How Saia Turned T&E Data into Stories Leaders Act On

Speaker A: Welcome to the SAP Concur Conversations podcast. Each episode we sit down with industry experts, visionaries and leaders as they share what it takes to build forward thinking, spend and travel programs. Our goal is to get you thinking differently about how your organization spends money. I'm your host, Jean Dyen. I'm the Global Vice President of Customer Advisory here at SAP Concur and my team partners with our customers to bring out their best using data driven insights to fuel intelligent growth and innovation. Today I am joined by Ed Hebert, the Director of Finance, Operations and strategic projects at SIA LTL Freight. Over his 28 years with SIA, Ed has worked across the business and developed a real sweet spot for translating business needs into action. Whether it's, uh, aligning leaders around strategy or uncovering process inefficiencies or or even finding new ways to use data for smarter decisions. In this episode we'll explore how sia's journey with travel and expense management has really evolved from just a set of tactical processes into a real cornerstone of strategic planning. We'll talk about the real world impact of tackling hidden inefficiencies like reducing a reconciliation process that once took 42 days a year down to just a few hours. And how surfacing the right data at the right time can change the way leaders think about spend. We'll also dig into how Ed and his team use data not just to analyze behavior, but really to tell stories that spark curiosity, they drive alignment, and they shape smarter policies. And then we'll look ahead at how organizations can begin their own journey with practical steps for using T and E data to fuel growth, innovation and uh, accountability. So, Ed, thank you so much for joining us today. I'm super excited to talk about your storytelling journeys. Um, to get us started, could you please introduce yourself to our listeners?

Speaker B: Sure. Thank you, Gene. Happy to be here this morning with you guys. It's been a rewarding journey indeed, and one that I'm extremely proud of. I first began with my career with as part of an internship program beginning my junior year of high school. A time when SIA's network spanned approximately 10 states, supported by about 72 service centers, or terminals as we call them, where today SIA's network operates, uh, across 48 states with 213 service centers and growing, all supported by a workforce of over 15,000Amazing Tim members. So certainly, um, some growth during that time. You know, my 28 years with SIA represent just a small chapter in size, century long legacy. But if I'm reflecting on the evolution over My tenure, I'd say that Saya's culture and its people have had really the most profound influence on my approach to leadership and service today.

Speaker A: So your story and Saya's story really mirrors kind of of what many customers are experiencing today. It also mirrors a lot of what employees are seeing across their career. So how do you connect growth to decisions about processes and systems? Many companies kind of take a set it and forget it kind of attitude when it comes to T and E. And even other systems often aren't updated to meet the needs of the business today versus what it was those 28 years ago when you started. Uh, my experience has been that growth actually exacerbates and exposes gaps in efficiency. And you actually, throughout your career have had a really unique vantage point. You've come across insights across multiple functions. So you're really a true visionary when it comes to priorities and perspective. So how do you make sure that that cross functional experience that you have can connect to business needs with strategic technologies solutions, not just set it and forget it with the technology?

Speaker B: Yeah, uh, so, you know, my journey with SIA really has laid the groundwork for where things are today. You know, in my current role and previously as Director of Corporate Processes, the cross functional experience has consistently provided two key insights for, for me. While many in similar roles often focus on what they've learned about other functions, I found greater value in understanding the how. How processes and how analysis and metrics have evolved to their current state. Uh, this deeper inquiry into the how really reveals not only the operational mechanics, but also the perspectives of and priorities of the various stakeholders. It enables you a more nuanced understanding of their decision making and the framework that's around that, as well as factors they weigh in managing their respective work stream. From that vantage point, identifying areas of strategic importance and more critically, uncovering those gaps you mentioned become intuitive. These gaps often represent opportunities for innovation and improvement and sparking those pivotal aha moments that capture the attention and imagination of folks. You know, always say it's the closer you can get to the work, the better it is, um, for understanding that. And some of the best ideas come out from the people closest to it. So when you engage those stakeholders at that level, you unlock a readiness to elevate all the way around. That's when change agents emerge. Individuals who drive transformation contribute to this strategic thinking and champion the sustainability of those changes. These partners are really instrumental not only in navigating change management, but also in accelerating the adoption and enhancing system utilization and integration and sustaining ongoing Recalibration and optimization efforts as business needs change. If you have that set it and forget it mentality, sometimes you have to ask yourself, why am I buying kind of like the premium version of a product to help us with this if you're not going to make it work for you continuously? So understanding that in your organization and appetite, uh, really does make a difference.

