Concur demonstrates mobile expense reporting

SALT LAKE CITY -- Concur Technologies, a leading provider of corporate expense management systems, provided a live, hands-on demonstration of its latest mobile device offerings at this week at the year's National Business Traveler's Association (NBTA) tradeshow. Concur demonstrated its recently launched handheld device, imaging and voice integration solutions while its theatre presentation will feature eight case studies that demonstrate how its customers "have maximized ROI using Concur Expense."

One of the features being demonstrated at NBTA is Concur's handheld PDA device offering. Based on Concur's mobile device connectivity platform launched in March 2002, Concur says its PDA offering is the first to facilitate seamless integration between a corporate expense management application and a handheld device's native expense application. Users are not required to download and install any third-party applications on their device. Rather, they use the expense application that already exists on their PDA. 

Upon synchronization, expense data from a user's handheld device automatically populates their expense report, saving employees time while ensuring that cumbersome out-of-pocket expenses are promptly recorded and reimbursed. This feature will be available for the ASP model of Concur Expense by the end of this month, Concur said.

XML-based connector

Concur launched its mobile device platform last March, saying it was designed to simplify the process of managing travel and entertainment (T&E) expenses for the mobile worker. Through an XML-based connector that integrates Concur Expense software into the next generation of mobile hardware, including PDA's, cell phones, and wireless two-way email devices, Concur enables mobile employees to achieve new levels of productivity by spending less time managing receipts on the road.

Standard business processes such as expense management require flexible solutions that provide for multiple methods for creating, inputting, and submitting expense reports. Regardless of distance or time away from the office, mobile workers need an easy to use solution that fits into their daily workflow and uses the same devices familiar to the employee; a laptop computer, cell phone, and a PDA. 

"Mobile computing is bringing new efficiencies to the enterprise and allowing remote workers to add more value to the company rather than spend time on distracting administrative functions," said Steve Singh, chairman, president, and chief executive officer for Concur. "Our mobile device connectivity platform provides the mobile workforce with the ability to quickly capture expenses from anywhere at anytime, saving them time while creating a more streamlined enterprise through accurate and timely expense reporting. This new platform validates our innovation for ROI and the usability our applications provide."

Palm OS devices

Concur's mobile device platform allows users to quickly capture expenses while on the go -- between meetings, on a plane, in a taxi, or anywhere the employee has a free minute. For example, after incurring an expense, the mobile worker simply enters the transaction amount into their PDA. The next time the PDA is synchronized to the user's computer, the expenses are seamlessly transferred to Concur Expense. While Concur's new mobile connectivity platform is designed to accommodate multiple operating systems, initial support will be for Palm OS devices. 

Last month, Concur announced that Diageo plc, a leading premium drinks business whose brands include Smirnoff and Johnnie Walker, had selected Concur Expense software to provide company-wide automation of its travel and entertainment (T&E) expense management process. Following recent deployment successes at Pfizer and Cable & Wireless, Concur will roll out Concur Expense to Diageo employees across Europe and North America.

Diageo joins other leading internationally-based organizations, including BOC Edwards, British Midland, CitiGroup, and Nomura International, who have chosen Concur Expense to better compete in the global economy.

Mobile workers

"Being an internationally-based company, it was a requirement that we selected a T&E expense management solution with a proven track record of providing rapid return on investment in large global organizations," said Ray Kadiri, global T&E process owner for Diageo plc. "We chose Concur because of their experience with companies our size and because of the robust international features and functionality of Concur Expense. Additionally, over 17,000 of our mobile workers will be able to complete their expense reports on the road from anywhere at anytime." 

Concur Technologies licenses its software to 1,000 companies worldwide. Companies such as AT&T, Citigroup, DuPont, SBC, Pfizer, and Ocean Spray have licensed Concur's solutions for more than 2.6 million of their employees.

Concur has strategic alliances with 50 global organizations including reseller partnerships with ADP, Microsoft Great Plains, Navigant and Jamcracker. Other industry leaders that have joined Concur's Global Alliance Network include KPMG Consulting, Sprint, U.S. Bank, Bank One and VISA.