Transcript: SAP Concur, Amex GBT Execs Speak at BTS America

Concur Travel president Charlie Sultan and Amex GBT EVP of global and multinational clients David Reimer last week fielded questions, including several sourced from travel buyers, from BTN Group VP of content Elizabeth West about their recently announced partnership at the kickoff session at the show's debut in New York. A full transcript of West’s interview with Sultan and Reimer follows.

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Want More Context? Get the breaking story of the Amex GBT, SAP Concur partnership from October 3

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Participants:

Elizabeth West, VP Content, The BTN Group
Charlie Sultan, President, Concur Travel
David Reimer, EVP of Global and Multinational Clients, American Express Global Business Travel

Elizabeth West: Hello, good morning. Thank you so much for being here. We are so excited to introduce the Business Travel Show America to the U.S. It's been 30 years strong in Europe and our first year here in New York, and we are so excited to have you here. BTN Group is swinging big on this event, and we are hoping it's a home run for everybody who attends. 2025 has been a big year of swings for a lot of companies, and as a news organization, BTN has been chasing those big stories. This morning is no exception. American Express Global Business Travel and SAP Concur announced a groundbreaking new partnership not even two weeks ago. It includes a joint development team, a joint technology roadmap, and over time aims to expand its already considerable joint client base.

Joining us this morning to talk about the partnership in a quick-fire 20-minute interview are two of the main figures in this deal. SAP Concur president Charlie Sultan and Amex GBT executive vice president of global multinational clients David Reimer. Thank you.

Charlie Sultan: Thanks for having us. 

David Reimer: Looking forward to this chat. 

West: The competitive environment in which this partnership has been forged is really interesting. Big programs like PwC and Deloitte have massive parts of their business over at Blockskye now. Concur co-founder Steve Singh has gone into the TMC business, and Navan looks like it's going public. Why this partnership, and why right now?

Reimer: This industry changes a lot. It changes all the time, and I think for us, why do this right now? It's a case of doing something that our customers have been asking for. Our customers wanted something that was faster. Our customers wanted something that provided a better [user experience]. Our customers wanted something that actually accelerated in terms of access to NDC content, and this is the path to do it. So, there's no simple answer to why now, but it just felt like the right time, the opportunity was there and more importantly this is delivering what our customer have been asking for.

West: Some observers have said that this is two legacy players circling the wagons into what could be considered a protective stance. Can you both respond to that?

Sultan: I think we're both players who excel at our space. We're both leaders in our space. I think we have a huge chunk of our customers who choose to use Amex GBT as their TMC. And so for us this is a fantastic opportunity to work closer with someone who wanted to move faster, who wanted to innovate quicker and so this was the most logical choice for that.

Reimer: There's nothing legacy about the new solution. There's nothing legacy about using AI and improving the experience for our mutual customers. So, this is actually not about legacy. This is about responding to what customers want. It's about putting some pace and speed behind what customers want and the landscape changes in terms of distribution, in terms of travel manager expectation, in terms of traveler expectation. Doing that together in the fastest possible way is an amazing thing for all of our joint customers, and we can deliver a lot of value in doing that.

West: Charlie, the partnership is called Complete and will include an enhanced version of the Concur Travel platform. What are the first enhancements on the roadmap and when will they be available?

Sultan: So, I think what's really cool about this alliance is the fact that both sides are actually contributing additional resources into it to be able to accelerate. And so, within the course of actually the next few weeks, customers will start actually seeing the new UX. They'll start seeing a new desktop site, they'll start seeing a new mobile app. And so, bits and pieces of it are already starting to come out. For customers who are using Egencia, who want the integration to Concur Expense, a pilot group will start seeing that later this year with the rest of the customers seeing it in the first quarter. One of the really cool things here is that we're working jointly to figure out as to prioritize what comes next. And so we will actually be publishing quarterly roadmaps to talk about the next set of features and functionality. And then for us, what's really important is we're still continuing to innovate and build on the new Concur Travel platform, and everything that we're doing here that just builds on top of that and is incremental to that.

West: So, everything you built for the enhancement partnership with Complete with Amex GBT will be reflected in T2?

