SAP Concur: predictions for 2024

SAP Concur, a brand for integrated travel, expense, and invoice management solutions, has unveiled its executives’ predictions for 2024.

For the upcoming year, AI is the connecting thread among SAP Concur executives’ predictions where it is altering how all business is done, and travel, expense, and invoice (TEI) management will be no exception.

Virtual payments simplify reimbursements

Christopher Juneau, head of market strategy, said: “We’ll see business digitalisation efforts go a level deeper - and become substantially more integrated - in 2024. Continued adoption of AI, automation, and virtual forms of payment will drive streamlined processes in TEI. Instead of using a company credit card, employees will be able to expand their use of virtual payments for all business expenses, including travel.

“In turn, we’ll start to see two types of transactions emerge: trusted and exceptions. Most transactions will use trusted payment methods, and AI will quickly validate them as compliant, enabling near-immediate reimbursement. Exceptions will trigger AI-driven, automated audits to ensure compliance. In both cases, payments will be issued faster with more ease, and employees will have more time to focus on what matters most to them and the organisation.”

Boosting confidence

Tom Lavin, chief controlling officer, marketing and solutions, said: “The theme of 2023 is doing more with less, and that will continue to be the case as economic uncertainty carries over into 2024. Although the outlook is improving, global developments including continued inflation, supply chain flux, and geopolitical unrest will have an impact on how businesses operate in the year ahead.

“Organisations should take a realistic approach to planning for 2024, build in some flexibility to course correct as needed, and lean into the benefits of emerging technologies. Embracing AI, automation, and data analysis will help finance teams bring more strategy to the organisational table and find a greater sense of confidence amid the uncertainty.

“And while we aren’t quite there yet, I expect that generative AI will have a very compelling use case in forecasting and budgeting. Finance teams spend significant time on financial planning. Soon, we may be able to ask generative AI to prepare a full budget based on available data from multiple sources, freeing up finance’s time to focus on quality control and decision-making instead of the busy work that goes into budget preparation.”

Predictive analytics for spend management

Tim Lebel, VP and head of spend products, said: “Organisations today have access to a multitude of financial data, but they lack the resources to make sense of it easily and rapidly. Existing spend management tools offer dashboards that compile information in one place for an employee to analyse, which takes time and considerable skill.

“Building on the technological progress that we saw this year, AI - especially generative AI - will begin to change this in 2024, creating an organisational ‘back office’ where computers work together to run the show. We’ll start to see more predictive analytics tools emerge in the year ahead with the capability to analyse data and derive trends, insights, and solutions to inform, improve, and optimise business operations, in spend management and beyond.

“For example, instead of manually analysing the data to make informed guesses, someone in finance, travel, or operations could simply delegate that work to a computer. Using generative AI, the computer could then provide data-backed recommendations - factoring in patterns that a human may never even notice - like the ideal time to book a business trip or the optimal date for a team meeting to minimise travel costs, ensuring the company is using resources in the best way possible.”

Cost-cutting creates business travel tension

Amy Padgett, VP, travel marketing strategy, said: “As organisations hammer out their business travel plans and policies for 2024, another year of budgetary caution will become a source of rising tension with employees. Although budgets may increase, doing more with less in response to inflation will remain the organisational mantra of 2024.

“We’re already seeing friction between employees and employers regarding flexibility and hybrid work. Increasing Gen Z workforce representation will also drive employers to adopt the latest technologies and treat sustainability as a top organisational priority to compete for young talent.

“Adding to this strife, the majority of global business travellers (67%) are very willing to hit the road and most (92%) say the future of their career depends on it. They also continue to see health and safety as the biggest threat to business travel. As organisations increasingly explore cost-cutting measures, like requiring that employees stay in less expensive accommodations that could potentially be in unsafe areas, enthusiastic business travellers are likely to put the pressure on employers to better meet their needs and expectations.”