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I have horrible memories of needing to switch back-and-forth between the Concur mobile app and the desktop version to submit expenses. The mobile app was very c

by jfoster 12y ago

I have horrible memories of needing to switch back-and-forth between the Concur mobile app and the desktop version to submit expenses. The mobile app was very convenient for uploading photos of receipts, but as you mentioned, half the time the upload just sat there. It wasn't feature-complete enough to submit the expense claims directly from mobile, so I'd go in and fix up fields on the desktop. The people who have to use this software the most (employees) would never willingly purchase it, but they are not the decision-makers for this purchase. A competitor might be able to gain traction by targeting small-but-growing companies that wish for a nicer future for their employees.

abakker 12y ago
There are some companies doing this - Expensify, for one. I've no doubt that there are others. I know some outsourcers of HR services, like TriNet have some modern capabilities.
eitally 12y ago
The core problem I have is that you cannot start a new expense report linked to an existing approved trip using the mobile app. You HAVE to start it from the web, which is a horrifyingly bad experience ... then you can continue it on the mobile app. If you start the report on the mobile app, it is nearly impossible to link it to the correct trip (unless you leave it in limbo and then go into the web app, start a new one, then link the existing one you created on the mobile app to it). Ugh. But yeah, it's a cost savings system and has nothing to do with enterprise IT. Finance are the ones who demand it.
- jfoster 12y ago
  Now that you jogged my memory, I think that's the same horrible problem that I had. Start the report on desktop, switch to mobile to add receipt photos, go back to desktop to fix up all of the stuff the mobile app can't do, and repeat if any of the reports or photos got messed up somehow. You end up in this insane loop of switching back and forth between devices with a pile of receipts on your desk. Nightmarish.

by jfoster 12y ago

abakker 12y ago

There are some companies doing this - Expensify, for one. I've no doubt that there are others. I know some outsourcers of HR services, like TriNet have some modern capabilities.

eitally 12y ago

The core problem I have is that you cannot start a new expense report linked to an existing approved trip using the mobile app. You HAVE to start it from the web, which is a horrifyingly bad experience ... then you can continue it on the mobile app. If you start the report on the mobile app, it is nearly impossible to link it to the correct trip (unless you leave it in limbo and then go into the web app, start a new one, then link the existing one you created on the mobile app to it). Ugh. But yeah, it's a cost savings system and has nothing to do with enterprise IT. Finance are the ones who demand it.

jfoster 12y ago
Now that you jogged my memory, I think that's the same horrible problem that I had. Start the report on desktop, switch to mobile to add receipt photos, go back to desktop to fix up all of the stuff the mobile app can't do, and repeat if any of the reports or photos got messed up somehow. You end up in this insane loop of switching back and forth between devices with a pile of receipts on your desk. Nightmarish.