Last May, Dr Carl Jones — who was then the Regional Vice President and Head of Strategy at SAP Concur Asia Pacific (APAC) and Greater China — has been selected as Vice Chair of the Global Business Travel Association’s (GBTA) Global Sustainability Committee to supervise the region’s interest in developing strategies and solutions for sustainability performance in business travel. Dr Jones has over two decades of experience in the travel and payments market and has served in senior positions in several APAC countries such as Singapore and Thailand. His GBTA appointment further strengthens SAP and SAP Concur’s roles as market leaders in supporting organizations in incorporating sustainability into their business travel.

In his new role as SAP Concur SEA MD, Dr Jones’ responsibilities will include managing multiple business units in the market and operational support networks to improve sales processes, product pricing policies, and value propositions. In addition to this, he will represent SAP Concur on strategic initiatives such as Climate 21, which is the German software giant’s corporate effort and well-known global sustainability program aimed at building analytical and transactional capabilities into foundational enterprise applications to assist customers in better understanding and reducing the impact of their carbon footprints.

Commenting on his latest appointment, Dr Jones said in a statement:

“It is an exciting time to be leading SAP Concur efforts in SEA to engage businesses in transforming corporate travel, spend management, and employee experience while striving to help our customers achieve their sustainability goals.”

Moreover, Dr Jones believes that the present time is crucial for the development of more sustainable business practices, as it marks a shift in emphasis from restricted concerns about corporate travel to those that affect the industry as a whole. His statement comes after a recent survey found that 81% of Malaysian companies take environmental impact into account when planning business trips.

“The research findings represent a significant departure from the pre-pandemic days where Malaysian organizations were more concerned about travel cost savings than the environmental impact of their actions,” he explained.

Leading the SAP Concur Team in South East Asia

From January 2018 until May 2021, Dr Jones served as SAP Concur’s Vice President and Head of Travel for APAC. In this role, he was responsible for the commercial development of the company’s product line and ecosystem for its corporate travel range, including gaining a better understanding of customer needs, integrating cutting-edge technologies, and collaborating with key suppliers across Asia and Greater China.

As previously mentioned, he also held the position of Regional Vice President and Head of Strategy at SAP Concur APAC and Greater China from May 2021 to August 2022. In this role, he oversaw the development and alignment of the company’s regional strategic projects in cooperation with all market units throughout Asia, from Korea and China to India and SEA and Australia, as well as within the SAP Cloud Services organization. Together with other major expenditure and financial partners (banks and financial technology providers, among others), he supervised the FSI Enterprise strategy for APAC and helped propel the region’s business growth.

Sharing his thoughts about Dr Jones’ appointment as the new SAP Concur SEA MD, Matt Goss, Senior Vice President and General Manager of SAP Concur for Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ) and Greater China, stated that Dr Jones’ leadership and established experience will enable the team to achieve great success. According to Goss, he has “full confidence” that the SAP Concur SEA business will continue to expand significantly in the region and become a trusted partner to clients as they search for new methods to increase efficiency, maximize visibility, and improve control.

The post SAP Team in SEA Welcomes New SAP Concur MD appeared first on InsideSAP Asia.

TEG’s status as a premier institution for education from pre-K through graduate school in Malaysia, Singapore, and Vietnam was earned throughout the course of its 60-year history. The Malaysia-based education holdings company is always striving to deliver educational excellence at every stage of its students’ journeys by leveraging the resources of Taylor’s University, the British University of Vietnam, Taylor’s College, and a network of highly successful international schools.

In November last year, global investment firm KKR and TEG announced the signing of agreements that will result in KKR acquiring a minority ownership in Taylor’s Schools. Taylor’s Schools is the owner and operator of six international schools, all of which have won prestigious accolades. These are Taylor’s International School Puchong, Taylor’s International School Kuala Lumpur, Australian International School Malaysia, Nexus International School Malaysia, Nexus International School Singapore, and Garden International School. The investment made by KKR sets the stage for Taylor’s Schools to experience accelerated growth and regional expansion.

According to Puven Nalatambi, Vice President of Group Human Resources at TEG, the company made the decision to redesign its human resources (HR) systems and processes in order to strengthen its track record as one of the leading education providers in Malaysia, Singapore, and Vietnam. The goal of the transformation project was to enable the team to deliver meaningful and engaging experiences that would assist employees in learning, growing, and becoming even more productive.

