Recent advances in generative AI (GenAI) present a mix of curiosity, nervousness, and excitement as finance teams contemplate its potential impact on business roles and operations.

A recent survey highlighted that 51% of CFOs are investing in AI technology, a significant jump from just 15% in August 2023. There remains a notable gap in understanding, with 58% of CFOs having very little knowledge about AI and only 4% confident that they possess a strong grasp of the technology.

At SAP Concur, we’ve been integrating AI and machine learning (ML) into our solutions for over a decade. In this blog we’ll explore what recent advancements mean for finance teams, the positive impact of AI on some of our customers, and share our vision of a world where travel and expenses (T&E) manage themselves seamlessly.

The evolution of AI in spend management

AI and ML are already transforming spend management, from automating routine tasks like expense reporting to providing advanced analytics and real-time insights. But the benefits go beyond just efficiency.

Whether it’s protecting your organization from risk, scaling your processes, or providing employees with personalized travel guidance, AI will provide many of the answers to some of your biggest spend management challenges. As the technology evolves, there will be a shift from reactive to proactive spend management, which will empower you to forecast and control costs even more effectively.

While there is some trepidation about the impact of AI on humans, there is no doubt it will have a positive impact on employee experience. With 64.3% of finance professionals saying that stress on accounts payable (AP) teams was a core issue within the team because of delayed processes, and 71% of finance professionals saying their AP team would not handle a sudden increase in invoice volume very well, AI is a welcome tool in alleviating the burden for employees.

The impact of AI on your role

AI is not a replacement for humans, it’s a power tool for humans. Let’s look at what it could mean for different job roles.

Financial decision-makers: AI-driven analytics deliver real-time insights into spending patterns, allowing teams to identify areas for cost reduction, highlight potential financial risks and non-compliance, and enable proactive decision-making.

Travel managers: AI auto-generates travel requests and cost estimates based on historical data, as well as delivering personalized travel recommendations based on employee preferences and policies, with safety and risk advisories.

Accounts Payable: AI-driven tools automate invoice capture and validation processes, while optical character recognition (OCR) technologies reduce manual entry errors, ensuring reliable financial records.

IT decision-makers: ML algorithms identify unusual patterns that may indicate fraud or cyber-attacks, helping IT leaders maintain cleaner, more organized data, reduce the risk of data breaches, and improve overall security.

CHRO and HR leaders:  AI tools replace mundane, rote tasks enabling an innovative, dynamic culture focused on more value-added, strategic work, which enhances employee satisfaction and engagement.

AI is a win-win for everyone but there are still barriers to adoption.

SAP Concur and the future of AI

Learn more about how SAP Concur unlock the business value of AI.

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Challenges in AI adoption

The journey toward integrating AI into organizational processes isn’t without its challenges. You might be eager to harness AI’s transformative power to drive growth and innovation but remain cautious about the associated risks, costs, and broader societal impacts. 

A significant 34% of travel managers feel constrained by their company’s expectation to implement AI-powered tools without adequate training. Meanwhile, only 7% of AP teams currently utilize AI technologies, highlighting a gap between potential benefits and actual implementation.

Balancing the excitement around AI with responsible risk mitigation is a crucial challenge for many organizations.

“A lot of people fear what they don't know. We've had this huge campaign internally about just socializing GenAI as just an everyday work tool. There's a lot of effort to demystify the technology and I think a lot of companies would really benefit from something similar,” says Oren Geshuri, T&E Practice Leader at Deloitte.

Uncertainty around return on investment and concerns about job losses further complicate the conversation. Security concerns also play a significant role. By addressing the skills gap, simplifying implementation, and fostering a culture of trust and learning, organizations can embrace AI's capabilities and transform their operations for the better.

Let’s look at some of the benefits of investing in AI.

AI in action: Four key benefits

1. AI-driven automation

AI-driven automated receipt scanning, categorization, and report generation, makes expense management easier for employees. By automating invoice processing and auditing, you also save time and reduce human error.

AI in action: An employee submits a photo of a receipt for a business meal. AI instantly recognizes the date, vendor, and amount, and adds it to the corresponding expense category in the report, saving time and eliminating the need for manual entry.

Explaining how AI benefits her teams, Rebecca Spanos, Director, Travel and Payment Card Services  University of North Carolina at the at Chapel Hill says, “I am super excited about the feature in Concur Request where now you can simply say, ‘I'm going here, I'm going for these dates. Give me cost estimates.’ Because right now they do have to put all that information in, it's a state requirement, but it takes time.”

