Financial Times Series: Adapting to Change That Never Stops

In life and the world we live in, very few things can be taken for granted. But the pandemic, geopolitical unrest, economic uncertainty, and the past several years in general point to one thing we can count on: Change is the new normal. 

As unsettling as change can be, it also brings opportunities you and your business should be prepared to seize, as a series of new articles in the Financial Times recounts. The three articles, published in a partnership with SAP Concur, examine travel and expense trends and feature input from thought leaders and businesspeople who are managing change while pursuing growth. 

A guiding thought – a mindset to keep you pushing ahead amid disruption – is that businesses and employees have proven remarkably adaptive and will likely continue to be. For example, hybrid work has largely worked well, with companies shifting technology and processes to support it. “It did provide an opportunity to think about new ways of managing spend,” says Cathryn Reiner, COO of SAP Concur. 

Travel has returned but is different. Sustainability is increasingly important. Productivity and efficiency are paramount, especially for smaller and medium-sized businesses squeezed by costs and a tight labour market. Information is key to managing all of the above. And running through those and other trends discussed in the articles is the fact that customers and employees alike want to have flexibility and the user-friendly technology they encounter in other parts of their lives. 

Finding Efficiencies

With budgets under pressure and hiring difficult, businesses are scrutinising their spending and processes for savings and productivity. Improved and more timely visibility into spending can help you identify the best targets, allowing a more surgical approach that doesn’t cut growth opportunities along with costs. Technology, like travel and expense automation, can reduce manual tasks and free employees for higher-value work, which is especially valuable when short-staffed. 

Evolving Travel

Business travel has proven resilient instead of dead, with budgets approaching pre-pandemic levels. But what travel looks like has changed, as many companies have realised virtual meetings can’t fully replace in-person ones. Businesses may send fewer people on a trip or take longer jaunts while avoiding shorter ones. Or you may bring your dispersed team together more often to work and build culture. Automated travel management can help make the process more efficient while providing visibility into which trips deliver the best return.  

Getting Sustainable 

The pandemic led many, including your employees, to seek more purpose in their careers and lives, from a work-life balance to what they buy and do. Amid climate change, they want their employers to focus on sustainability, too. Technology solutions can help guide employees to greener choices for trips and hotels, while providing data showing both the carbon and financial impacts of travel by your business. 

Fast, Flexible, Intuitive 

Your employees and customers are accustomed to technology having real-time functionality in other parts of their lives, so why shouldn’t they find it at your business as well? Removing obstacles and steps with automation and intent can bring your business in line with the fast-paced change that one business leader put this way: “We’ve seen shifts in customer habits and expectations that would normally take as long as 10 years.”  

Read Further in the Financial Times 

For a more detailed look at what business and thought leaders say about trends and opportunities in travel and expense management, read the articles and gain insights and tools that can turn moments of uncertainty into moments of confidence.