Digitalization - Integrated Travel Management

Digitization is taking hold. Seven years ago, there was no Apple App Store. Today, there are more than 1.4 million iOS apps that have been downloaded more than a hundred billion times.

Just ten years ago, today's popular e-readers were just an idea and bookstores feared the worst. Today, we can find the new bestseller in seconds and are already diving into the first digital chapters while the bookstore is still busy ordering a case of the printed editions.

We live in a digital world that spans all industries.

A change in the business travel industry as well

In our new mobile, consumer-focused world, there are new innovations for business travelers every day that don't always meet with corporate approval.

User-friendly apps, sharing economy forms, new channels such as social media, mobile payments, and specific offers tailored to the individual needs of the traveler are particularly well received by Generation Y.

And so today in Germany, almost one in three people do not book via the company system, but directly on the provider's website. As a result, companies should adapt to this changed booking trend.

Instead of trying to stop the trend, companies should give travelers the freedoms they would take anyway, within a controlled framework.

At Concur, we're pursuing an integrated platform strategy. We just launched Concur TripLink in Germany - a platform that makes it possible to book directly with partner service providers at corporate rates and in compliance with travel policies.

Travel details that are relevant to the expense report automatically flow into Concur's expense reporting solution, in compliance with data privacy laws.

Germany's largest airline, Lufthansa, has been a TripLink partner from the very beginning. Other partners include Sixt, Lufthansa, Accor, booking.com, Airbnb, United Airways and Air Canada.

Additional partners from all segments of the travel industry will follow. More than 4,700 companies worldwide are already among our TripLink customers.

In addition to integrated platform management, we work on our end-to-end solution every day. So by integrated travel management, we don't just mean the flexibility of being able to book where you want - but also being able to have all the stages of travel management in one solution.

Business travelers are increasingly confronted with dangers such as political crises or natural disasters. Employers must fulfill their duty of care and actively ensure safety on business trips.

You must have answers to the questions

• "Who is currently located where?"
• "What is the current security situation and where can who travel and under what conditions?"

In addition, travel managers are increasingly faced with the question of how to increase traveler satisfaction while keeping them within their policies.

According to a recent study with Techconsult, one-third of business travelers do not always adhere to the specified travel policy. D

he expenditure of business travel is playing an increasingly important role, as the number of business trips is steadily increasing. According to analysis by the VDR business travel association, there were 10.1 million business travelers in 2014, an increase of 1.2 percent over the previous year.

After personnel costs, travel costs are the second largest cost pool in a company and the most difficult to control.

The solution is called "end-to-end": from travel planning to approval, booking, execution, billing, follow-up and risk management, Concur handles all operations through a single tool, addressing security, data and interface requirements.