Speaker A: Yeah. When you talk about that set it and forget it mindset, a lot of our customers see the TE platform as kind of just a tool, a tool in their toolkit rather than a really critical element of how they can run their business. And you said in previous conversations that we've had that concur move from being just a tool to a real true strategic asset. So what was the turning point for that that moved it from set it to forget it and to a tool of how you run your business strategically. When did that happen? How did it happen?

Speaker B: Well, you know, for us it's been a journey and it's one that evolved. And to tell you that we did not start off with our journey with that set it and forget it for a little, little bit of time would, would not be truthful. We did do that. But in order to, you know, achieve success, we really can harness the full potential of, of that, you know, investment. It really was about unlocking the data and more importantly, by using it to tell a compelling story. The SAP Concur ecosystem captures a vast array of data dimensions, particularly across travel and expense. However, data in its raw form is simply a resource. The true value lies in bringing that to life and transforming it into actionable insights that resonate with the stakeholders. And that's going to be different for different folks. You know, that transformation is not just about a technical exercise. It's also a craft of being able to harness all of that and uh, effectively tell a story behind the data. And that requires, you know, both analytical rigor and creative vision. It's this combination that drives engagement, informs strategy and ultimately enables smarter and more impactful decision making for our leaders in the various work streams. And that's where I kind of refer to it as going from just a tool to being facilitating transactions to really becoming a strategic asset. Because if we use that data to uncover those inefficiencies or gaps, you know, we can really improve the process for multiple stakeholders, whether that's our, our, you know, travelers themselves, our expense approvers, our, you know, back office, ah, administrative support. But you know, in driving compliance to that policy and stuff, you have to constantly be looking to see, okay, what Are my outliers in the data, what's going right, what's going wrong and how can we address that change through systematic steps. So it's quite interesting, uh, and I find it fun, more so than anything, but I geek out on these kind of things.

Speaker A: Yeah, well, so as my intro says, my team and I use data driven storytelling to help our customers meet their objectives and to fuel innovation. So I am especially interested in how you determined which data stories are worth telling and how do you tailor them for different, you know, different audiences, different stakeholders? You know, I think about with my team we use a lot of the, the storytelling frameworks like scqa, which is basically situation complication question and answer or even that McKinsey SC are that, that storytelling framework of um, situation complication resolution. It's basically how every story gets told. But I'm really fascinated. How do you get the leaders to see that te data as a story? What are you uncovering for them? How do you start that process and then create that story around the data?

Speaker B: Yeah, well, you know, I wish I could tell you it was a more formal process, but I'm going to be truthful here for everyone. And really at its core it begins with active listening. As I mentioned earlier, the advantage of cross functional roles really lie in uncovering both the what and the how. The operational details and the underlying rationale behind them. When combined with the gaps, you identify these elements really as a strategic roadmap. The key question to ask at an enterprise level is what do we need the stakeholders across the organization at the differing levels to execute? What are we asking them to do? Once that's really clear, the next step is to craft a narrative that guides them towards those actions. And when you lead with a well constructed story and one that aligns with their priorities and perspectives, you'll be surprised how naturally the engagement and the execution and adoption really go. So, you know, it's kind of just a blended, you know, approach. What is it that we would like from them? What matters to them and how can we be effective in presenting it and putting it in front of them too? Because, you know, uh, like I said earlier that the SAP Concur ecosystem captures an immense amount of data and it can be quite overwhelming. And in some cases, you know, when we've worked with services like your consultant intelligence or you know, you know, advanced, um, care, you know, we have a whole bunch of stuff that goes behind the scenes of this relationship or partnership and all of that really comes together to blend where we're at now. And that that's just about being effective in our communications.

Speaker A: Yeah. So I love it. You just very ably described SCR and you just do it naturally anyway. You're like a savant. But I love it because what you're doing really is you're showing patterns, right? You're showing how you can link those patterns to maybe some sort of habits or behaviors that maybe need some um, solutioning or maybe need to be changed a little bit. And then linking that data to the strategic priority, whether it's growth or compliance or cost control or whatever it happens to be, you can actually connect how that works for them. You're really a DOT connector for them in, in all senses of the words.

