Steve Singh is the founder and CEO at Concur, a globally recognized travel expense solution provider. PayStream had the opportunity to connect with Steve as well has his brother, co-founder and President, Raj Singh, at the Concur Fusion user summit in New Orleans a couple weeks ago. He opened the session with a broad summary of the goals that Concur is striving towards. While Concur’s goals are grand, the company is optimistic about obtaining them, though fully aware that the level of perfection they wish to attain takes time and effort. Concur would like to see every company in the world eventually use Concur to process their travel expenses. At first may seem a bit lofty given the growing maturity of the TEM market. However, when you see the passion and dedication that Steve and Raj have about reinventing the corporate travel supply chain, it begins to seem a bit more plausible.

The Singh brothers started the company 21 years ago based on the concept of diminishing the pain of filling out expense reports. The nature of their company has fully become about making a difference in their customer’s lives, and they see the creation of an open global platform essential to this process.

Ultimately, Concur’s mission is to create the “Perfect Trip” for each one of their customers, each time they travel.  For Steve, the perfect trip revolves very much around the ease with which he can connect to his personal life while carrying on his professional life. He illustrates the possibilities of such easy travel with episodes from his own business trips, such as how he can send his sister a gift or connect with his children for their nightly FaceTime with only a few clicks on his phone. For Steve, the effortlessness with which he is able to complete these tasks is inspiring. He wants Concur to be that intuitive with features so streamlined that they seem to work like magic. “Here’s what’s not visible in those clicks,” he says,  “it takes an open and connected platform to make all that magic happen….We have an opportunity, here at Concur, to make business travel that magical.”

A magical travel experience starts with a simple concept: the innovation of a global travel community. Companies today succeed by recognizing that great corporate travel can only happen by the collaboration and connection of global communities and platforms. This connection means tailoring to a customer’s personal preferences and a company’s specific needs in integrating with travel suppliers. Certain obstacles prohibit full integration, (Steve reports that on average, 45% of their customers travel expenses are not automatically imported into Concur’s platform), but Concur is determined to reach that 100% connection. “As we collaborate, we will move our industry forward, and that is beautiful….”

During his keynote, Rajeev summarizes successful integration with three interlinking and interchangeable words: transparent, connected, and effortless. For him, these words are simple descriptions of a company’s inherent rights. When Concur’s applications are available and properly utilized, these rights are upheld. When a company has full transparency, they should be able to see where and how their money is being spent, as well as how effectively budgets are being kept. When a company is connected, communication with their employees should be easy and accessible, and sharing information should be almost instantaneous.  When a company’s trips are effortless, each stage of the journey (from the airport to the hotel and everywhere in between) should progress smoothly according to both the company’s procedures and the employee’s personal preferences.  

Concur’s belief is that for transparency, connectedness, and effortlessness to combine effectively, there must be an open global platform and a healthy global ecosystem that allows for wider connection and easier movement around the world. However, this is not only desirable to bring about the “Perfect Trip”. According to Rajeev, this idea of an ecosystem is fundamentally about empowering the rest of the world.