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SAP Concur versus Coupa and Emburse: Five Considerations for Choosing the Best Partner
The rapid rise and fall of technology providers and solutions can sometimes create more stress than benefit, leaving finance leaders wondering whether today’s investment will become tomorrow’s write-off. Instead of fostering long-term productivity and employee retention, businesses can feel pressured to keep switching to the latest and flashiest tech, leading to frequent (and sometimes unnecessary) system integrations, extra expenses, and user training fatigue.
So how do you choose the best spend management solution partner for your team and organization? A long-term partner that is commited to your company’s continual growth?
In addition to comparing technology features, use these five considerations to assess the broader benefits that a potential partnership offers:
- Return on investment
- Peer reviews and reputation
- Industry partnerships and integrations
- T&E software marketshare
- Proven track record
Here’s how SAP Concur compares with Coupa and Emburse based on these five considerations, and steps you can take to determine what matters most to your company when choosing a spend management partner.
CONSIDERATION 1: Return on Investment Timeframe
Seeing a strong return on investment (ROI) is crucial when bringing new technology on board. After all, you want to know that the time, money, and effort you’re putting in are paying off with real, tangible results. A short ROI timeframe shows that a tech investment isn’t just covering its costs; it’s actively helping to boost efficiency, productivity, or even customer satisfaction.
G2 found that within the first year, SAP Concur customers realized a 46% ROI (46%) on their technology investment—compared to 28% for Coupa (28%).* G2 also looked at Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), giving SAP Concur an 88% rating versus Coupa’s 68%.*
Plus, SAP Concur customers are able to go-live within an average of 4 months, while Coupa’s go-live averages 7 months.* It’s no wonder then that SAP Concur customers are often ahead of the game.
CONSIDERATION 2: Peer Reviews and Reputation
When you’re choosing a solution provider, peer reviews can be invaluable for real-world insights on solution usability, customer support, and overall satisfaction. They help you cut through the marketing noise to see if a software provider truly lives up to its hype.
A great place to source those reviews is from G2, one of the world’s largest software marketplace sites. G2’s experts dive deep into product features, user feedback, and overall ratings, giving you a clearer picture.
Curious to see how SAP Concur stacks up? Take a look at G2’s comparisons:
How does G2 rank SAP Concur overall?
We’re excited to share that SAP Concur was named a 2024 G2 Best Software Award winner in the their Best Accounting and Finance Software category. This marks our 5th year in a row being recognized, with nearly 6,000 reviews backing our continued success.
On top of that, SAP Concur was also recognized as a leader in G2’s Spring 2024 Grid® Reports for three key areas: Expense Management, Travel Management, and Invoice Management. Being in the Leader quadrant means high satisfaction scores and a strong market presence among G2 users.
TrustRadius is another platform for unbiased reviews of business tech. In 2024, TrustRadius honored SAP Concur with both the Top Rated and Buyer’s Choice awards, recognizing products that customers truly value across a range of criteria.
Speaking of unbiased reviews, here are just a few to check out:
“This platform has not only saved our team time but also enhanced our company's overall efficiency.” – Read full review
“This tool is superb at conquering travel, expense and invoice challenges anytime, anywhere.” – Read full review
“SAP Concur has helped to minimize the burden of expense management and reporting.” – Read full review
CONSIDERATION 3: Industry Partnerships and Integrations
In addition to customer and user feedback, it’s helpful to look at the breadth and strength of the solution provider’s partnerships within the industry.
With SAP Concur, you’ll gain a solution ecosystem built on trusted partnerships and seamless integrations with the same top ERP, accounting, CRM, and business systems that companies use every day.
In fact, SAP Concur has over 700 partners and 250 pre-built integrations, giving customers the flexibility and scalability to thrive in a fast-changing business and tech landscape.
Our commitment to “playing well with others” is also reflected in G2’s ratings: SAP Concur earned an impressive 88% for API and advanced integration capabilities, compared to Emburse’s 77% and Coupa’s 74%.*
Explore the versatile software integration options for connecting ConcurExpense, ConcurTravel, and Concur Invoice to your existing systems, and see why partnerships—not acquisitons—matter more.
CONSIDERATION 4: Travel & Expense Management Software Marketshare
How can you feel more confident in your choice of spend management solution partner? The IDC’s Worldwide Travel and Expense Management Software marketshare report is a quick way to see how well-established each company is in the field.
You’ll notice that SAP stands out with nearly 50% market share, compared to Emburse’s 6.2% and Coupa’s 4.2%.*
Leadership like this doesn’t happen overnight; it’s thanks to decades of partnering with our customers to understand their real challenges, goals, and ways of working. Every day, we draw on insights from over 85 million users to keep developing technologies and services that help today’s businesses grow and thrive, while keeping an eye on the future so our customers can be ready for anything.
CONSIDERATION 5: Proven Track Record in Market
In the ever-evolving technology space, it seems there's always a new start-up wunderkind promising to "revolutionize" our routines. How established a solution partner is, however, speaks to reliability and their ability to deliver in continuous innovation.
SAP Concur stands apart with more than thirty years of spend management experience and expertise. Our track record shows that we not only have a long history of commitment to technology innovation, but that we continue to be a global market leader.
Technologies like artificial intelligence are a great example. Far from being “new”, we’ve been leveraging AI and machine learning in our spend management solutions for more than a decade, during which time other companies were only just getting started.
COMPARISON SUMMARY: SAP Concur is the one to beat
There are numerous reasons why our customers say SAP Concur is the one to beat. Of course, every company is unique.
The following resources can help you zero in on what matters most to your team and your employees companywide:
- Expense Management Solution Comparison checklist
- Expense Management Solution Buyer’s Guide
- Concur Expense ROI Calculator
Ready to make the best choice for your team? Reach out to us today.
*https://www.concur.com/en-us/resource-center/reports/g2-report-sap-concur-vs-coupa