Speaker B: Correct. And that act of listening goes beyond just listening to the stakeholder groups. That act of listening, uh, or awareness, as I will say, that active awareness of what you're seeing in your data. Do you see it time over time again, that's really when you need to start taking a look at is it a policy issue or we, you know, best practice, where do we need to evaluate? It's not always just about monitoring activity and usage. It's sometimes about that discovery and the journey of the what, where and you need to change. And that sometimes is within your policies. It could be in system configurations, business audit rules. You know, there's a lot of stuff that you really should keep in mind when you're going through something like this.

Speaker A: Well, I do love that insight because you've led me to something that I really do want to talk about because I know a lot of our customers will be very interested and we, we actually alluded to it in the introduction. You have a very compelling process improvement story. You uncovered one administrative process that was consuming up to 42 work days a year. That's a lot of work days. So what was the process? I don't want to give it all away, but what was the process? How did you discover it and what steps did you take to.

Speaker B: You know we, we were just doing, to be honest, it was just a routine operational um, review that we were conducting on a particular business unit and in assisting them with some challenges they were having in our corporate travel department. So at Saya, uh, travel is a critical component of our operations with employees moving across our network daily. While many of our team members benefit from the self service booking through Concur, we also have a dedicated and internal corporate travel department that really provides a high touch white glove service for our key frontline employee segments. This small but very capable team manages a significant volume of Travel activity, consolidating numerous administrative functions to ensure really a seamless traveler experience for the people who are out there traveling on our behalf to do the real work of sia. And so, you know, however, behind that exceptional service really lies a complex and labor intensive reconciliation process. The one that you're referring to and that we had previously discussed was around our central Travel Account program or CTA account. We discovered that one of our salary team members were spending anywhere between three to five work days each, each month, reconciling that CTA account with each billing cycle. And as you can imagine, those transactions are for, you know, on that account or not only for those that are, you know, being booked through the corporate travel apartment, but it also is for everyone who is self booking any air travel. So when you take a look at the entire population and how many transactions that is a month it was really spent, they were really spending those three to five days each month reconciling the account to ensure accurate expense allocations so that the various budgets, uh, business units could, you know, make sure they were in budget and such and averaging that based on the volume and seasonality that we see in travel. We estimated approximately 42 work days per year were being dedicated to this one administrative task among many. Yeah, and so this is where I mentioned consult of intelligence earlier. This is where that consultive intelligence by SAP concur truly demonstrated its value. By partnering with our CI team, SIA was able to analyze, streamline and ultimately automate key aspects of this reconciliation process. You know, the result was not only a significant reduction in manual effort, but also a reallocation of that valuable time and talent towards more strategic, high packed activities within the business unit and supporting the high level of service standards that our corporate travel team provides. You know, this, this example, I know that we're talking holistically here about the relationship, but this example really underscores how consultative intelligence has helped CITA move beyond operational maintenance to that operational excellence, really delivering measurable efficiency gains and empowering our teams to focus on what matters most, which is our employees and our customers. It also amplifies the need for the continuous review and improvement of a process we talked about earlier. You know, circumstances change, business needs evolved and if you're, or recalibrating, you're behind and quite honestly, you know, as you consolidate functions or whatever it is you're doing to optimize activity in your business, if you're not taking into account or keeping an eye on, you know, things that are happening behind the scene to make the Picture move, then really you can have these type of gaps yourself. So uh, it's really about just being in tune with it and, and asking. Being curious.

Speaker A: Well, yeah, well. And so I'm curious about this. Uh, I love me some process improvement and I know there was time savings, but you also mentioned that you were able to recalibrate and reimagine what that team was doing with those extra work days. So can you tell me a little bit about how you went about doing that and what are the type of things that they're now spending their time on? Because I know a lot of companies, we talk about this, they're like, well then that just changes the headcount and I can get rid of headcount. But actually that's not really the case. When you take away some manual activity, there's actually a huge gain that you can take in growth for the people who were doing that highly manual activity.

