The Conversation
this has now been superceded by a popular method called NPS or Net Promoter Score. It is based on the likelihood of a customer recomm- ending a company to a friend, and it drives sales targets by these incentive scores. Arguably, the real test of the new-look-and-feel company will be when Concur launches a ground-breaking product at the end of this year. Breeze is targeted squarely at those companies with anything from two to 200 employees, this time the ‘S’ of SMEs. “We’ve always sold to customers based on our business model and now we’re trying to meet two people in a garage,” says Padgett. Concur has spent the last two years building a separate platform for Breeze and re-engineered almost everything so customers can take it out of a box and go. “It’s very simple,” explains Padgett. “It’s an expense reporting tool and concentrates on personal card integration and extends to a mobile platform.” The dilemma they have yet to reconcile is whether it should be free or not. Customers could have it gratis and accept adverts running along the bottom of the screen or be charged a nominal two euros a month. The SME sector supports Concur’s long-term growth plans. Padgett has been at Concur for 14 of its 17-year life and he says that this has been “the most enjoyable period. Morphing into a more consumer company has brought us into a younger industry. Still a large part of our business is the big customers. Can we play in the consumer world?” Time will tell. It’s not just the hardware side of Concur that’s had to morph but the marketing strategy too. The guys in the garages don’t care about how to get rid of fraud or easier tax relationships with auditors, they have a book-keeper to smooth the way. “You have to be really crisp with your messaging,” says Padgett. “Answer the ’why’; what is it that’s going to draw them?” The company hasn’t been standing still on
any front and has seen explosive growth internationally of over 50 per cent per annum. Just two years ago Padgett secured the title of senior VP and GM of Europe, a rather grand title considering it only embraced the UK and one contract, with Dresdner Kleinwort. It was Concur’s first deal outside the US. But on the strength of it, Padgett transferred from Sydney to Amersham and still wonders how head office managed to lure him away from that fabulous harbour city that was perfect for family life. He started building up a team and, spurred on
by the UK deal, he also took on the mantle of EMEA when once again, it only referred to Europe – there was no M, E or A! While the UK was the starting point of international expansion, the real prize was to
"T&E is on every FD’s list but it’s where it appears that matters. At No.7 nothing happens. It’s only when it gets to No.3 that they take action"
conquer France. Here the strategy of organic growth went out the window, another lesson learnt, to “treat each market with tons and tons of respect,” says Padgett. “The real noise around expenses control and compliance and tax issues is the UK but in terms of innovation it’s France, that’s the hub of the travel market. There is a great set of successful companies there, mainly focussed on the domestic market so it made sense to acquire one of them, Etap. They wanted to expand internationally, their cultural alignment was good too and they brought us a well-respected position in the French market. Both founders stayed on with us and we’ve retained all staff and customers.” For now, the UK and France is chugging along nicely, with claimed market share in both countries and the 50 EMEA staff he had in 2007 now 320 across the region. The company’s appetite for growth continues apace. Over the next two years Padgett has his eye on Central Europe, the Benelux countries, Germany and the Nordics, and Asia, particularly China, India and Japan. Breeze will also get them into Latin America and Spain without massive investment. Over the next six months Concur is looking to open offices in Dubai or Abu Dhabi and South Africa to really make that EMEA title mean something. The recurring sense of humility surfaced again with the alliance with Amadeus announced early this year. The plan is to combine their key technologies to find a combined travel and expense management solution that will extend their core offerings. For Concur it means that Cliqbook now benefits from Amadeus’
distribution technology and some 4,000 customers to go for in Europe. Padgett highlights the results of an Amex survey that reveals only seven per cent of companies worldwide have automated their expenses: “It’s still an under-penetrated market.” Despite Concur’s global progress, the Singh brothers remain nervous in case the likes of a Google, Amazon or Microsoft decide to enter the market. “They could wipe us out. I’d like to say that it’s us that’s going to endure, creating low barriers to entry like Breeze. We continue to bring down the cost to customers. Our biggest option is the 'Do Nothing' option so we’ve got to find compelling reasons for customers. “T&E is on every FD’s list but it’s where it appears. At No.7 nothing happens. It’s only when it gets to No.3 that they take action. A company needs to find pain from an audit before they do anything about it.” Nimble on their feet and with plenty of humble
pie at the ready, Padgett and his EMEA team at Concur have lots of pain-reducing solutions to hand that should secure their future.
BARRY PADGETT SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT & GENERAL MANAGER, CONCUR
Barry Padgett is a board member of Concur, one of nine reporting into the executive team. He has been with the company for 14 years and held various roles, including senior director roles in implementation in 1997, business development in 2000 and management of Concur's Asia Pacific region in 2003. He did have a life prior to Concur, at Citibank, before turning his back on large companies and joining a start-up company called Portable Software which later became Concur. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Applied Mathematics from Union College, New York, and a Masters in Software Engineering from Oxford University.
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