Concur, an SAP company and the world’s leading provider of travel, expense and invoice management solutions, today announced the availability of Concur Locate and Active Monitoring, empowering businesses to find, inform, and communicate vital information with employees in just minutes during times of crisis and uncertainty.
Business travel is increasing and projected to reach $1.6 trillion by 2020 according to the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) Foundation. With heightened geopolitical uncertainties, it is crucial that businesses take the step to ensure the safety of travelers. This starts with companies knowing where their travelers are located at all times.
According to GBTA Foundation, 42 percent of travelers prefer to book directly on a supplier’s website. However, the majority of travel managers rely exclusively on travel data captured through an OBT or TMC to locate their travelers, potentially leaving an incredibly large number of travelers unaccounted for during a crisis. Concur Locate and Active Monitoring is the first integrated traveler risk management solution that draws from the industry’s most comprehensive data set including, travel and expense data, itineraries booked direct captured through TripLink and TripIt, supplier e-receipts, and more, closing the duty of care gap and solving a critical need.
While duty of care can involve a company’s travel, security, human resources and legal departments, a new GBTA Foundation report on risk management found that travel managers play a key role in fulfilling duty of care, regardless of which department is in charge. During a crisis, 71 percent of travel managers are still responsible for locating travelers and 63 percent are responsible for providing incident reports on impacted travelers.
A significant gap exists today in company visibility and traveler knowledge. The GBTA Foundation report also found:
• Three in five travel managers rely on their travelers to contact them during times of crisis and uncertainty.
• Meanwhile, 58 percent of travelers say they would contact their supervisor, not a travel manager, if in need of support or assistance due to an emergency or security situation.
• Three in ten travel managers flat out do not support travelers who book outside corporate programs. Another 29 percent do not know how long it would take to confirm the safety of every employee after an incident.
“Businesses have a responsibility to ensure the safety and security of travelers. From natural disasters to terrorist attacks, if a crisis occurs, it’s imperative that businesses are able to quickly identify and locate their employees and determine who may need assistance,” said Mike Eberhard, President of Concur. “These are people who are depending on their business leaders to help them in the event something goes wrong. Concur helps solve this challenge.”
With the industry’s most comprehensive and timely data set, Concur Locate and Active Monitoring empower businesses to proactively monitor risks and quickly identify where all their travelers are, anywhere in the world, at a moment’s notice, and communicate with them to ensure their well-being during times of crisis and uncertainty. Real-time reporting makes it possible for travel managers to share comprehensive snapshots with business leaders within minutes.
“As one of the first universities to introduce a mandatory travel booking program, student safety has long been a top priority for The University of Tulsa,” said Jason Grunin, Travel Program Manager, The University of Tulsa. “We’re continually looking for ways to expand on this. For example, the University of Tulsa’s use of Concur Locate is expanding to include our study abroad program to ensure the safety of students traveling year-round.”
Concur Locate with the addition of Active Monitoring, powered by HX Global, provides businesses with 24/7 monitoring, communications, and assistance, enabling companies of all sizes to experience the benefits of a global security operations center without the infrastructure and headcount. Previously, a powerful global security solution of this scale was only available at a high cost to large enterprises where resources are managed internally.
“Business traveler safety is a significant priority and growing challenge for companies around the world right now,” said Henry Harteveldt, travel industry analyst and founder of Atmosphere Research Group. “With Concur Locate and Active Monitoring, Concur is uniquely positioned to help companies address this.”
Concur Locate, formally Concur Risk Messaging, and Active Monitoring is now available. Concur Locate was initially announced at Fusion, its annual customer conference, in March. GBTA Convention attendees can learn more about Concur Locate at booth #1337.