Speaker B: No, absolutely, absolutely. You know, when we did this initiative, it really enabled the team members to strategically pivot their focus towards higher value activities. For SIA, that translated into reclaiming approximately 42 days annually to concentrate on critical functions such as maybe contract negotiations for large meetings that we're doing, compliance reporting so that we can get more visibility in a timely manner, and other key initiatives that had previously taken a back seat to daily operation demands. You know, by realigning those priorities, we not only enhance the individual contribution, but also strengthened our organizational capacity to drive meaningful outcomes in areas essential to long term success. For this business unit. You know, SIA has added well over 20 facilities in the last year. We had an uh, organic growth of upwards of, I think it was either 13 or 1,500 employees within a year. And you know, just as our business has gotten larger, uh, you know, we for a very long time have just been managing with the same headcount in that particular area, which is very small team. So you know, it was more about just being better at what we do and how we execute it. And that has had a trickle down effect. So when you think about the expense allocation that was really happening in that function for, for that task, you know, it could sometimes lead. If we had conflicts between operational demands and you know, month end close activities, you would start seeing timelines bump up or start to slide. And so when you have one thing that slides, it's a chain reaction to many other events that maybe was holding us up with completing a certain, you know, process for our month end close activity or just a strain, they are trying to get it done constantly and it's just not realistic to have someone spending that much time in such a focused time frame that they don't get burnout. So that's the other cost of it. And we, it really just can't always be about how much m how many dollars and cents there's. You have to look at it holistically, in my opinion.

Speaker A: Uh, well, I share that opinion. I like it. And you're right. It's that idea that everything can't be priority one. You can't have 10 number one priorities. Sooner or later something's going to break and it's usually the human that's involved in it. And that's the last thing you ever want to do is correct.

Speaker B: Because those team members m hold an immense knowledge. So if you're not taking care of them, that burnout happens, you run the risk of, you know, losing, you know, a lot of knowledge.

Speaker A: Absolutely.

Speaker B: That's good for no one.

Speaker A: Exactly. And you mentioned consultative intelligence a couple of times. So I do want to acknowledge that. And you've actually told me in previous conversation that you compare it to working with a colleague. Even though they are part of SAP. Concur. They're an integral part of your business. How has that accessibility influenced your ability to tell data stories and to really influence outcomes for sia? Uh,

Speaker B: well, you know Gene, that, that's over time that's kind of changing, it's kind of twofold here. Um, you know, our CI analysts developed an understanding of, of my team and our broader organization. Much like the insights gained through cross functional roles, it was Alex's consistent, active listening and keen observation that made the difference here. From there it became evident in subtle yet impactful ways how he contributed. Whether through refining initial designs to better align with our strategic vision or introducing incremental innovations that really advanced each project without overwhelming our team or end users. You know how people just love change. His ability to balance that thoughtful evolution with practical execution really has been instrumental in driving engagement and ensuring the sustainability of our data driven initiatives. In fact, I will say that CI and Alex's work really was the starting the wheel, turning, so to say, for additional services with concur because, you know, it created an appetite for more. We talked about that a little bit earlier and you know, whenever you start getting people curious and the appetite's there, you know, it became quickly, uh, evident to us that we needed to look at data delivery services. So we've also incorporated that into the mix over time to watch the evolution of the partnership. It really has.

Speaker A: Yeah. And I Do want to get to data delivery in a minute, but I do want to ask, is there one place that you can think about or one example of a perspective that Alex was able to uncover for you that you may have actually missed or actually influenced the team to think differently about how you're managing your program?

Speaker B: Oh, gosh. Well, you know, one notable example of Alex's impacts was his ability to shape the team's perspective, whether intentional or not. That's what he did. And that was through consistent. In his consistent engagement with us and the sharing of insights both from his own experience and prior client interactions, he kind of helped our team approach requests through a more strategic lens, if that makes any sense. That shift broadened our understanding as a client of what's possible. And in many cases, it elevated, um, my team's ability to craft narratives around data. You know, in essence, Alex played a key role in developing our team storytelling capabilities. So outside of the technical expertise that your CI services bring, you know, our team actually was, you know, he was essential in, you know, skilled in driving alignment, engagement and informed decision making on some of my team's ability, on how we formulate requests, how we think of, uh, internal, you know, report creation and such. So it's been interesting to watch that as we've learned from him along the way.