TEG’s goal in updating its HR information systems (HRIS) to a centralized platform was to allow its HR professionals more time to focus on the employee experience rather of mundane administrative responsibilities. Furthermore, the company will be better prepared for the next 50 years of business by creating a dynamic, engaging workplace through the implementation of an HR Shared Services Centre that centralizes HR activities and gives employees access to self-service features.

Leveraging SAP SuccessFactors and SAP Concur Solutions

TEG teamed up with NTT DATA, an SAP Partner with more than three decades of experience with SAP technologies, to help design and build its new centralized HR platform and the resulting experiences. It can be noted that NTT DATA made a major impact by introducing best practices from industry leaders in the field of human resources, which aided TEG in keeping abreast of the latest developments and pinpointing spots in its own HR infrastructure and procedures that needed attention.

“Working with the SAP SuccessFactors team and NTT Data, TEG was also able to localize the solutions for different markets to fulfill legal mandates and gain peace of mind. With the SAP SuccessFactors and SAP Concur solutions in place, TEG now has a powerful platform to help transform the employee experience,” Nalatambi explained.

Furthermore, Nalatambi stated that SAP solutions are assisting TEG in its ongoing digital transformation journey, which aims to streamline HR procedures, increase employee satisfaction, and solidify TEG’s status as an employer of choice in the education industry. She added:

“Using SAP SuccessFactors HXM Suite in offering a one-stop solution for all our employees’ HR needs is a transformative step. It shows our people that we are putting their experience at the centre of everything we do.”

Meanwhile, SAP SEA Vice President and the company’s current Head of Cloud SAP’s Cynthia Quah shared that the tech giant is dedicated to helping businesses become sustainable, intelligent enterprises. She noted that the market-leading cloud solution SAP SuccessFactors is a human experience management (HXM) product that is well-known for its ability to streamline procedures, succeed in the recruitment and retention process, and educate and re-skill employees.

“SAP brings together the solutions, technology and best practices needed to run integrated, digital business processes in the cloud,” Quah concluded.

The post TEG Transforms EX with SAP SuccessFactors and SAP Concur appeared first on InsideSAP Asia.

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.

The post Aeromexico to Adopt SAP Concur Travel Expense System appeared first on InsideSAP Asia.

Business travel is, once again, ticking back up after Omicron’s unexpected surge earlier this year, which almost brought travel policies back to square one. While it’s true that virtual meetings have become indispensable now, it is also true that corporate travel remains irreplaceable in fulfilling critical business demands. In the Asia Pacific, travel is returning to both international (50%) and domestic (70%) pre-pandemic volumes according to the recently released SAP Concur study.

Since 2020, SAP Concur, the travel and expense management entity of software multinational SAP, has been studying the pulse of business travellers worldwide in partnership with credible research companies to get a better perspective of the impacts of COVID-19. The latest SAP Concur report focused on Asia Pacific companies’ readiness for sustainable business travel was conducted in partnership with Consulting Group – Asia Insight, a Singapore-based market research firm.

APAC Ready for Sustainable Business Travel

Matthew Goss, Senior Vice President & General Manager, Asia Pacific and Greater China, SAP Concur, explained that research findings revealed that APAC businesses have demonstrated a significant shift from the pre-pandemic era when cost savings were more prioritised than the environmental impacts of corporate travel. He explained:

“I believe that as flying time reduced, and emissions dropped during Covid-19 lockdowns, organisations realised the possibilities of sustainable travel, and stakeholders became more motivated to take action. This shift of focus to bigger picture issues is a pivotal moment – not just for businesses to run better and be more profitable, but for more sustainable business practices to take root.”

The SAP Concur APAC Sustainability Survey defined sustainable travel vis-à-vis the company’s capabilities to make informed travel choices; track and manage results, and demonstrate environmental impact measurably. According to the report, 76% of APAC organisations are passionate about embedding sustainability measures in their business travel programmes, with 39% having all stakeholders engaged while 61% requiring implementation support.