Sultan: The other way around. Everything that we build in the new Concur Travel—I don't know what T2 is—but everything that we build for the new Concur Travel—and none of you know what it is either. Everything that we build for new Concur Travel will be available in Complete. Complete will be able to move at a faster pace and will have an additional incremental thing. But both platforms will continue to innovate. 

West: So, what's the first enhancement? 

Sultan: The first enhancement is that when people log in in a few weeks, they will see a brand new UX and a new app and a new desktop site. 

West: And how long have you working on that? 

Sultan: The teams have been talking about it, designing it and thinking about it for quite some time. I think a lot of the work is just going into play now, which is why customers will see it live within the course of the next few weeks.

West: There is some concern among clients that are not Amex GBT customers that the new Concur, which has had a very arduous rollout, will be left behind in terms of development.

Sultan: Yeah, I'm not worried about that at all because Complete is going to be building on top of the new Concur Travel platform, and so new Concur Travel needs to continue to accelerate. Complete will accelerate and build on top of that as well. So, I wouldn't worry about that. And I think one of the things that I've talked about before is, actually in one of our fastest periods of growth historically across all of the TMCs, American Express was one of the board members, was one of the investors and that still led to fantastic growth.

West: There's some similar concerns on the GBT side for clients. GBT has acquired and invested in technologies, particularly Neo. Does Neo have a similar development roadmap that you're sharing with customers?

Reimer: Look, I think across all our products, we obviously have Egencia, we have Neo, and now the solution we have is Complete. So, it's about giving our customers more choice. So, in terms of the products that we own, we're absolutely committed to those products. Nothing changes. It's very much business as usual. What you see here is something that we're adding to that solution set to customers, and I think that's a big step forward in making sure that we're continuing to innovate, we're continuing to listen to customers and giving them choice. So, Neo is part that strategy choice for customers.

West: And you'll continue to sell that?

Reimer: We are continuing to offer that, so nothing changes. So, this is adding, we're not taking anything away, so continuing to provide choice to customers across those solutions, and more importantly through our Select platform as well. we have a number of other tools that we support and continue to support those tools as well.

West: How will you be able to sort of provide resources to do that? You are in the midst of a very big TMC acquisition integration process. You have a new partnership with Concur. Tell me about how Amex is dividing its resources, what's the strategy to do all of that at the same time and continue to support all of the choices that your clients want?

Reimer: One of the best things about this industry is the amount of change and the pace of change, and I think we've got a very good history in terms of how we work and we anticipate that change with our customer across all aspects of our business. I think about the Complete solution, think about when we're trying to take all that customer feedback when we're working with Concur and how you take that forward. What we are creating is a model that is actually more focused. We've got resources that are going at a joint plan, one roadmap and plug in customers, and that's going to allow us to go faster, to allow us to move more efficiently and ultimately the customers will be the beneficiary of that.

West: Charlie, I want to talk to you about “faster, more efficient.” You were quoted recently saying "Look at all the TMCs we service, and it's not that easy to implement with all of these different partners, and it slows us down." Concur presumably will continue to roll out enhancements with other TMCs, but will there be enhancements with the GBT partnership that others will not get?

Sultan: Probably. That would be my guess. And, I don't know that that was my exact quote. What I was really referencing is the fact that anytime you're doing something, if we're going to make plans to go to dinner, we can pick a place and we can figure out that we both want to go to Chinese. If the three of us now want to go to dinner and you say, "I ate Chinese last night," now we got to go find something else. It's really no different here, right? We are working across so many different TMCs, so many different back offices, mid offices, GDS, proprietary technology, that it is just a challenge when you're building something, it's neither here nor there, it just takes a little longer to test it with multiple parties. So, if you look at the ecosystem and you look at what the people in this room are demanding, they're all demanding things to be done fast. As I look at where the ecosystem goes forward, I think that the speed of innovation, the speed of technology, the amount of investment that's going to be required to satiate the needs of the people is going to be far greater. And, so, I think continuing to do it and having to try to coordinate with a hundred different people is still doable, but it's not the fastest way to do it. So, we're going to go out for Chinese, and if you'd like to join us tomorrow, we can make plans for Thai, but we're still going to go out for Chinese.

