Concur Japan and ABeam Consulting Launch Strategic Collaboration Covering Indirect Expense Management

TOKYO, Sept. 22, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Concur Japan, Ltd., the Japanese subsidiary of Concur Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: CNQR), and ABeam Consulting Ltd. announced a strategic collaboration agreement today, focused on indirect expense management.

The two companies are combining ABeam Consulting's ABeam Innovative Cost Optimization Solutions (ABEAM ICOS) with Concur Technologies' cloud service to deliver an all-around service to enhance clients' indirect expense management systems and establish a structure for indirect expense management.

The agreement covers:

1. Combining the two companies' extensive knowledge and consulting know-how in indirect cost optimization to develop and deliver services for overhauling indirect expense management
2. Delivering invoice collation, payment processing, help desk, and other operational services, utilizing collected data and data analysis for indirect expense optimization, and providing risk control services
3. Pioneering new customers and providing new services to established customers through collaborative sales and marketing to win orders associated with indirect expense optimization

Concur Technologies is the de facto standard for expense management solutions, with 23,000 clients worldwide (including 360 in Japan) and 27 million users overall. The number of Japanese companies using Concur's solutions continue to grow at a fast pace due to its history of doing business globally and actively localizing its service to accommodate the Japanese market.

ABeam Consulting provides ABeam ICOS, a support tool for optimizing indirect expenses as a component of restructuring costs. An all-round integrated service, ABeam ICOS includes formulating plans for everything from cost-structure optimization to business-process reforms, their deployment, bedding-in of the reforms, and devising improvements based on the collected data. The range of services on offer includes those paid for on a success-fee basis and can be tailored to fit user requirements. ABeam Consulting also utilizes shared services (including overseas subsidiaries) and provides ideas on how companies can improve the quality of their business processes or manage indirect expenses globally in addition to reducing costs.

Japanese companies working to be more competitive in an increasingly globalized economy and competitive environment are under mounting pressure to cut indirect expenses. Centralized management of indirect expenses independent of different country-specific circumstances has become a greater management priority, especially from a governance perspective. The Concur Japan–ABeam Consulting collaboration will not only help existing customers make their business administration more sophisticated, but also give Japanese companies the extra help they need to enhance their international competitiveness through cost structure optimization.

"The combination of ABeam Consulting's sophisticated business consulting service with our world-class cloud service for indirect expense management will exponentially improve companies' ability to manage their expenses," said Masamune Mimura, CEO of Concur Japan. "Our collaboration positions us to provide more efficient support for Japanese companies' profit structures, and I'm certain it will let us help Japanese companies raise their competitiveness."

"It's important to embed indirect expense management as an integral part of cost-management and continue to produce results to optimize cost structure," said Masaya Nakamoto, Executive Officer, Principal, Head of Manufacturing Div., ABeam Consulting. "Our collaboration with Concur Japan strengthens system implementation and provides an integrated, one-stop service that extends to bedding the system down and making improvements. In this way, we're committed to helping companies manage their businesses in a more sophisticated manner through cost optimization in a global era."

Going forward, Concur Japan and ABeam Consulting will be working to deliver new value-added as well as providing services and developing solutions leveraging their respective strengths. The two intend to provide backup for sustainable growth by enabling the transition to more sophisticated management at companies doing business in Japan, in Asia, and worldwide.

Note

• ABeam (names in Japanese and English) and its logos are registered trademarks of ABeam Consulting Ltd.
• Company names and product names in this media release are the trade names, trademarks, or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

About Concur Technologies, Inc.
Concur is the leading provider of spend management solutions and services in the world, helping companies of all sizes transform the way they manage spend so they can focus on what matters most. Through Concur's open platform, the entire travel and expense ecosystem of customers, suppliers, and developers can access and extend Concur's T&E cloud. Concur's systems adapt to individual employee preferences and scale to meet the needs of companies from small to large. Find out how to put your app in front of 25M business travelers with the Concur Platform and pitch for $100,000 in funding awards at The Perfect Trip DevCon 2014, from Concur & TripIt. For more information, please visit www.concur.co.jp

About ABeam Consulting Ltd
ABeam Consulting provides business transformation services that create strategic advantage, improve business processes, leverage technology innovation, and enhance organizational performance for leading multinational and domestic companies worldwide. ABeam partners with clients to diagnose and solve their real challenges with solutions that combine industry and operational best practices with technical expertise. Pragmatic approaches ensure that clients gain measurable value more quickly. Headquartered in Tokyo, ABeam's 4,200 professionals serve more than 700 clients throughout Asia, the Americas and Europe. For more information, please visit http://www.abeam.com

Contact:
Tom Kim
Grayling
[email protected]
206-508-4107

Wakana Kabasawa
Public Relations, Marketing Dept.
ABeam Consulting Ltd.
[email protected]
Phone: 81-3-6700-8227

SOURCE Concur Japan, Ltd.