Concur and Bank One Form Alliance

Concur Technologies Inc. , an expense-management ASP and independent software vendor (ISV), added another notch to its alliance belt today when it announced that it has formed a marketing alliance with financial services giant Bank One Corp .

The alliance will promote Bank One’s Commercial Card with Concur Expense, a Web-based travel and entertainment expense management service. (Concur also has alliances with ADP, American Express, KPMG Consulting Inc. and others.)

The goal of the alliance is to offer “commercial card users a complete and proven expense management solution that delivers a rapid return on investment to customers,” said Dub Newman, Bank One’s head of Commercial Card Services.

Concur Expense is designed to automate the T&E expense management process, including expense report preparation and approval, policy compliance, reimbursement and data analysis.

Concur’s corporate card integration technology is designed to provide greater efficiencies by increasing both traveler and back-office productivity. Enhanced data presentation provides clearer travel spending trends and improved travel card compliance.

According to Bank One, its Commercial Card offers clients the flexibility to use single or multiple cards to streamline the corporate expense payment process for T&E, low-value procurement and vehicle fleet expenses.

“The alliance with Bank One further extends our reach to businesses looking for ways to reduce operational costs and increase efficiencies in likely their second largest controllable expense, T&E, particularly during this time of a slowing economy,” said Steve Singh, chairman, president, and CEO for Concur.

Bank One is the nation’s sixth-largest bank holding company, with assets of more than $270 billion. It operates more than 1,800 banking centers and a nationwide network of ATMs.