West: How does this impact the TMC tiering structure that Concur currently has in place, Elite, Select, etc.? Will that remain and if so, what does it mean?

Sultan: The team that is responsible for that right now is in the midst of redoing the program, and if someone asks you what does that mean, how's it going to work? They're in the midst of redoing the program. So, I think actually you can go to Max and Darren I think will be at the booth today. There's Max right there. His home phone number is.… [Audience laughter.] But I think if you swing by the booth, I think that the TMCs impacted can have a one-on-one chat and understand what that means. But we're just restructuring how those programs are working. 

West: Will they have the same tiers? 

Sultan: I don't think they'll have the same naming, the same tier, but, yeah, I think it's still a work in progress.

West: So, it does impact the entire structure of your TMC partnerships.

Sultan: I think the TMCs will still be reselling the product and will still service the product. So, none of that changes. I think some of the particulars of what kind of service they get and what's included and what they can sponsor. Some of those items might change. 

West: I want to talk about joint plans. There's a lot of “joint” happening. 

Reimer: That's why we did this.

West: So, what is the percentage of current GBT clients that use Concur Travel, and does this include new clients from CWT?

Reimer: So, we don't disclose publicly what those things are, but let's say there is significant volume that is mutually SAP Concur.

West: I have the same question for you.

Sultan: And I have the same answer. I think when you guys do studies and you guys release the BTN [CT 100] and you guys see who the TMCs are and who the booking tools are, I think GBT by far services more of our customers than any other TMC.

West: Do you have targets in terms of what percents you're looking to port over to Complete of your joint client base? Would you have targets that are set?

Sultan: I'm just more so excited what the offer is going to be and what we can offer to customers. If you think about any business, it's about how do I keep my existing customers happy, because acquiring new customers is much tougher than regaining your lost customers. Giving them what they've been asking us for which is faster in a lot of different features, how do we integrate AI, I'm a lot more excited about that aspect of it. And then yes, naturally as we continue to build up more features and functionality, we expect that people will transition. Maybe they've gone off, strayed and tested some of these other solutions, and they will recognize that this will be a far optimal solution for their needs.

West: With the joint development team, who is making final decisions about strategy and what the enhancements are?

Reimer: It is one team, and I think that's a big part of delivering the solution, and importantly in terms of that team, they have already been working on it. You see that out the box, when we announced this a couple of weeks ago, and out of the box, there's community-wide coming straight away and other features. But obviously given our strength, we will take more of a lead on the travel side and let Concur take more of a lead on the expenses, that's one thing. I think joining that up is critically important.

West: Is there an innovation focus more on travel versus expense?

Sultan: I would say the expense team continues to innovate, and so the Concur team is very focused on innovating Concur Expense. There is a separate Concur Travel team that is very focused on innovating Travel, and so it's not a trade-off really. There are dedicated teams, and the beauty about this offering Complete is that there's now even more incremental resources working on that.

West: Are both companies equally investing and giving people-resources in that team?

Sultan: I don't know if the set number of people is exactly the same, but the goal is the same, which is how do we move faster. So, both sides are doing what they need to. 

West: So, nobody has priority or specific leadership in the decisions that are being made. They are all being equally made?

Sultan: The reality is that we talk to customers, GBT talks to customers. I'm guessing that if I went out to the vast majority of travel buyers out there and I said, "How often do you talk to Concur and how often are you talking to GBT?" that they're probably talking to GBT two to three times more often than they're talking to us. And so, if David has feedback from the accounts that he is meeting with, and he says, "Hey, this is something that's very important, are you guys hearing this too?" We'll validate that. And that's basically how things will be prioritized.

Reimer: It's about listening to customers and taking that feedback, and it's early in terms of getting through that initial stage, and we've actually got some good plans. The teams are already working very well together in a short period of time. So, I think we'll take the feedback we get from customers, we'll solve for some of those problems. It's really important to know that out of the box, this is an alliance, this is different, and it's not going to be done in two or three weeks. This is a long-term commitment between our organizations. So, we're putting those roadmaps out there publicly, and we will deliver against it, and we'll keep going. There's no flag that says by the end of next year we're done.