Speaker A: And I know that you've used some of the data that's inconcur to spot anomalies and really spark conversation with your leaders and your stakeholders. Is there an example of where curiosity led to a change in a particular place? Is there someplace where maybe a, uh, leader was shifted because they got to see some of the broader trends or maybe got a little bit more attention because you were able to show some habits or patterns that would be important to a stakeholder to understand and then maybe correct.

Speaker B: Yeah, actually, there's one particular work stream that we saw swift and immediate adoption, um, driven by the clarity and relevance of the insights that we delivered. Without delving into those specifics, the data revealed inconsistency between systems for that work stream and some of the travel and expense data. Specifically discrepancies between activity reporting and actual T and E spend, which quickly, um, captured the attention of some leadership and, you know, as people, leaders and approvers of travel expenditures, it's easy to fall into patterns of reviewing isolated snapshots. However, when you present someone with broader trends and contextual analysis, it shifts the entire perspective. And, you know, that is really key to being intentional and strategic in what we place in front of our decision makers, ensuring it's not only accurate, but that it also is directly relevant to their roles and responsibilities. You know, this approach really fosters a deeper engagement with those work streams. It sharpens the decision making and you see a stronger alignment between operational data and strategic oversight. So, you know, if you think of yourself and put yourself in an approver role, what you're looking at when you go into the system, whether that be on your mobile desktop, you're really seeing a snapshot. But can you really recall if you have a large team, what you approved them last report, when the last report was, or, you know, what's the last time they expensed this expense type? No. You know, it's not realistic to expect our approvers to be able to remember it, especially those of larger teams. So, you know, it's really just as critical for us to deliver not only the reports and that documentation, but also to make sure that they're getting a broader view so that if they see something that raises an eyebrow, it creates that curiosity, it raises questions.

Speaker A: Gosh, I love that. It's like you're preaching to the choir here. And I know that you get me

Speaker B: started and warmed up. Gene,

Speaker A: Um, I know you mentioned the data delivery service or DDS a little bit earlier and I promised we'd get back to it. So, um, I know the appetite once you start digging into data, I know this is as a former customer, once you start digging into the data, you're like a data monster and all you want is more, more, more, more, more. But can you tell a little bit about the data delivery service, what that means to you and what problem did it solve for sia?

Speaker B: Well, the data delivery service and the transition to that really, uh, you know, it's not that you, I'm going to say it's not that you would get additional information than when consultant intelligence can get to you, but what that transition to data delivery service did for us is that it mirrored the value that we have seen from consultive intelligence. But with the broader enterprise impact, the DDS really enabled us to integrate that data and the storytelling directly into platforms already in use across the organization to manage various aspects of our business. So it wasn't about creating something that couldn't be done through CI, but it afforded SAIA the opportunity to create it and place it in front of our leaders where they already are. You know that old saying, you got to meet people where they are. Well, this is a tool that really, if you leverage it right and you have all of those foundations that we built up through our Work with CI, that's really what it allowed us to do. So by embedding those insights into the tools and environments our teams engage with daily to do their work, not just T and E, we eliminated the need for those manual searches or reliance on email communications. You know, everyone gets fatigue. But when you're in a platform that you can show dashboarding or whatever where they're at, that makes it much easier for adoption. And visibility. This shift significantly enhanced, like I said, the visibility and accessibility. Leaders now have immediate access to relevant data in their flow of their work, removing those barriers to awareness and action. And with dds, SIA created a culture of transparency and accountability, ensuring that those critical insights are not only available, but impossible to overlook.

Speaker A: Gosh, you know, so you guys are like, if I look at a curve, you are really at ah, the top of the curve. Like you are using your data strategically. You're using it to tell stories, stories that bring to life certain trends and patterns that influence the business and provide your leadership with additional insights to make decisions. But for an organization just starting to use TNE data strategically, where should they begin? Where? What's your advice to them?

