For most organisations, selecting SAP Concur is the straightforward part. The platform has established itself as the global leader in Travel and Expense (T&E) management, and the business case is often clear. The more crucial decision – and the one that determines long-term success – is choosing the right certified implementation partner.
A poorly executed SAP Concur deployment does more than waste budget. It creates a system employees avoid, finance teams struggle to trust, and IT teams spend months fixing after go-live. The right partner, however, transforms Concur from a software implementation into a strategic shift in how your organisation controls spend, enforces policy, and gains visibility across T&E.
At FinTrans Solutions, a leading certified SAP Concur Implementation Partner (CIP) operating across 95% of SAP-authorised global service markets, we have seen both outcomes. This guide outlines what separates them.
What Is a Certified Implementation Partner – and Why Does It Matter?
SAP’s Certified Implementation Partner (CIP) programme establishes a quality benchmark for SAP Concur delivery. To achieve and maintain CIP status, consulting firms must demonstrate technical proficiency, a proven deployment track record, and ongoing certification as the platform evolves.
SAP Concur may appear simple on the surface, but beneath the interface are hundreds of configuration decisions that determine whether:
- Expense policies are properly enforced
- Integrations remain stable and scalable
- Employees adopt the platform successfully
- Reporting and financial data remain reliable
Certified partners operate within a structured quality framework; however, not all CIP partners offer the same level of capability. Some are certified only for specific countries or modules. For organisations operating globally, your partner must understand not only how SAP Concur works (including its power and technical constraints as a SaaS solution), but also how local regulations, tax requirements, and business processes differ across markets.
Six Areas to Evaluate Before Choosing a Partner
- Deployment Methodology
Ask potential partners to explain their methodology in detail – not through a sales presentation, but through a practical walkthrough of how they move from kick-off to go-live.
The strongest implementation partners follow a big-bang phased, milestone-driven approach with clear deliverables, quality checkpoints, and formal signoffs.
At FinTrans Solutions, we apply our ACT (Activate Transformation) methodology across five phases:
- Prepare
- Explore
- Realise
- Execute
- Hypercare
Each phase includes clearly defined entry and exit criteria that minimise scope creep, maintain project transparency, and keep timelines on track.
- Integration Expertise
Integration is one of the most underestimated aspects of an SAP Concur implementation – and often where delivery challenges emerge.
SAP Concur does not operate in isolation. It must connect with multiple systems across your landscape, including:
- ERP systems for financial postings
- HRMS platforms for employee and organisational data
- Credit card providers for transaction feeds
A typical global deployment includes four critical interfaces:
- Employee imports from HR systems
- List imports for cost centres and organisational structures
- Financial postings back to ERP Finance
- Payment confirmation flows from ERP back into Concur
If a partner cannot clearly explain how they approach these interfaces, it should raise concern.
- Global and Multi-Country Experience
Multi-country deployments introduce complexities that single-country implementations rarely face. Tax regulations, travel allowances, mileage rules, receipt requirements, and language considerations all need to be managed within a consistent global framework.
Ask:
- How many countries have you deployed?
- How do you balance global standards with local compliance requirements?
- Can you provide examples of localisation challenges?
The answers will quickly reveal whether the partner has true international delivery experience.
- Change Management Capability
One of the greatest risks in an SAP Concur deployment is rarely technical – it is adoption.
Even a perfectly configured system fails if employees avoid it or create workarounds.
Effective implementation partners embed change management into the programme from day one through:
- Stakeholder assessments
- Change Impact analysis
- Role-based training content and train-the-trainer approach
- Communication planning and execution
- Post-go-live adoption monitoring
Partners that treat change management as an optional add-on often deliver systems that technically work but fail to achieve business outcomes.
- Post-Go-Live Support Model
Go-live is not the finish line.
After launch, real-world usage exposes edge cases, user issues, and integration scenarios that testing may not uncover.
Your implementation partner should provide:
- Structured hypercare support
- Defined SLAs
- Ongoing application maintenance services
- Continuous optimisation and health checks
Ask about response times during hypercare, escalation procedures, and what support looks like after the initial stabilisation period ends.
- T&E Domain Expertise
There is a significant difference between a specialist SAP Concur partner and a generalist IT consultancy that includes Concur among dozens of offerings.
Specialists work with SAP Concur every day. They understand T&E best practices & high-performance models across industries, configuration nuances, and common pitfalls.
FinTrans Solutions brings over 190 combined years of SAP Concur experience across our team – delivering the depth of expertise that creates stronger outcomes and faster value realisation.
Questions to Ask Before You Sign
Before selecting an implementation partner, ask direct questions and pay close attention to the quality of the answers:
- How many countries have you deployed SAP Concur for?
- What is the number of previously successfully implemented E2E Concur programs?
- Can you provide success stories for global, multi-country deployment projects?
- Can you demonstrate your implementation methodology with real project artefacts?
- What is your track record in deploying Concur globally in the contexts of an S/4 rollout or migration, carve-out initiates, and CX programs?
- What is your ability in designing Global T&E Core Models? How do you balance global standardisation with local compliance?
- What is your approach on integration design & build solutions considering various transfer methods such as SAP ICS, Concur Web API, and SFTP)?
- What are your accelerators, templates, and methods to support the full Concur implementation live cycle?
- How do you manage change and user adoption and what does your training model include?
- What are your SLAs for Concur AMS?
Specific, experience-based answers often reveal more than marketing materials ever will.
Making the Right Decision
Choosing an SAP Concur implementation partner shapes how your organisation manages travel and expense processes for years to come.
The right partner does more than deploy software. They redesign and harmonise processes, strengthen policy compliance, and deliver the spend visibility leadership teams need.
The wrong partner delivers a technically functional system that never addresses the underlying business challenges. Contact FinTrans Solutions →
Frequently Asked Questions
What is an SAP Concur implementation partner?
An SAP Concur implementation partner is a consulting firm certified by SAP to deploy, configure, and integrate SAP Concur solutions for travel, expense, and invoice management. CIP (Certified Implementation Partner) status means the firm has met SAP’s standards for delivery quality and technical expertise.
How long does an SAP Concur implementation take?
A single-country deployment with standard configuration can go live in 8 to 16 weeks. A global rollout across multiple countries with ERP integration and change management typically takes 20 to 40 weeks. Complex programmes with a big-bang go-live across many legal entities, such as the 18-country, 38-week programme FinTrans delivered, sit at the higher end.
What is the difference between a CIP partner and a reseller?
A CIP partner actively implements and configures SAP Concur. They lead the deployment, handle integration architecture, design the functional solution, and manage testing and go-live. A reseller sells the licence but may not have the technical depth to run the implementation. For anything beyond a basic deployment, a CIP partner is essential.
Can SAP Concur integrate with non-SAP ERP systems?
Yes. SAP Concur supports integration with non-SAP ERPs through SFTP flat file transfers and web services. The native SAP ICS integration is specific to S/4HANA environments, but the platform is designed to connect with a wide range of financial and HR systems.
What should I expect during hypercare after go-live?
Hypercare is a structured support period, typically four to eight weeks after launch, where the implementation partner provides dedicated resources to resolve issues, address user questions, monitor integration performance, and fine-tune configuration based on real production data. Look for defined SLAs around response time and issue resolution.