BCD Travel this month earned Elite partner certification from SAP Concur, becoming the first of the three largest U.S. travel management companies to do so since Concur's revamped Partner Program for TMCs rolled out in September.
The program awards status to TMCs for aligning their services and systems with those offered by Concur and features three levels: Partner, Select and Elite. Elite status, the highest level, is awarded to partners who "have embraced the full suite" of Concur's travel solutions—providing those TMCs' corporate clients with a "seamless experience" across multiple travel- and expense-related functions, according to Concur.
For BCD's clients, that means "ensuring [mutual customers] have access to the best of Concur's platform and ours as well, and we can maximize their access to integrated products," said Wendy Prewitt, BCD Travel vice president of payment and expense integration. That integration offers benefits including fuller data capture, higher levels of automation and quality control assurance, Prewitt explained.
To obtain the certification, BCD worked "hand in hand" with Concur to complete a "rigorous process" with multiple elements, including staff training, technology audits and methods and process testing, according to Prewitt.
BCD and Concur have a long history; the two companies have a relationship that dates back to 2001 and BCD already served as one of Concur's biggest reseller partners. That relationship played a major role in BCD's decision to apply for Elite status when the program was announced, said Prewitt.
"We've worked together for nearly 20 years and have a highly valued relationship, so when Concur launched the Partner Program earlier this year, we decided to pursue it," Prewitt noted.
Earlier this year, BCD announced it was overhauling its TripSource Profile Manager system, which is powered by Concur parent company SAP's Customer Data Cloud solution. The new version of the system offers clients more robust profile options and finer-tuned control over how traveler data is stored and used. Migration of BCD clients in the U.K. and Ireland to the new version of TripSource is almost complete, the company said. Migration is underway for clients in North America and the Europe, the Middle East and Africa region, with Asia/Pacific client migration starting soon, according to BCD.
While TripSource doesn't fall under the umbrella of BCD's Elite status program with Concur, it's another example of the close level of cooperation and technical integration between the two firms, Prewitt said.