As a part of an enterprise strategy to increase efficiency and contain costs better, Loma Linda University Health is deploying a new software platform, Concur, that will debut in the summer of 2016.
It features web and mobile solutions for travel and expense management, including travel booking, expense report automation, reimbursement, audit, business intelligence, duty of care and many more.
“This is an exciting opportunity for Loma Linda University Health to transform and standardize a process that today is largely paper based, labor intensive and lacking in internal visibility,” says Jeremy Hubbard, director of Loma Linda University Shared Services and leader on the Concur implementation.
Concur could also provide Loma Linda University Health with the information required to negotiate future discounts on airfare and hotels, among other benefits.
To better understand Concur and how it will impact the organization, News of the Week (NOW) conducted a brief interview with Hubbard.
NOW: Tell us a little bit about Concur and how it will optimize travel and expense management at Loma Linda.
Hubbard: Concur is a travel and expense tool. Concur’s cloud-based services integrate with each other and connect to costs wherever they happen to give organizations total visibility into their spending. Concur will give us the means to better manage spending and make it simple for our employees to book travel and do expense reports faster, accurately and in line with company policy.
NOW: Why Concur?
Hubbard: Concur is the industry leader in travel and expense automation for companies of all sizes, including academic health systems. Beyond industry expertise, we were attracted to Concur’s open platform, which will help connect the entire travel and expense ecosystem. Concur technologies adapt to individual employee preferences and scale to meet our complex organizational needs.
NOW: In today’s growing digital economy, how does Loma Linda manage company spending?
Hubbard: That’s an area we anticipate Concur having an immediate impact. As an organization we are always looking to better control costs and drive up efficiency. By automating current processes, the company will have greater visibility over travel expenses and our vendor-spending for negotiating with suppliers. Employees will also enjoy faster reimbursement on business-related expenses.
NOW: How will the institution benefit from Concur?
Hubbard: We believe enhanced visibility will lead to better control of our financial resources and encourage compliance to policy. Streamlining and simplifying the approval and back office processes will improve productivity for staff, and simplify the experience for everyone, regardless of their Loma Linda entity. Concur will also help improve our duty of care efforts by keeping our travelers safe and informed when they travel for business.
NOW: How will the employee/traveler benefit from Concur?
Hubbard: I believe employees are the ones who will benefit the most. I’ve often thought to myself, “What if expense reports could write themselves?” With Concur that idea will become a near reality — from booking a trip, to automatically uploading electronic receipts, to simply snapping a photo of a paper receipt with the Concur mobile app, employees will save time submitting expense reports. Concur will also give supervisors the ability to approve expense reports anytime, anywhere. Users will receive email notifications regarding the status of expense reports and payments, and reimbursement can happen as a direct deposit straight to your bank account. For those traveling for business, Concur creates one itinerary that is accessible via mobile apps with built-in travel alerts, and it builds an expense report as the trip happens.
NOW: What else do Loma Linda University Health employees need to know to be ready for Concur?
Hubbard: Stay tuned for more information on the upcoming Concur deployment and training. We are very excited about the benefits that this project will bring and ask each of you to support this initiative and use Concur!
Editor’s note: If you have any questions about Concur or how it will impact your department, please feel free to contact Jeremy Hubbard directly at jehubbard@llu.edu or ext. 48172.