Feature: Expense Management ➔
Padgett describes Breeze as a template-based approach which users can sign up for and use in about five minutes, thus eliminating contracts and lengthy deployment. “With Breeze it’s a case of offering all the capability that is appropriate for SMEs. You get mileage, you get VAT, good simple reporting capabilities and simple low-cost deployment and it’s a typical transaction based model so it’s easy to budget for,” says Padgett. Concur has also developed versions of Breeze available as mobile applications for iPhone, BlackBerry and Android devices. Padgett says tools such as Breeze reflect the company’s focus on servicing the traveller and not just the business or the travel buyer. And he adds that Concur’s recent acquisition of itinerary planning service TripIt is further proof of this focus: “TripIt really advances our mobile strategy and we want to get closer to the business travellers and TripIt really lends itself to the SME space.” The company clearly sees the mobile space as
one area where expense management services will develop, but Padgett says the tools and functionality are not likely to evolve that much further because travellers want to keep it simple. “They need a simple tool at an effective price
point and it does not get more convoluted than that. In the UK about 95 per cent of companies are SMEs so if you can deliver a product that covers the basic need then it’s a pretty effective business model,” says Padgett. Echoing these thoughts is Concur user Harley-Davidson Europe, whose assistant financial controller David Marriott says the company chose to adopt a web-based expense management tool to increase flexibility for employees, because of the software’s ease of use, and the backup support services including auditing and electronic receipt handling. “Previously we completed administration manually which took up approximately 50 per cent of one person's time,” says Marriott. ”Concur has saved all of that time. The workload has been pushed out to individuals and allows us to implement expense policy rules inside the system to better clarify VAT on invoices, which means our financial data is less prone to human error.” Going forward, Marriott sees further integration
of the Concur system across its six European subsidiaries as well as the potential to use the online booking tool Cliqbook. Although Concur's Padgett believes in the need
to keep the basic tools simple, he sees evolution in other services such as travel information and ground-handling elements that could be built into the overall offering.
WHAT’S ON THE MARKET
• Atriis Technologies • Concur Breeze (UK launch expected Q2/Q3 2011); Concur Expense already available
• GetThere • KDS: KDS Corporate, KDS Express • Meridian Global Services: Expenseflo • SpendVision
“Business travellers will demand more technological innovation. They are being bombarded via smartphone with all these great new things so a single, seamless experience becomes really important,” says Padgett. GetThere’s director for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Jason Geall, agrees that consumer technology will continue to drive demand for innovation in the corporate space. However, he believes that although SMEs will follow larger corporations into expense management, it will take some time because the sector is still embracing online booking tools. Geall also believes that technology suppliers
“Integrating the booking and expense management process and taking them online can pay for itself more than ten times over”
and other efficiencies by actively using that information. Experts see the information reporting and expense management process coming together to provide companies with a much bigger picture of their travel and expense behaviour. “In the very nature of an SME there is typically more direct
face a big challenge in making their services relevant to the users. “The challenge is to provide meaningful technology that competes with what the end user gets in the consumer market. You have to look at the impact of social media and how things are becoming so much easier to do. Technology providers will have to evolve,” says Geall. Despite the hurdles on both sides, he says his
own personal experience of working within an SME has shown that integrating the booking and expense management process and bringing them into the online environment pays for itself more than ten times over in terms of efficiency and wasted man hours. Further evolution in the expense management
arena could also come in how companies use the information they gather during the process. For many smaller companies it is currently about capturing information accurately. Further down the road they may be able to realise cost savings
control of expenses because senior management is closer to the coalface,” says Nigel Meyer, HRG’s director of group technology and data services. “The technology is now available to SMEs and it allows them to get good control of payments and processes and get a good visual of their cash flow,” he adds. Meridian Global Services also sees further integration in the back-end processes such as allowances, taxation and receipts. “The end-to-end element will become increasingly important,“ says the company's Adam Smith. “People will start to use expense tools not just for travel and expense but for spend management, and take feeds from employee credit cards and lodging cards because clients don’t necessarily use data to its maximum potential.” One further potential future trend is for SMEs
to set up a niche social network. Amadeus' head of global commercials for corporations, Jason Long, suggests a Facebook-style set up specifically for SMEs where they can buy and sell more effectively and take advantage of online technologies. Concur’s Padgett is also a proponent of the
idea but questions whether SMEs would want to devote the time and effort to it and, ultimately, whether suppliers would take it seriously.
58 I THE BUSINESS TRAVEL MAGAZINE
BIGSTOCKPHOTO.COM
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