Concur Technologies

Concur Technologies
Name	Concur Technologies
Type	Private (acquired)
Industry	Software as a Service
Founded	1993
Founder	Steve Singh, Rajeev Singh, Mike Hilton
Fate	Acquired by SAP SE (2014)
Headquarters	Bellevue, Washington

Concur Technologies was an American software company that developed cloud-based travel and expense management solutions. Founded in 1993, it grew into a major provider of automated expense reporting, travel booking, and invoice management software for enterprises, and was acquired by SAP SE in 2014. Concur’s products integrated with corporate procurement, finance, and travel ecosystems used by multinational firms such as American Express, Delta Air Lines, and Microsoft Corporation.

History

Concur Technologies was founded by Steve Singh, Rajeev Singh, and Mike Hilton in 1993 in Redmond, Washington, before relocating headquarters to Bellevue, Washington. Early growth involved partnerships with travel suppliers including Avis Budget Group, Hertz Global Holdings, and United Airlines as Concur expanded from PC-based solutions into web-hosted services during the late 1990s dot‑com era alongside contemporaries like Salesforce and Expedia. The company completed an initial public offering on the NASDAQ in 2009 and pursued acquisitions such as TripIt and Hipmunk-related assets to bolster travel data and mobile capabilities. In 2014 Concur was acquired by SAP SE for approximately $8.3 billion, a transaction reviewed by regulators including the United States Department of Justice and overseen by executives from SAP America and Concur leadership. Post-acquisition, Concur’s offerings were integrated into broader SAP S/4HANA and cloud portfolios while maintaining brand recognition within corporate travel and expense management sectors.

Products and Services

Concur offered expense management, travel booking, and invoice processing solutions sold as cloud services to enterprises, government agencies such as the General Services Administration, and non‑profit institutions like Red Cross. Core products included automated expense reporting systems that captured receipts via mobile apps and optical character recognition, corporate travel booking tools connecting to Global Distribution Systems such as Amadeus IT Group and Sabre Corporation, and accounts payable automation that interfaced with enterprise resource planning suites including Oracle Corporation and SAP ERP. Value‑added services encompassed risk management integrations with International SOS and duty‑of‑care providers, corporate card reconciliation with issuers like JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup, and analytics dashboards that leveraged partnerships with Tableau Software and Microsoft Power BI.

Technology and Architecture

Concur’s platform combined web services, mobile apps, and middleware to enable real‑time expense capture and travel orchestration. The architecture used APIs and service buses to connect with third‑party inventory systems such as Sabre Corporation and Travelport, financial ledgers in NetSuite and SAP ERP, and identity providers including Okta and Microsoft Azure Active Directory. The mobile client employed OCR libraries and camera access on iPhone and Android devices to digitize receipts, while backend services used scalable multi‑tenant design patterns influenced by cloud providers like Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud Platform. For data interchange, Concur supported standards and protocols such as XML and JSON payloads and integrated with Visa and Mastercard payment networks for card transaction feeds.

Business Model and Partnerships

Concur operated a subscription SaaS model with per‑user and transaction pricing tiers, selling through direct enterprise sales teams and channel partners including Accenture, Deloitte, and Ernst & Young. Strategic alliances with travel management companies like BCD Travel and Carlson Wagonlit Travel expanded corporate travel procurement reach, while integrations with corporate card issuers and payment processors increased stickiness. OEM and reseller relationships with firms such as HP Enterprise Services and cloud integrators amplified deployment in sectors ranging from Fortune 500 enterprises to public sector agencies like state comptrollers. The company also developed partner marketplaces to onboard application vendors and data providers similar to platform approaches by Salesforce AppExchange.

Corporate Governance and Leadership

Concur’s executive team included founders alongside later executives who navigated the IPO and sale to SAP SE. Board members and advisors often had backgrounds at technology and travel firms such as Microsoft Corporation, American Airlines, and Oracle Corporation. Post‑acquisition governance involved integration with SAP’s supervisory bodies and executive committees in Walldorf, Germany, and retained Concur management in transitional leadership roles to align product roadmaps with SAP Cloud strategy. Senior leaders engaged with investor communities including Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley during capital markets activities.

Market Impact and Competition

Concur influenced digital transformation in corporate travel and expense management, accelerating automation and mobile adoption similar to how Salesforce reshaped customer relationship management. Competitors included Expensify, TripActions, Zoho Corporation expense modules, and legacy travel management vendors such as CWT (Carlson Wagonlit Travel). Concur’s scale and enterprise footprint pressured competitors to enhance integrations with card issuers, global distribution systems, and ERP vendors, while academic and industry analysts at organizations like Gartner and Forrester Research tracked market share and feature parity across providers.

Legal and Privacy Issues

Concur operated in regulated areas touching financial data, travel itineraries, and personal information, subject to statutes and regimes such as U.S. Privacy Act considerations, the European Union General Data Protection Regulation, and cross‑border data transfer rules overseen by authorities like the European Data Protection Board. Legal challenges and compliance efforts involved handling sensitive employee data, audits by regulators including the Securities and Exchange Commission, and contractual obligations with corporate clients and government customers. Post‑acquisition integration with SAP SE raised questions about data residency and vendor consolidation addressed through contractual safeguards and compliance programs.

Category:Software companies of the United States Category:Companies based in Bellevue, Washington