their business done. With business travel within Asia growing at twice the pace of the rest of the world, China being the world’s largest business travel market, and India and Indonesia forecast to be the globe’s fastest expanding markets over the next five years (clocking 11.3{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} and 8.7{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} respectively in compound annual growth), the time for firms to take action and put some joy into their travel and expense experience is now,” Watson said.

Last year, SAP Concur won Cloud Solution of the Year at the Inflection Awards in Mumbai.

Read “Decluttering Your Business Travels” by Andy Watson.

The post SAP Concur Solutions Decluttering Business Travel Landscape in APAC appeared first on InsideSAP Asia.

The new solution will allow enterprise and employees to effectively monitor and analyse spend, and move companies towards paperless invoice management.

Boothai Hoh, managing director, Concur Greater China, said, “The Concur e-Fapiao solution provides real-time access to an employee’s receipt, streamlining the financial management and travel and expense claims process. It showcases the value of the ecosystem built by Concur, and our network of business suppliers, and helps Chinese users process their expenses in an easy, accurate and paperless way.”

The e-Fapiao integration, which was built by Pactera, a Concur China platform partner, allows users to transfer fapiao information from their WeChat Wallet into their Concur WeChat official Account, which will automatically feed into Concur’s Expense solution.

Concur is expanding its business travel ecosystem globally and locally, with CTrip, Didi Chuxing, Airbnb and other Chinese and foreign business travel suppliers now part of its network.

The WeChat e-Fapiao Connector is available in the Concur App Center: https://www.concur.com/app-center.

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