SAP Concur: SOLEX and Endorsed Apps, how to extend the solution (3/3)

SAP Concur offers a set of solutions covering the main processes related to business travel, expense reports and supplier invoices.

But the SAP Concur ecosystem goes far beyond the features offered by the platform's standard modules, presented in part one and part two of this series.

To address more specific needs — spend control, fraud detection, tax, event management, traveller safety, mileage reimbursement or regulatory compliance — SAP Concur also relies on an ecosystem of complementary solutions.

Among them, two categories hold a special place: Solution Extensions, also known as SOLEX, and the Endorsed Apps available in the SAP Concur App Center.

What is the difference between these solutions? Which needs do they address? And how do they complement SAP Concur?

In this third article dedicated to the SAP Concur ecosystem, we offer an overview of the main Solution Extensions and Endorsed Apps.

SOLEX and Endorsed Apps: what is the difference?

In both cases, the goal is to extend the capabilities of the SAP Concur environment with specialised features.

The main difference lies in their positioning within the SAP Concur ecosystem and their commercial model.

Solution Extensions – SOLEX

Solution Extensions, frequently called SOLEX, are complementary solutions selected by SAP Concur and closely integrated into its offering.

SAP Concur defines them as solutions developed by selected vendors, then qualified, tested and approved according to SAP Concur standards.

Their main particularity, however, lies in their commercial model: a Solution Extension can be purchased directly from SAP Concur.

For the customer, this means the complementary solution can be integrated into its commercial relationship with SAP Concur, without having to contract separately with the technology vendor behind the solution.

Endorsed Apps

Endorsed Apps are also partner solutions selected by SAP Concur, but they maintain a direct commercial relationship between the vendor and the customer.

To obtain Endorsed App status, vendors must in particular meet additional certification and security criteria defined by SAP Concur.

In this model, the customer selects an application within the SAP Concur ecosystem but contracts directly with its vendor. SAP Concur indeed states in its partner application activation process that the customer must contract with the partner before connecting the environments.

Once activated, the application communicates with SAP Concur through the integration mechanisms offered by the platform.

The distinction can be summarised simply:

• SOLEX: partner solution sold directly by SAP Concur.
• Endorsed App: partner solution certified by SAP Concur but sold directly by its vendor.

What are the main SAP Concur Solution Extensions (SOLEX)?

Several SOLEX enrich SAP Concur on very specific topics. Among the most important are Concur Detect by Oversight and Concur Event Management by Groupize.

Concur Detect by Oversight: analysing spend and detecting risk

Effectively controlling thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, of expenses is a real challenge for finance departments.

Even when a company has a detailed expense policy and audit rules configured in SAP Concur, some behaviours remain difficult to identify with traditional controls.

This is precisely the role of Concur Detect by Oversight.

The solution uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to analyse expenses and identify transactions or behaviours presenting a risk.

It does not limit itself to analysing each expense in isolation. The analysis can also take into account history and different spending patterns in order to identify situations that would be far harder to detect manually.

SAP Concur states that Concur Detect analyses expenses before and after payment in order to identify errors, waste, abusive behaviour and fraud.

The solution therefore helps expense control evolve from an essentially rule-based approach towards a more risk-based approach.

What are the benefits of Concur Detect?

Concur Detect notably makes it possible to:

• automatically analyse a very large volume of expenses;
• identify transactions with a high level of risk;
• detect unusual or recurring behaviours;
• identify potentially non-compliant expenses;
• strengthen fraud and abuse detection;
• reduce the volume of manual audits;
• allow Finance and Audit teams to focus on expenses that really present a risk.

The solution is particularly relevant for companies with a high volume of expense reports or wishing to strengthen their internal control framework.

Concur Event Management by Groupize: managing corporate meetings and events

SAP Concur Travel is mainly designed to organise individual business trips.

But organising a seminar, a convention, a training session or an event bringing together dozens or hundreds of employees involves very different needs.