Here are the key highlights of the SAP Concur sustainability survey:

• 71% of APAC companies agree that technology is critical to helping them become sustainable enterprises, of which 38% already utilising software to support corporate travel and expense management and 33% planning to adopt one soon

• Sustainable travel programmes are perceived to increase operational efficiency (70%), drive positive brand awareness and reputation externally (67%), and reduce costs (66%)

• Limited budget (37%); lack of policy flexibility and adaptability (31%); lack of employee engagement (32%); and lack of professional tools to visualise the environmental impact of travel (31%) were identified as top barriers in designing a strong sustainable travel plan 

• APAC organisations are considering alternative modes of travel to drive sustainability such as the use of trains (30%) over airplanes with 76% of respondents willing to shift from plane to train, for at least 20% of existing travels– especially relevant in China and Japan where high-speed trains are available

• About 65% of APAC companies are incentivising their employees who use electric vehicles, allowing them to reimburse EV charging costs

The report suggested that to achieve a sustainable business travel programme, organisations must adjust policies to equip travellers to make sustainable choices; harness technology to have visibility on the programme’s impact, and prove the company’s commitment to all its constituents.

“It’s clear from the study that organisations are brimming with interest and intent to embrace sustainable travel,” added Goss. “For those that lack implementation know-how, technology could point a way forward – in terms of helping guide employees to sustainable itinerary options, tracking emissions, and ultimately formulating more efficient and sustainable travel strategies. Firms should examine how these tools can support their broader sustainability goals.”

The post APAC Companies Push for Sustainable Business Travel appeared first on InsideSAP Asia.

During SAP’s Q4 2021 Earnings Conference Call, SAP CEO Christian Klein noted that the company’s success with its Business Transformation as a Service (BTaaS) offering RISE with SAP helped to propel the company’s SAP S/4HANA initiative forward. He added that SAP currently has nearly 5,000 S/4HANA cloud customers and that the company’s win rate against competitors in the fourth quarter was more than 70{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22}. Klein further detailed:

“Many large customers are moving to S/4HANA enabled by RISE with SAP. This includes CVS, Panasonic, IBM and Standard Chartered Bank and a number of wins overall, including Siemens, Philippine Airlines, Allianz Technology, and Jungheinrich.”

“One of our customers, Philippine Airlines, is ready to take advantage of the anticipated recovery in travel. They chose SAP for our comprehensive understanding of the airline industry and its key business courses,” he revealed.

To help the company achieve its goal of a comprehensive digital transformation, PAL has forged a partnership with NTT DATA Philippines to assist the organisation in implementing SAP’s intelligent enterprise solutions. As the Philippines’ only full-service network airline and a pioneer in the aviation industry, PAL Senior Vice President of Finance and Chief Financial Officer Nilo Thaddeus Rodriguez stated that the company is committed to utilising 21st Century innovative solutions to increase the efficiency of its business operations. He explained:

“A true digital transformation will strengthen interdepartmental collaboration and promote sound decision-making as we tackle the challenges of global competition. This will benefit our customers who look to us for reliable service as the nation’s flag carrier and largest international airline.”

Furthermore, the modernisation program intends to enable PAL in boosting operational productivity, improving enterprise decision-making skills, and enhancing the employee experience by implementing new technologies.

Partnering with NTT DATA to Implement SAP’s Intelligent Enterprise Solutions

As an SAP global strategic partner with a presence in more than 30 countries, NTT DATA collaborates with the German tech giant to improve industry-specific solutions needed to support organisations in their digital transformation journeys. The company recently received the SAP Asia Pacific Japan Award for Partner Excellence 2022 for SAP Concur Solutions. SAP and NTT DATA, both of which have a significant global footprint, have been working closely to leverage the former’s Industry Cloud solutions and the latter’s business services and industry expertise, as well as integration accelerators.

Relying on NTT DATA’s capabilities in SAP implementation and management, PAL’s modernisation project — which started during the COVID-19 pandemic — incorporates different SAP solutions into the company’s respective business processes. These include SAP S/4HANA enterprise resource planning (ERP) platform on Microsoft Azure, SAP SuccessFactors Human Experience Management (HXM), and SAP Concur’s expense management solutions.

According to PAL Senior Vice President for Supply Chain Management Alvin Kendrich Limqueco, NTT DATA and SAP are expected to contribute to equipping the PAL management with accurate data so that they can make informed decisions that enable them to quickly adjust to change.

“This project will help make PAL stronger, more agile, and more resilient as we continue to fulfill our mission of bridging the Philippines and the world with our signature Buong Pusong Alaga or heartfelt service,” he said.

SAP Southeast Asia (SAP SEA) President and Managing Director Verena Siow dubbed the project as a strategic partnership that the company truly envisioned. She said that it is a market-making collaboration and well beyond the Philippines, SEA, and SAP globally.

