Integrated Travel and Expense Management: The Benefits of a Connected Solution for Retail Businesses

Many retail employees travel for business. They could be attending meetings, at a training course or industry conference, or visiting stores. The costs involved could be something as simple as a bus ticket, or something as expensive as an international flight. As a result, they will incur expenses that need to be reimbursed once they return from their trip. Travel and expenses are intrinsically linked. So, why manage them separately?

When you combine travel and expense, some questions are easier to answer:

• Where can I find a full picture of travel and expense spend?
• Are expense claims aligned to my travel policy?
• Can I reclaim some VAT?
• Which suppliers are we using most frequently?

To connect travel and expense management, businesses usually look for software that can manage both processes from beginning to end. This is commonly referred to as an integrated solution. The results could be cost savings, faster delivery or improved employee adoption and satisfaction.

For SAP Concur, this something we’ve been helping businesses – including global retailers – with for many years. Our solutions are designed to connect so you don’t have to look in two different places for two different types of data. We do the hard work of collating everything for you.

So, where do you start? In the case of travel and expense management, the process begins when the need for a business trip is identified. It ends when the employee returns home and their expenses are reimbursed. The complexity of travel and expense management within your company will depend on a number of factors including company size, number of employees, office locations and general need for employees to travel.

If you’d like to learn more about how an integrated travel and expense process can support your retail business, complete the form to download the full whitepaper.