How to Create a Successful Travel & Expense Implementation Plan

Software integrations can stumble. The right people aren’t involved. The new system meets finance and travel needs but not those of the IT team that must support it. Implementing travel and spend management systems – or any technology solution – can be difficult. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

With the right solutions and processes, implementation can move quickly and successfully to the end goal of a system that’s easy to use, provides spending clarity and insights, and pays off in efficiency and return on investment.

Avoiding the Pain of Implementation

Experts from SAP Concur and TGC Consulting share six tips for a fast and efficient implementation that speeds your return on investment as well.

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IT teams cite implementation expertise among the top reasons they chose SAP Concur solutions, while also mentioning integration options, security standards, single-sign-on simplicity, and artificial intelligence (AI) experience and commitment. To fully take advantage of those factors and plan a successful implementation, IT leaders should consider focusing on key areas that include data quality, workflow assessment, cloud configurability, and representation from all critical stakeholders.

Start with People

Involve members of the finance, travel, and procurement teams and others – like sales representatives – who really use the technology, drive change, and will be affected by a new system. Then put those people to work identifying requirements, which saves IT team resources for later. And, as in any successful initiative, gain the support of top executives and keep them informed about the plan.

Study Your Data and Workflows

The travel, expense, and invoice processes cut across your business and involve a wide range of people and departments. Data comes from many sources and systems, from HR to ERP and more. Chart out employee profile, general ledger, and other data sources and their places in workflows. Give special attention to HR data, as it is often inaccurate or incomplete. With a full-picture map of trusted data and workflows, you can better implement your new solution.

Build on the Strength of the Solutions

As cloud-based solutions, they are readily configurable and flexible and allow you to draw on the best practices of companies using them worldwide. It’s also an opportunity to assess whether the way the company has always done something remains the best way. Consider whether the new system provides a better method. And that you’ll be drawing on solutions that meet international security standards, offer native integration with SAP ERP and numerous connectors to other systems, and allow users to sign on just once to the platform instead of having to log in multiple times.

Make Time for Testing

As noted, travel and expense touch nearly every part of your business. That means it’s imperative that the implementation schedule include plenty of time to test to ensure connections are smooth and that work is flowing as needed and intended. Create testing teams to make certain data is moving as required.

More About Implementation and Why IT Teams Pick SAP Concur

Planning, information-gathering, and the right solutions and technology partner are critical elements in bringing a new system on board, putting it to work, achieving the sought-after benefits, and readying a company for the future.

· Read Six Tips for a Successful SAP Concur Implementation to learn more about how the IT team can ensure the process goes smoothly.

· Discover the top reasons IT teams choose SAP Concur to better understand why our solutions meet IT needs as well as business needs.

· Visit the Spend Management for IT leaders page for additional resources and to learn more about how SAP Concur can help contribute to the bottom line and make the business more efficient with a single cloud-based platform.