The post SAP’s Intelligent Enterprise Solutions to Back PAL’s Digital Transformation appeared first on InsideSAP Asia.

The penetration of the cloud market continues to accelerate along with the rapid rise of the new digital economy caused by the global COVID-19 pandemic. In Korea, SAP’s cloud strategy seems to have worked well as the company recorded a 2.9{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} growth in sales and a 68.5{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} increase in profit last year. According to Lee Seong-yeol, Chief Executive Officer at SAP Korea, the company is supplying almost all of its products, including SAP ERP (enterprise resource planning), under the ‘cloud first’ policy. He explained:

“In particular, many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are newly introducing cloud-based ERP. In the case of upgrading to S/4HANA, the next-generation ERP of the company, or switching from using a third-party product, most choose the cloud method.”

Furthermore, Lee emphasised that it has become increasingly important for organisations to introduce a standardised process to increase operational efficiencies. He noted that SAP ERP is used as a global standard so companies are adopting it quickly without hesitation. Adding to the growing list of companies utilising solutions from the enterprise software giant is Soulbrain — a company that manufactures semiconductor and electronic related chemical materials with a customer base in both domestic and overseas markets, including the United States, China, and Malaysia.

Just recently, the South Korean branch of SAP has announced that it will support Soulbrain’s business transformation using several solutions such as SAP S/4HANA, SAP Concur, and SAP Fiori. Lee said that Soulbrain’s successful transition to the next-generation ERP platform is a good case reference for companies that want to take on the same path or consider converting SAP ECC to S/4HANA. 

“We plan to introduce Soulbrain’s successful ERP upgrade cases to several global customers in the future,” the SAP Korea CEO stated.

Soulbrain Korea Drives Innovation With SAP ERP Implementation

Soulbrain initially migrated the old SAP ECC version to S/4HANA, which is based on an in-memory database, and then moved the entire SAP system to the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud. With the help of long-standing SAP Partner and technology consultancy BSG Partners, the company also utilised the intelligent applications of SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP), including the SAP Fiori UI platform and SAP Integration Suite.

BSG Partners aims to deliver value to customers by leveraging various enterprise Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and cloud-based infrastructure and technological expertise. Commenting on the collaboration with Soulbrain, Dae-hyun Oh, Executive Vice President at BSG, said:

“Based on our long experience in SAP and AWS, we have built trust as a strategic partner to support innovation in Soulbrain’s company-wide business processes, including research, purchasing, production, sales, sales, and human resources.”

Meanwhile, Soulbrain Co. Ltd. Director Gu Min said that with the support of top management, the projects are so far displaying tangible results such as strengthening the company’s capabilities in each field. He maintained:

“We will continue to think about how to use the new IT for management in the future.”

The SAP ERP implementation and deployment of other SAP solutions helped Soulbrain to achieve the following results:

• Standardised and transformed company-wide IT processes by maximising the use of data.
• Minimised system building and operating costs, as well as secured the agility of IT assets.
• Enhanced quality and improved productivity by reducing the defect rate.
• Increased operational efficiency by analysing key challenges during the manufacturing process to reflect data-based improvement results.
• Visualising management data in real-time for better decision-making and future-proofing.

Finally, the introduction of SAP Concur solutions assisted Soulbrain in integrating and managing all aspects of financial expenses, including expense processing, business trips, and tax invoice processing, in order to maximise expense management efficiency and reduce costs caused by errors at all levels.

The post SAP ERP Implementation Advances Soulbrain Korea’s IT Operations appeared first on InsideSAP Asia.

The global pandemic has accelerated the adoption of automation across multiple business functions to ensure organisations remain agile, resilient, and competitive.  In the spend management area, now more than ever, automated and connected spend data across multiple finance functions reflects true business resilience.

Best-in-class businesses have invested in expense management automation, including the adoption of mobile apps and tools, to provide visibility into spend and budget as well as support the workforce in their transition to remote working. A recent survey by Aberdeen Research revealed that global best-in-class companies are 13{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} more likely to have mobile apps designed for making expense and supplier invoice approvals, and 10{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} more likely to have mobile apps designed for capturing expense receipts and submitting invoices immediately after incurring them.