Speaker B: Alignment, you know, by, by beginning with the alignment of objectives with leadership, establishing clarity around desired outcomes, then engaging those stakeholders throughout, through intentional and candid conversations. You don't have to go in there and be perfect every time that you talk about something. But learn and grow, move the needle forward. You know, to gain a grounded understanding of the operational realities that these people were dealing with from multiple perspectives really will get you quite in tune with where you need to be for them. And you know, you made a comment about the bell curve and where you, it seems Saya is, you know, uh, I sometimes, you know, I, I know that we have come a four way in our journey, but it's still hard for me to recognize that because I look at our system and I don't know if it's just me and who I am as a person. I see so much more opportunity and low hanging fruit that uh, I don't even feel like it's done, even though we've come a long way. So you know, in my approach I've made it a priority to include a diverse group of voices. You need to talk to your travelers, you need um, to talk to your approving managers. Pulling up your, your back end offices such as accounts payable, internal audit is also a honeypot for information because they're looking at a bigger picture already. And some of your senior leaders and this inclusion and engagement not only enriches our understanding, but also has ensured that the solutions we develop are relevant, actionable, and aligned across the organization. And that is really the key to it.

Speaker A: Well, I could talk to you about this all day long because we seem to have a mind meld going on, but I know that your time is quite valuable. So typically, I end my podcast with a three take takeaways that I've taken to see if I can consolidate for the audience what we've been talking about. So I'd like to share those with you and see if you have any additional insights if I've hit the mark, if there's a little more that needs to be talking about. Are you interested in playing the three takeaway game?

Speaker B: Sure.

Speaker A: Okay. I'm going to start with something that you just talked about, and that's alignment. You need to engage diverse voices early and often to make those solutions relevant, actionable, and sustainable. This is how you get leadership bought in. This is how you're able to spread, uh, the tool as a strategic asset, not just a tool for submitting expenses or booking travel. Does that sound about right?

Speaker B: That is spot on.

Speaker A: Okay, um, the second piece is data is just data. Data is a lot of numbers, and it's not enough. Um, people are. People are afraid of numbers. I mean, I'll tell you, I was afraid of a number. I wasn't really quite that good in math, and I ended up in finance. I'm not really sure how, but it's the stories that you can tell with data that really transform that into action. Stories create curiosity. You mentioned the word curiosity multiple times. I heard you say it over and over, and I think that's true. And it builds momentum for change. It gives people trust in the numbers, and it also fuels that fire for the next thing you talk about. You don't know why you don't feel like you're at the top of the curve, because you know the stories, you know what the data can tell you, and you know that there's something new around every corner with data. And telling that story of, you know, the situation, the complication and the resolution really hits hard for everybody. It's a. It's how Hollywood sells a blockbuster. And you're doing the same thing.

Speaker B: So true. And, you know, with that, it also allows us to align what maybe were our expectations at a pivotal point in our. Something going on in the organization, whether that be maybe a regional or disaster or some type of thing. If we expected a spike, what was that spike? Does that data align with what was going on, you know, outside of just the trends, you know, of normal TNE data. So spot on again on that one.

Speaker A: Uh, and the final thing is, and it's something that you mentioned, again, it goes back to some of your final comments. Evolution. You have to avoid that set it and forget it mentality. You should be consistently revisiting policies and processes and systems because your business is a, uh, growing living organism. Things change, and so you need to really embed insights where people already are. You need to bring them that information so they can make the right decisions to keep that living organism alive and thriving for as long as possible. I know Sia has been around for over 100 years at this point, so, you know, it's. It's going to continue to grow under your, under your guidance. So kudos to you on that, on keeping it evolving. That's. That's a hard thing to do.

Speaker B: You know, I really look at that gene. You're spot on again with the keep evolving. And that really goes to any business model. If you think about evolving for your customers, this is how you evolve for your internal customers. Um, and if you don't, then that job becomes a little bit more difficult. The only thing that I would say, I would add to this is, um, you know, keep in mind that you have to be real with people, be authentic, um, figure out what it is, you know, is needed, and be a good business partner. That's what it's all about.

Speaker A: Well, I'm going to have to leave it with that. That's great advice. I want to thank you for spending the time with me today, Ed. I really appreciate it. And congratulations to you and Saya on all that you've done. It's really remarkable.

Speaker B: Thank you. It's been a pleasure.

Speaker A: And thank you for listening to this episode of the SAP Concur Conversations podcast to hear more exclusive insights and interviews from the world of travel and expense management. Be sure to subscribe and listen wherever you find your podcast. And please join us again for our next SAP Concur conversation.