2. Policy compliance

By minimizing manual data entry, you significantly decrease the likelihood of mistakes such as data discrepancies and lost receipts or invoices. You can utilize AI to automatically analyze expense reports, speed up the auditing process, and resolve issues before and after reimbursement. Or navigate complex tax regulations, maximize opportunities for reclaim, and flag non-compliant expenses in real time.

AI in action: An employee submits an expense for a flight upgrade that exceeds the company’s travel policy Concur Expense and Concur Travel solution immediately alerts both the employee and the approver, streamlining compliance checks and helping prevent policy violations.

3. Fraud detection and prevention

With AI you can gain unprecedented visibility into spending patterns that often elude the human eye. By analyzing historical spending data and employee behaviors, you can automatically flag potential fraud or suspicious activities, helping you detect anomalies that might indicate fraudulent behavior.

This capability is particularly critical in identifying issues like duplicate expenses or unusually high costs, ensuring that financial integrity is maintained.

AI in action: An employee submits multiple expenses for the same hotel stay on different dates. AI can quickly identify this duplicate submission, alerting the finance team and allowing them to intervene before the fraudulent charge is processed.

Gemma Cannings, VP of Procurement and Payables at New York University, says the integration of AI tools has enhanced their ability to see insights into fraudulent activities. “We use Concur Detect by Oversight, which sits over our Concur solution. We're really seeing a lot more visibility into fraud and the kind of things that the human eye couldn't pick up. It’s given us some real great insights there.”

4. Intelligent spend analytics

AI enables you to aggregate and analyze spending data across various categories, such as travel, meals, and entertainment, offering insights into patterns and anomalies. For invoice management and supplier payments, AI acts as a strategic enabler, with 88.6% of finance professionals agreeing that these technologies can free them to focus on more strategic initiatives.

AI in action: AI identifies spending behaviors that indicate excessive costs, such as frequent last-minute bookings, which can inform the optimization of travel policies to reduce expenses.

What do SAP Concur customers think of AI?

The focus of many AI discussions is on tactical improvements in efficiency and productivity. As Guy Melamed, CFO of software security provider Varoni, explains: “We stick to clearly measurable productivity gains, such as lines of code, journal entries, or expense reimbursement checks completed by AI. This has led us to emphasize AI projects that reduce tedious tasks, help employees use their time better, and gain job satisfaction and engagement.”

Timewise, Prison Fellowship found Concur Invoice to be a “game changer”. Automating its invoice process with an AI solution allowed the charity to save minutes per invoice and improve spend visibility.

“The AI within invoice capture has really helped our organization in the sense that when the invoice comes in, the data is captured off that invoice, it's put through the system and we are presented with an invoice that is ready to be routed and approved. It saves us minutes per invoice. And when you're talking thousands or tens of thousands of invoices a year, that adds up to a lot of time,” says Stephen Tucker, Vice President, Finance, at Prison Fellowship.

Organizations leading the field are investing in AI and seeing outcomes beyond just cost-cutting or efficiency gains, such as increased innovation, enhanced decision-making, and strategic business growth.

The impact on employee experience shouldn’t be overestimated, according to the University of North Carolina’s Rebecca Spanos, who says, “There's a lot to be excited about AI. The efficiencies of it frees up my time, frees up everyone else's time to do more value-added work.”

To find out more about the customer benefits of AI, watch the full video here.

To hear how Prison Fellowship raised their invoice processing game, watch this video.

SAP Concur: Turning vision into reality

AI-driven spend management solutions are transforming the way organizations handle travel, expenses, and invoicing. To fully harness the potential of AI, you can’t ignore challenges such as skill gaps, training, and the intricacies of implementation. The investment is worth it, however, because AI transcends its role as merely a cost-cutting tool; it serves as a strategic enabler of innovation, agility, and scalability.

And as AI becomes more deeply integrated into spend management practices, you’ll be able to unlock even more levels of financial control and governance.

At SAP Concur, we are dedicated to making this vision a reality, helping you thrive in a future shaped by intelligent, automated systems. As an early adopter of these technologies, our customers not only streamline their operations but also gain a competitive edge in their industries, positioning themselves for success in a rapidly evolving marketplace.

Learn more about how SAP Concur unlock the business value of AI.