KB Securities, one of the biggest investment banks in Korea that offers full-service capabilities and a diversified business portfolio, is one of the enterprises that has recently embarked on an expense management automation journey to enhance the company’s inefficient expense management system that relies on many manual processes. The firm tapped leading business travel and expense management provider SAP Concur to deliver expense management automation leveraging select solutions namely SAP Concur Expense, SAP Concur Invoice, and SAP Concur Intelligence as well as expense processing mobile app SAP Concur Mobile with Single Sign-On that simplifies access management.

Expense Management Automation Delivering Results

SAP Concur Expense simplifies and automates expense reports by pre-populating charges from credit cards, select suppliers, and receipt photos, ensuring compliance and accurate expense claims while SAP Concur Invoice enables businesses to automate Accounts Payable (AP) management, driving efficiency, profitability, and visibility into spending. 

On the other hand, SAP Concur Intelligence empowers organisations to gain actionable insights into expense, travel, and AP data through dashboards and reports built on best practices. SAP Concur Mobile app offers convenience to employees and managers in completing all expense reporting tasks with a mobile device.

Sharing about the remarkable outcomes SAP Concur solutions brought to the investment bank, Han Jeong-ho, Managing Director of KB Securities’ Business Planning Division, said:

“While the existing system was inefficient and highly depended on human resources for business progress, SAP Concur’s automation system allowed us to significantly increase work efficiency. Based on the SAP Concur solution, innovative expense management became possible by improving work efficiency, compliance with pre-applied regulations, and improvement of problems that may occur due to omissions or errors in evidence.” 

Here are the notable results achieved by KB Securities upon implementing SAP Concur expense management solutions:

• Increased work efficiency 
• Improved the compliance rate of employees based on pre-defined regulations 
• Enabled employees to handle their expenses through the mobile app, improving work productivity
• Streamlined expense management between employees and the accounting department with the solutions’ capability to automatically control out-of-regulation expenses by applying expense-related regulations that meet the company guidelines

Expressing SAP’s commitment to supporting KB Securities’ digital transformation, Seong-Yeol Lee, CEO of SAP Korea, said:

“We are delighted to be able to build an innovative next-generation expense management solution in KB Securities, a subsidiary of KB Financial Group, one of the top financial groups in Korea.” 

The post KG Securities Embarks on Expense Management Automation with SAP Concur appeared first on InsideSAP Asia.

Globe’s continuous business growth, innovation, and social responsibility can be attributed to the robust transformation of the telecom’s internal processes in the area of finance, supply chain, and employee experience. The collaborative partnership with SAP, which dates back to 1999, has enabled Globe to achieve a purpose-led digital transformation journey harnessing various SAP cloud applications to replace several legacy systems and automate manual processes.

Winning against two equally competent contenders the National University of Singapore and Singapore Power Ltd., Globe was named The Game Changer in the inaugural SAP Best Run Awards 2021 for SEA. Globe migrated to SAP HANA DB and SAP S/4HANA as well as implemented SAP Ariba, SAP Concur, SAP IBP, SAP Fieldglass, SAP Jam, and additional modules in SAP S/4HANA and SAP Fiori to enable its internal systems and processes to cope with the growing transactions and complex business requirements. The digital event recognised Globe and other leading organisations that successfully transformed their businesses and championed innovation amidst a disruptive economy by leveraging SAP products and services.

SAP Philippines Managing Director Edler Panlilio commended Globe’s business transformation efforts in his letter to Globe President and CEO Ernest Cu. He said:

“Globe’s powerful story of transformation, agility, and resilience will continue to inspire and influence businesses across Southeast Asia, and we can’t wait to see what other opportunities await you next year. I look forward to building on our partnership, and am confident we can innovate and excel together as a stronger Southeast Asia.” 

Transforming with SAP Cloud-Based Solutions

With the company’s rapid business growth, Globe faced several challenges in some of its internal business processes such as the limited availability of accurate and timely data; inefficient and non-value-adding repetitive processes in the sourcing, procurement, and invoice payment processing areas; poor employee experience from manual processes in reimbursement, liquidation, and revolving fund operational expenses; and stock shortage due to non-system assisted forecasting and planning, among others.

Adapting the SDA principle (Simple, Digital, Agile) principle and harnessing SAP cloud-based solutions, Globe was able to streamline processes and embrace a re-architectured scalable system landscape that propelled its transformation journey. 

“Our migration resulted in savings of 14,200 hours and 99.99{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} uptime. More importantly, it allowed us to not drop the ball on our enterprise-wide financial tracking and allowed full work-from-home when the pandemic surprised the whole world,” said Globe Chief Finance Officer Rizza Maniego-Eala.

