CONCUR AND IRIS ANNOUNCE STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP TO PROMOTE AUTOMATED EXPENSE CLAIM AND PAYROLL SOLUTIONS IN UK MARKET
03 November 2011
Concur (Nasdaq: CNQR) today announced a strategic partnership with IRIS HR and Payroll Solutions to promote the benefits of automated solutions. The partnership will enable IRIS to offer its small business customers a complementary solution - Concur Breeze, an expense claim service designed specifically for small to medium sized business (SMBs). In addition to the benefits of IRIS payroll clients being able to share data in a standard format between the two solutions, customers investing in Concur Breeze through the partnership will receive the service with preferential commercial terms.
Launched in the UK market earlier this year, Concur Breeze streamlines the entire expense management process by automatically creating expense claims using electronic data imported directly from both personal and corporate credit card charges. The interface between Concur Breeze and IRIS solutions will enable prompt payment of employee salary and expenses for small businesses through the tool, and provide IRIS customers the same visibility into expenses as they already experience with their payroll solution. The complementary solutions offer benefits to new customers and existing IRIS clients, particularly around expenses compliance, visibility and control.
“Concur Breeze makes the often cumbersome and costly expense claim process straightforward and transparent, giving SMBs the confidence to focus on running their company successfully”, comments Isabel Montesdeoca, Senior Vice President and General Manager for EMEA at Concur. “This partnership will provide IRIS’s large pool of customers with the opportunity to learn more about the benefits that a low-cost expense management solution can provide”.
Oliver Shaw, Managing Director of IRIS HR and Payroll Solutions, added: “We are already seeing interest in this partnership with Concur from our SMB clients, who can benefit from the extra value provided by integration between the two companies’ solutions, and we plan to extend this to larger enterprise customers in the coming months. The partnership we are announcing today with Concur will add extra value to existing customers and their businesses as Concur Breeze perfectly complements the small business payroll software products IRIS already has available on the market”.
In April this year, a survey of over 400 SMB owners by Opinion Matters revealed that UK SMBs spend an average of 13 business days per year managing expenses, which is a significant drain on time and resources for growing companies. When compared with other vital business activities, a large percentage of SMB owners admit that their company spends more time managing expenses than they do on generating new business (63.2 per cent), thinking about the future of the business (54.1 per cent) or investigating new markets (48.8 per cent).
Quick and easy to set up, Concur Breeze makes even complex and tedious expense claim tasks simple. By automating the entire process and eliminating the need for paper receipts, spreadsheets, and lengthy reimbursement cycles, it reduces the time and hassle associated with expense claims. It simplifies bookkeeping and helps companies better track costs and manage cash. The tool also allows SMBs to quickly and accurately analyse expense data through online reporting, and reduces the risk of employee expense fraud.