Driven by rising inflation and the uncertainty of the broader economic climate, corporate travel managers across Asia-Pacific region are intensely focused on stringent cost control.
Jonty Monopoli, senior director of product marketing for Asia Pacific and Greater China at SAP Concur, told TTGmice: “In a survey done in late November 2024, 77 per cent of travel managers had cost control and cost management as a priority for this year (2025).”
Although the direct impact of tariffs on corporate travel is difficult to quantify – Charlie Sultan, president of Concur Travel at SAP Concur, noted that the broader economic landscape necessitates a proactive approach to spending.
He elaborated: “Corporate travel managers can use automation to help reduce their cost. For example, (the implementation of) pre-trip approvals that incorporate policies earlier will help them reduce their costs.”
Sultan also referenced a global study that revealed a 26 per cent improvement in cost management for customers utilising SAP Concur’s travel and expense tool, where the solution leverages AI to create a pre-trip approval estimate that companies can use.
This AI-powered tool can predict the approximate cost of a business trip based on corporate preferences, negotiated discounts, policy, and past booking behaviour, enabling managers to approve or adjust plans before any money is spent. This shifts cost control to an earlier stage, preventing unexpected expenditures.
SAP Concur’s investment in AI extends beyond pre-approvals. The ExpenseIt tool, which parses receipt data from photos, is one such investment.
“We’ve turbocharged the use of generative AI. The system can now accurately capture hotel folio details by about 90 per cent, saving travellers approximately 93 per cent of the time it would take to manually enter such information,” Sultan shared.
Monopoli added that automation not only enhances productivity by freeing up personnel from tedious tasks like processing expense reports, but also meets the expectations of a digitally-savvy workforce accustomed to easy, efficient personal planning tools.
On a quest to constantly improve efficiency, SAP Concur’s new travel product, for instance, has seen 180 enhancements in the five months of the year alone, emphasising self-service and mobile capabilities, Sultan told TTGmice. This allows travellers to manage their bookings and changes directly within the app, reducing reliance on intermediaries and saving time.
Looking ahead, SAP Concur will be part of a broader vision for a unified SAP Business Suite. This ecosystem aims to integrate travel and expense data with other critical business functions like procurement (Ariba) and external workforce management (Fieldglass), Sultan said.
He pointed out that the company is working on “one login to all systems” to enable corporate travel managers to have deeper insights into spending patterns, and identify further opportunities for cost optimisation across the enterprise.
