Concur Launches Automated Distance Tracking Tool

Concur has launched a new technology that automatically captures mileage and kilometer data to provide seamless, accurate expense reporting. The technology powers Concur Expense Smart Drive, a new product integrated into the Concur mobile app, to deliver a ‘touchless’ mobile distance capture and reimbursement process.

Concur is a provider of travel, expense and invoice management solutions, and an SAP company.

“In 2016, Concur processed $2.27 billion in ground transportation reimbursement. Mileage tracking is one of the top ten items expensed, yet it often requires business travelers to manually input estimates with no documentation- costing business traveler’s time and leaving substantial margin for error,” said Robb Nielsen, Vice President, Global Product Experience at Concur. “With Concur Expense Smart Drive, actual mileage data is automatically captured, allowing for more accurate expense reporting that also simplifies the process for the business traveler.”

Concur Expense Smart Drive uses GPS on a user’s phone to automatically track mileage and create an expense line item for a trip. Tracking is activated by smart sensors that recognize when a user is driving a motorized vehicle and happens in the background.

Concur users can set the tool to continually run in the background or activate on certain days at specific times. At any time, users can view recent trips and denote business-related mileage, which will automatically be populated into an expense report. Concur Expense Smart Drive service intelligently calculates accurate expense amounts based on the actual miles driven by using information from user’s profile and country specific mileage rates across the globe. Smart Drive service paired with the automatic mileage tracking feature gathers the necessary information such as start and stop location, type of vehicle and fuel and number of passengers to making expensing mileage easier and reimbursement seamless.

Automation and capturing actual rather than estimated distances can drive significant savings. Concur App Center partner and mobile workforce management provider Motus reports companies who transition from self-reported mileage to automated GPS mileage tracking realize an average of 20 percent savings in overall costs. This integrated experience will enable companies to move from self-reported estimates to reimbursing only actual mileage driven with documentation.

Concur previewed Concur Expense Smart Drive at its annual Fusion customer conference in Chicago. Related offerings will become available to global customers beginning in Q2 2017.