Here are some of the outstanding results achieved by Globe:

• Decommissioned 7 legacy systems into SAP as the digital core: 5 on-premise procurement systems, a travel request web application, and an inventory system.
• Minimised management of infrastructure due to implementation of cloud-based Software-as-a-Service platforms.
• 57{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} reduced processing time was achieved with Ariba Invoice Management 
• 250{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} increase of auto invoice utilisation with 30-60 days SLA improvement with SAP Fieldglass 
• ~33k hours/year saved across different groups with an average of 48,000/year expense reports with Concur (Pre-Quarantine Period) and 88{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} of employees were satisfied with Concur Travel and Expense
• Simplified asset acquisition, valuation, and reporting through new asset accounting in SAP S/4HANA 
• Better inventory visibility, targeted 70{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} improved processing time with SAP Fiori
• eSignature Management’s environmental savings- 78 trees, 270k litres of water, 26k kg of carbon, and 1.8k kg of waste

“S/4HANA migration paved the way for the Globe Finance Transformation Journey. Along with implementing quick wins and standard solutions such as Investment Management, the business process reviews conducted during the implementation helped us identify other opportunities where we can do further automation to achieve Touchless Finance Operations. Globe Telecom’s implementation of S/4HANA was very timely because we were able to sustain our operations even during a 100{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} work-from-home set-up without any major hiccups.” said Menchit Briones, Finance and Control Division Head.

The post SAP Cloud-Based Solutions Enable Globe’s Business Transformation appeared first on InsideSAP Asia.

SAP Concur, the world’s leading brand for integrated travel, expense, and invoice management solutions, is moving on from the extremely challenging 2020 that has gravely impacted its transactional yearend revenue. The travel and expense unit of SAP remains committed to supporting its customers and partners with intelligent solutions and digital events to help them thrive in the post-pandemic world.

In January, SAP Concur released Concur Tax Assurance by VATBox and Concur Detect by Oversight– two new solution extensions delivered through the SAP Concur partner ecosystem to help customers meet broad compliance requirements. 

This month, the inaugural global SAP Concur Fusion 2021 will be launched on the 16th-18th for Americas and 17th-19th for EMEA and APAC to celebrate its customers and boost engagement within SAP’s integrated partner ecosystem. Furthermore, the SAP Concur Innovation Awards will be recognising top customers’ remarkable achievements in implementing digital, innovative, and purpose-driven business practices.

SAP Innovation Awards 2021 APAC Nominees

SAP Concur has announced the 11 nominees from APAC that have digitalised their travel and expense (T&E) processes amidst the COVID-19 climate. By embracing modern and automated T&E systems through SAP Concur, these enterprises have brought change and created a remarkable impact, both locally and globally, on their employees, their business, and their communities.

Doosan Digital Innovation (DDI), a global IT service provider headquartered in Jongno-Gu, Seoul, has achieved operational efficiencies such as shortened business hours, improved ease of use, and enhanced employee compliance with expense policies and regulations with SAP Concur.

Getinge Holding B.V & Co. KG, a medical technology company with operations in APAC & MEA, has standardised its expense needs with SAP Concur as the single global solution that would increase transparency, meet local tax compliance rules, robust integration with SAP, and eliminate inefficiencies from using multiple software platforms.

Hinduja Global Solutions (HGS), a service provider headquartered in Bangalore, has implemented SAP Concur that empowered HGS to achieve real-time visibility and control of expenses while enforcing remote working.

Hindustan Coca Cola Beverages (HCCB), one of India’s top FMCG companies, has optimised its Travel Allowance (TA) process by using SAP Concur with GPS tracking and Goods and Services Tax (GST) claimable on hotel spend.

iCare, an insurance provider in Australia, has achieved enhanced visibility over expenses, increased cost savings initiatives, simplified workflow, and submitted timely reports on the completion of credit card reconciliations with SAP Concur.

Keppel Corporation, a Singaporean conglomerate, has partnered with SAP Concur not only to optimise T&E processes but also to leverage its large suite of App Centre partners, which allows Keppel to tap into a wider ecosystem of solutions.

SK Energy International has streamlined its T&E process and enhanced employee experience with SAP Concur.

