Nexperia saves thousands of dollars per year with Concur Travel & Expense

Hanneke van Leeuwen |

More insights and fewer surprises for Nexperia’s management

They are in your fridge and maybe even in your car. The semiconductors from chip manufacturer, Nexperia, are found in almost all electronic devices around the world. To serve customers well, employees travel the globe. Nexperia— Concur’s longest-running customer in the Netherlands—realized more control over its expenses and travel costs with Concur Travel & Expense.


Nexperia is one of the largest chip producers in the world. This means of course that customers are located all over the world. So, Nexperia employees travel quite a bit. “Between 2,000 and 3,000 employees regularly declare expenses and travel costs,” says Alexander Noels, Corporate Enterprise Applications Manager at Nexperia. “We wanted to get a better grip on those costs some time ago.”


Confronted with costs too late

Nexperia was part of NXP Semiconductors for many years. That’s where Alexander was introduced to Concur. “NXP is a large organization and employees traveled a lot there. Some departments used Excel to make everything transparent, others already worked with Concur. But there was no single overview of all the travel costs. Management noticed that they were always being confronted with those expenses too late, and intervention was often no longer possible. This regularly led to unforeseen high costs. They clearly needed to tackle this problem.

“The choice for Concur was fairly simple,” Alexander recounts. “We wanted to support all processes that were not part of our core business with standard solutions, as much as possible. That is why we looked for a solution that best suited our out-of-the-box wishes. And that was SAP Concur.”

 

“We wanted to get a better grip on those costs some time ago.” Alexander Noels, Corporate Enterprise Applications Manager at Nexperia

 

Working out the kinks face-to-face

Concur Travel & Expense went live at NXP in 2014, but in 2017 Nexperia became independent. And Alexander went along. “We received an identical copy of the NXP system,” he explains. “Despite that copy, we ran into some internal challenges during implementation and had a face-to-face meeting with Concur to run through them. I really recommend that every organization does the same.” He continues: “All parties sat around the table to clarify wishes and requirements. From that moment on, everyone was able to implement concrete actions and everything went quickly. We now use Concur Travel & Expense frequently. Behind the scenes, we are still figuring out our credit card feed because we have switched to a different bank. But Concur is working hard on a solution with us, so that will be fine.”

 

Saving thousands of dollars

Nexperia’s management is no longer faced with surprises when it comes to declarations and business travel. “We now have much more insight into employees’ expenses and travel costs,” says Alexander. “And because we now work in a uniform way, we also have more control. We are able to intervene on time, so that the costs never rise again.”

 

“And because we now work in a uniform way, we also have more control. We are able to intervene on time, so that the costs never rise again.” Alexander Noels, Corporate Enterprise Applications Manager at Nexperia

“Our employees also find the solutions useful. We see a big difference between people who use the tool often and people who only claim costs four or five times a year. The latter group needs a little more guidance, but that makes sense.” The goals have been achieved, but Alexander believes one of the biggest benefits is still yet to come. “Thanks to Concur, we know exactly what we pay in VAT. Our tax partner has recently been helping us to reclaim it and has already submitted some VAT claims. We may potentially get back $180,000 a year! That is a true revelation for us.”

Total user-friendliness

Besides saving money with Concur, Nexperia has other plans for the future. “Look, declaring costs is a necessary evil. That is why we must ensure that it is as simple as possible. That is our focus looking ahead to the future, which is why we are working with ExpenseIt. Employees can use this app to photograph a receipt, after which it automatically creates a declaration using OCR technology. Such functionality really underscores the total user-friendliness of our solutions.”

No need to look around 

Nexperia is now one of SAP Concur’s longest running customers in the Netherlands. Why have they been customers for so long? According to Alexander: “In our eyes, Concur Travel & Expense is one of the better tools in the market. Switching is, for me, only an option if it brings added value. There is no need to look at other solutions, because Concur is constantly improving and innovating.”

 

In our eyes, Concur Travel & Expense is one of the better tools in the market. Switching is, for me, only an option if it brings added value. There is no need to look at other solutions, because Concur is constantly improving and innovating.”​ Alexander Noels, Corporate Enterprise Applications Manager at Nexperia