Registrations, attendees, hotels, travel, venues, communications and related expenses all have to be managed.

Concur Event Management by Groupize was designed to address this challenge.

The solution offers a centralised platform to plan and manage corporate meetings and events.

It notably covers venue and hotel sourcing, registrations, attendees, travel, logistics and related expenses.

SAP Concur states that the solution can be used by both professional and occasional planners and cover events ranging from 10 to 10,000 attendees.

Integration with SAP Concur also improves visibility on the spend generated by events.

What are the benefits of Concur Event Management?

The solution notably makes it possible to:

• centralise the organisation of meetings and events;
• manage registrations and attendees;
• organise associated travel;
• manage hotels and event venues;
• strengthen Travel policy enforcement;
• consolidate the spend related to an event;
• improve visibility on the real cost of events;
• gain data that supports supplier negotiations.

For companies regularly organising seminars, conventions, training sessions or international meetings, Groupize brings event management closer to the Travel & Expense ecosystem.

Endorsed Apps: specialised solutions integrated with SAP Concur

Endorsed Apps address even more specific needs.

Among the solutions available in the SAP Concur ecosystem, several applications stand out in the areas of mobility, tax, regulatory compliance and traveller safety.

Motus Reimbursement: optimising travel-related reimbursements

Companies employing sales, technical or mobile populations often have to manage a significant number of trips made with employees' personal vehicles. Calculating a fair and compliant reimbursement can then become complex.

Motus Reimbursement specialises in managing reimbursements related to the business use of personal vehicles.

The solution allows organisations to set up reimbursement models adapted to their policies and to integrate this data with Concur Expense.

SAP Concur currently presents Motus Reimbursement as an Endorsed App with Premium certification.

What are the benefits of Motus?

The solution notably makes it possible to:

• automate the management of travel-related reimbursements;
• improve the accuracy of reimbursed amounts;
• reduce administrative processing;
• better steer costs related to personal vehicles;
• integrate reimbursements into the SAP Concur Expense process.

Motus is particularly suited to companies with a large population of mobile employees.

MedPro: meeting Life Sciences compliance obligations

Pharmaceutical and medical device companies must meet specific regulatory obligations regarding their interactions with healthcare professionals.

When an employee invites a doctor to a meal or incurs certain expenses for the benefit of a healthcare professional, the company must be able to precisely identify the person concerned and retain the information required for transparency obligations.

MedPro Connect integrates MedPro's healthcare professional databases directly into SAP Concur Expense and Concur Invoice.

Users can therefore search for and select healthcare professionals directly from their expense process.

SAP Concur currently lists several MedPro solutions as Premium Certified Endorsed Apps in its App Center.

What are the benefits of MedPro?

MedPro notably makes it possible to:

• precisely identify healthcare professionals;
• make HCP search easier directly from SAP Concur;
• improve the quality of collected data;
• reduce manual entry;
• support Aggregate Spend and transparency obligations;
• strengthen regulatory compliance.

This solution therefore addresses an extremely specific but strategic need for Life Sciences companies.

International SOS: strengthening traveller safety and Duty of Care

Companies also have a responsibility towards their employees when they travel for business.

Political crisis, natural disaster, epidemic, security incident: when an event occurs, it is essential to quickly identify which employees are present in, or planning to travel to, the affected area.

International SOS combines travel information from Concur Travel, Concur TripLink and TripIt with its own health and security risk information.

Companies can therefore gain better visibility on their travellers and identify people potentially exposed to a risk.

International SOS also offers assistance centres available 24/7 as well as information and advice on health and security risks.

SAP Concur lists International SOS as a Premium Certified Endorsed App in its App Center.

What are the benefits of International SOS?

The solution notably makes it possible to:

• improve visibility on travelling employees;
• identify travellers potentially affected by an event;
• distribute risk-related information;
• support employees in case of an issue;
• strengthen the Duty of Care framework;
• improve the resilience of the Travel programme.