TCL Overseas Marketing, headquartered in Hong Kong, has accelerated its financial digital transformation with SAP Concur. Through the partnership, TCL has optimised its T&E processes, maintained good supplier partnerships, enhanced employee experiences, and achieved accurate management of internal cash flow.

Toto Asia Oceania, a wholesale and distribution company based in Singapore, has leveraged SAP Concur to simplify T&E processes despite the COVID-19 challenges and support the company’s digital transformation.

Yarra Trams, a tram network in Melbourne, has streamlined its paper trail, eliminated the need for manual data entry for payments related to procurement and finance systems, and has increased visibility of all invoices across the business and the status of those invoices with SAP Concur.

Zensar Technologies, an Indian mid-tier IT services organisation, has achieved compliance levels of 95{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} and improved its process compliance from 70{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} to 95{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} with a significant decrease in disputes and exceptions and has reduced the claim filing time by over 50{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} with SAP Concur.

The winners of the 2021 SAP Concur Innovation Awards will receive:

• A complimentary pass to an SAP Concur Event
• Customer video story
• Recognition at an SAP Concur event in 2021
• Opportunities for recognition throughout the year (PR, social amplification, speaking opportunities)

Know more about the 2021 SAP Concur Innovation Award here.

The post SAP Innovation Awards for Expense Management Names APAC Nominees appeared first on InsideSAP Asia.

The Chinese consumers have been enjoying the convenience and accessibility of non-cash transactions for quite some time now while the rest of the world has just recently embraced mobile payment along with the massive use of mobile devices. Having over 81{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} of smartphone users in the country, China was the global leader in terms of proximity mobile payment adoption in 2019. In a separate online survey conducted by Deloitte China in 2018, the country is well above the global average in terms of managing personal banking accounts and paying for shopping through mobile phones. Mobile payment is replacing bank cards and is becoming the inseparable wallet of Chinese mobile phone users.

Catching on the country’s mobile expense management momentum, SAP Concur has released the next generation Fapiao Capture to support enterprises’ digital transformation journey by driving efficiency and compliance in expense management processes, enhancing employee reimbursement experience, and improving intelligent financial management capabilities.

Business Expense Management Software Only for China

The development of Fapiao Capture reflects one of the goals of SAP Concur’s recently established R&D center in China– to focus on mobile application product development to cater to the developing Chinese enterprises’ user needs. 

Back in 2017, SAP Concur has introduced an electronic fapiao (a Chinese tax receipt) solution, developed to integrate seamlessly into China’s WeChat platform that has a powerful user base. The solution was designed to support the rapid development of the country’s electronic fapiao system. In April 2020, the Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Records announced that they would expand the e-fapiao trial scope to speed up its process for VAT purposes.

Fast-forward to 2021, the world’s leading provider of travel, expense, and invoice management solutions SAP Concur continues to develop intelligent solutions uniquely designed for the evolving Chinese enterprises and their consumers. The recently launched Fapiao Capture, another business expense management software from SAP Concur, addresses the distinctive needs of the Chinese market.

“SAP Concur is committed to helping Chinese enterprises achieve intelligent expense management by integrating innovative technology into the entire process. By creating intelligent travel request, booking, reimbursement, and management for enterprise users, we not only provide employees with a more convenient and relaxed travel booking and reimbursement experience but also enable corporate financial managers to carry out travel approval and management more efficiently and accurately,” Jeff Lam, General Manager of SAP Concur Greater China, said,

The SAP Concur Fapiao Capture focuses on enhancing the Chinese enterprises’ business expense management processes in the following key areas:

Enhanced user experience. The new solution offers an enhanced reimbursement experience for employees by allowing them access to electronically verified information that validates authenticity minus the manual data entry. Once Fapiao Capture is deployed, users can easily obtain paper or e-fapiaos from various channels like WeChat Mini Programs, WeChat wallet, and their photos and upload them to mobile applications or web systems in a click.

Automated expense reporting. The SAP Concur application utilises automation technology to simplify the creation of travel expense reports. It ensures that the expense request and reimbursement process comply with the company’s travel allowance policies. Employees are also able to request travel allowance in the mobile application.

Localised compliance. Specifically developed for China, Fapiao Capture helps enterprises fulfill the authenticity verification requirements for both paper and e-fapiaos in compliance with the country’s tax policies, and laws, and regulations. The new solution leverages AI and Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology in accurately converting fapiaos into electronic data and then interfaces them with the IRS system for authenticity verification. 

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