Case Study: Columbia College achieves $80,000 in annual travel and expense savings with SAP Concur

Columbia College saves $80,000 in T&E expenditures with help from Concur

Columbia College, a private nonprofit institution serving 29,000 students across 36 locations, faced a fragmented travel-and-expense (T&E) process after rapid growth. Without a formal travel policy or centralized system, employees submitted paper spreadsheets and receipts, corporate card use was low and difficult to manage, and the Accounts Payable manager spent roughly 18 hours a week (about 45% of her time) processing 100 monthly expense reports—creating delays, overspend and administrative strain.

The college implemented Concur Travel, Concur Expense and TripIt, paired with a new corporate card and a staged rollout with training and communications. The solution centralized controls, automated credit-card matching and approvals, enabled mobile receipt capture, and enforced policy exceptions. As a result, AP processing dropped from 18 hours a week to a few hours, card adoption and rewards produced $30–40K annually, policy enforcement saved an estimated $40K, and overall T&E costs were reduced by about $80K per year with improved visibility for ongoing savings.

Columbia College

Bruce Boyer

Chief Financial Officer