Concur CEO Steve Singh talks:
- Innovation in the expense market
- Competing with American Express GBT
-
What
makes an expense system competitive
Concur claimed 45 million users at the end of 2016, up from
32 million a year prior. Concur CEO Steve Singh, who also is president of SAP
Business Networks and Applications and an SAP executive board member, spoke
with BTN payment and expense editor JoAnn DeLuna.
BTN: The expense
market has become increasingly competitive. What is Concur doing to remain a
leader?
Singh: It’s
important for customers to have choices. The way Concur continues to thrive and,
frankly, lead is that we invest in innovation. We were the first to introduce
this concept of TripLink, or what the industry refers to as open booking. It’s
fundamentally embracing the fact that customers want to book wherever they
choose to book but they still want all the policies and the duty of care
services delivered. We’ve continued to push on that front, and you’re going to
see in the coming quarters the next giant leap forward in the range of services
we deliver to our customers. I don’t see the competitive environment as a
negative thing. It brings out the best in everybody.
BTN: Last year,
American Express Global Business Travel acquired
T&E provider KDS. Soon after, Concur and Amex GBT ended the TMC's reseller
agreement. Some have speculated that customers now may leave Concur for
Amex GBT’s anticipated integrated solution. How does Concur respond to that
possibility?
Singh: Amex GBT
doesn’t make that choice for the customer.
The customer gets to choose which expense or travel product they want to
use. If there are great competitors here, then they may win. My sense is that
the value we deliver to our customers is compelling. It’s something that for
years our customers have embraced, and they see no sign of us slowing our
innovation and no sign of us doing anything but improving the quality of
service, number of countries we support and the integrations to all the different
partners they want us to integrate with. All of that takes effort for a small
company like KDS or others to do that. If they can, then they’ll be
competitive.
BTN: But you and
SAP both have pointed out the value of having interconnected systems. The new
ability for Amex GBT to offer an integrated
solution makes it competitive.
Singh:
They may integrate travel and expense, but their
expense system still has to be world-class. It still has to serve all the
countries that our customers want to operate in and deliver all the
functionality that’s required in expense. If they do, they’ll be competitive.