West: I want to say that we get feedback from the corporate market all the time that “Concur doesn't listen, they don't make the changes we want them to make.” That's the truth. I mean, that's the truth that we get that feedback. [Audience laughter] Now, is this funnel through GBT going to get some, I mean, accelerate faster, go, go, go? That's the promise. Is that the promise? 

Sultan: I don't think it's a funnel per se. It is a matter of we're all having discussions. It's a matter of prioritizing, "Okay, what are the things that you need?" I would agree with the statement that you made if you were talking about the legacy Concur Travel and the conversations that we had two or three years ago. I would fight that notion, and I would love to know more from customers who feel like they rolled out the new Concur Travel, they've been using it for the last three to six months, and they still don't feel and believe that they have what they need, that they don't see on the roadmap. I would question that notion. But on a going-forward basis, we know what we need to work on. You guys have been beating on us for a while about things that you want and that you need, and it's not a lack of our desire to work on them. It's been wanting to migrate to the new Concur Travel, needing to work across all the different GDSs and making sure that they have that technology. And so now I'm going to go-forward basis, we're excited because GBT can help us move faster on that. 

West: Okay, respond and then I'm going to get in another question.

Reimer: Yeah, we'll absolutely move faster. And if you think about how out of the box having one app, who's interested in having one app for travel and expense. Every customer, why do we have to have all these apps? We are solving for that out of the box. People wanted chat functionality, Concur is delivering that. So, what that speaks to is how we listen and how we put it in production. We know that we've got to move fast, people want to see the progress we're making. People want to see that feedback included. People want to see more and more NDC content, they want to see more retailing, and all of those things are there out of the box.

West: David, you just mentioned AI. I know that's a big part of this initiative, a big part of everybody's initiative right now. Feeding AI, you have to have data and you have to have a lot of it and bringing both of you together, that's a lot…

Reimer: That's a lot of data.

West: …A blank-ton of data. Right? So, clients have had actual reservations about the detail available and expense data and sharing that through to Amex GBT. Are attorneys working on that?

Reimer: We are still a regulated bank holding company, so data and protection of that data is the core of who we are. We will make sure we're operating the right care, the right purpose of that data, and to the extent where we will need to share data, we will always get customer permission to go ahead and do that. We think there will be a lot of benefit in doing that and having customer choice.

West: And that would be baked into their … ?

Sultan: I think it's great that customers are asking about data and data privacy and how their data is being treated, because I would venture to say that if anyone started digging into how much we're spending on data protection relative to what the vast majority of the startups or new entrants are doing, I think that we would be multiples more. We ascribe the strongest EU and driven data privacy standards. So, I would love for anyone to compare on that.

West: There's a concern, and it may be unfounded, but you tell me, that non-GBT customers, their expense data will be shared with Amex. Is that the case?

Sultan: I don't see why it would be.

Reimer: No, it shouldn't be, quite frankly. 

West: It shouldn't be. All right. [Audience laugher.] I don't know about the laughter, but I just want to say that if it shouldn't be, then we'll see, right? [I’ve had] a lot of questions for both of you, and I really appreciate your candor in responding today. If you could give this audience one takeaway about this partnership, what would you want it to be?

Reimer: I'd want people to recognize that it is absolutely driven by the customer. I would want people to understand that it's driven in terms of the speed that we need to move up, and I would want people to really think about the power of us coming together and delivering the product that solves for those needs being out there. One joint experience, one roadmap, one level of accountability. It's what the industry has been asking for. That's what I want people to be thinking about.

West: Charlie, what's the takeaway. 

Sultan: I think that was very well said. I think it is one, and I think for us even further, if you take Complete, and then you layer on the ability to plug that into the rest of the SAP business suite and the ability to leverage all of the AI that SAP is investing in and to plug into the different core systems, it's going to make things going for the entire company a lot more seamless. It's going to put the travel manager in a great spot to be a hero, not just in travel but through the rest of the ecosystem.

West: Thank you very much. They have booths, both of them at the exhibition. If you have more questions for Amex GBT or for SAP Concur, you are invited to their booths.