The solution is particularly relevant for organisations with a large population of international travellers.

Blue dot Tax Assurance: automating and optimising VAT recovery

VAT recovery on business expenses is a significant financial issue for many companies.

Yet the recovery potential is often underexploited.

The diversity of tax rules, the variable quality of receipts and the volume of expenses make it difficult to manually identify all eligible expenses.

Blue dot Tax Assurance uses artificial intelligence to automate and optimise the VAT recovery process.

The solution analyses expenses to identify and validate transactions that can generate VAT recovery. The current SAP Concur App Center listing presents the solution as a VAT recovery automation tool covering several expense categories.

It can process various expense sources, including domestic and international business travel as well as certain card or supplier flows.

What are the benefits of Blue dot Tax Assurance?

The solution notably makes it possible to:

• automatically identify eligible expenses;
• increase the potential amount of recovered VAT;
• automate part of the tax processing;
• apply complex tax rules;
• reduce manual operations;
• improve compliance of the recovery process;
• make more effective use of the data available in SAP Concur.

For international companies generating a high volume of business expenses, the financial impact can be significant.

Blue dot Benefits Assurance: identifying taxable benefits

Business expenses can also have tax consequences for employees.

Depending on the country and the nature of the expense, certain items paid by the company may be considered taxable benefits.

Manually identifying these expenses within thousands of expense reports is a particularly complex task.

Blue dot Benefits Assurance uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to analyse expenses and receipts in order to identify items that may correspond to taxable benefits.

The solution therefore connects expense management data with tax requirements and, where necessary, payroll processes.

What are the benefits of Blue dot Benefits Assurance?

The solution notably makes it possible to:

• automatically identify expenses likely to constitute a taxable benefit;
• analyse expense data and receipts;
• automate the application of tax rules;
• reduce manual processing;
• improve the quality of information sent to tax and payroll processes;
• strengthen company compliance.

This topic is particularly important for international groups dealing with different regulations from one country to another.

How to choose the right extensions for SAP Concur?

The existence of a vast ecosystem obviously does not mean a company should multiply the applications around SAP Concur.

The choice must start from business challenges.

An organisation wishing to strengthen the control of its expense reports may, for example, look at Concur Detect.

A company organising several hundred events each year may be interested in Concur Event Management by Groupize.

A sales population making many trips with personal vehicles may justify the use of Motus.

A pharmaceutical company may need MedPro to secure its transparency obligations.

A group with many international travellers may integrate International SOS into its Duty of Care framework.

Finally, a company seeking to optimise the tax treatment of its expenses may consider Blue dot Tax Assurance or Benefits Assurance.

Choosing a SAP Concur extension should therefore be preceded by an analysis of several elements:

• the processes currently covered by SAP Concur;
• the topics that still require manual processing;
• the transaction volumes concerned;
• the financial or regulatory risks;
• the countries in which the company operates;
• the integration of the solution with the existing architecture;
• the expected return on investment.

Which SAP Concur extension for which need?

SAP Concur: a platform at the heart of a genuine ecosystem

One of SAP Concur's strengths ultimately lies in its ability to integrate with a vast ecosystem of solutions.

SAP Concur Expense and Concur Travel form the backbone of the Travel & Expense process, while Solution Extensions and Endorsed Apps address much more specialised topics.

Intelligent audit, tax, regulatory compliance, traveller safety, mobility or event management: companies can therefore progressively build an environment adapted to their own challenges.

The goal, however, is not to add solutions at all costs.

A good SAP Concur architecture must remain readable, integrated and proportionate to the company's needs.

Before selecting a SOLEX or an Endorsed App, it is therefore essential to identify the processes that can genuinely be improved, to assess the value delivered by the solution and to anticipate its integration with the existing ecosystem.

At Bratsi, we support companies in designing, optimising and evolving their SAP Concur environment. Our functional and technical expertise allows us to analyse needs, identify the right solutions and define their integration into the existing Travel & Expense architecture.