Here are a couple of press releases that have hit the wire.  A lot of action going on at the convention.  More to follow…

DATABASICS and Cornerstone to Deliver Travel Procurement and Expense Management Suite
DATABASICS to Help Businesses Better Manage Travel Spend; Cornerstone Continues to Partner with Leading Technology Providers
View Release @DATABASICSInc

CyberShift Announces Expense Management Outsourced Services at NBTA
Comprehensive Suite of Offerings Provides Cost Control and Efficiency Gains by Enabling Organizations to Outsource Routine Expense Report Management Processes
View Release @CyberShift

ExpenseWatch.com Integrates with TripIt
Offers the Ultimate Flexibility for Companies to Manage Business Travel and Expenses
View Release @tripit

Cary Strange

A couple of major expense announcements coming down the wire. US Bank has launched their own expense platform for business customers. Exspend has resell partnership with one of the largest financial application providers in nation. ExpenseWatch launches integration with TripIt.

Cary Strange

The biggest names in expense management are here at the NBTA 2010 International Convention & Expo including Concur (@ConcurInc), ExpenseWatch, Exspend, Expensable, TRX (@TRX_Inc) and others. The National Business Traveler’s Association (@nbta) is the largest conference for travel and related industries, and is also considered one of the largest for players in the expense management space due to the obvious connection between T&E. The show kicked off this weekend in Houston and is expecting thousands corporate travel & expense decision-makers, with the bulk of attendees converging beginning today through Wednesday.

Fortunately, I registered for the event upon arriving on Saturday therefore providing me the luxury of avoiding the long lines this morning and getting to catch up on one of my favorite pastimes…people watching.

So far, the crowds show signs that this will be a promising and exciting conference, and the overall rush of Monday morning arrivals has left me with the impression that the conference may surpass the attendance slow-down of the last couple of years. I will look forward to hearing some of the official registration and attendance figures later in the day and week.

For the next several days, I will be blogging from the show and look forward to providing some much needed insight into what is new and exciting in the expense space. Stay tuned…

Cary Strange

Last week, there was another acquisition announcement in the expense management space.  ExpenseAble has flown under the radar of many of their competitors & press, but their presence in the market is as solid as any other in the space.  See the official press release below:

Administaff Acquires ExpensAble, a Leading Software Services Company

HOUSTON – June 15, 2010 – Administaff, Inc. (NYSE:ASF), a leading provider of human resources services for small and medium-sized businesses, today announced that it has acquired OneMind Connect, Inc., which does business under the trade name ExpensAble.  ExpensAble is a privately held company based in Irvine, Cal. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed; however, the acquisition costs and first year operations are not material to Administaff’s 2010 results.

ExpensAble is a leading provider of expense report management solutions delivered in both a Software as a Service (SaaS) model and as a desktop software product. The company offers solutions that automate expense reporting, enforce corporate travel policies, streamline management and provide visibility into a company’s expenditures through data collection, analytics and reporting. ExpensAble currently serves over 5,000 companies worldwide. Existing management and staff will continue to oversee operations, and the company will continue to operate under the ExpensAble name.

“ExpensAble represents a strong addition to our growing line of SaaS products that offer a compelling value proposition to businesses looking to improve productivity and profitability,” said Paul J. Sarvadi, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Administaff. “This acquisition advances our corporate strategy of developing profitable adjacent business units with recurring revenue streams, strong growth potential, and substantial cross-selling opportunities to grow our core PEO business.”

“ExpensAble addresses the growing need for businesses to gain better control and real-time visibility into their spending trends in one of their largest controllable cost areas, while streamlining the expense reimbursement process,” said John Tangredi, president of ExpensAble. “As an Administaff company, we have a great opportunity to leverage their financial strength as well as many other resources to reach our potential as a leader in the rapidly growing Software as a Service business.”

Administaff is the nation’s leading professional employer organization (PEO), serving as a full-service human resources department that provides small and medium-sized businesses with administrative relief, big-company benefits, reduced liabilities and a systematic way to improve productivity. The company operates 51 sales offices in 24 major markets. For additional information, visit Administaff’s website at http://www.administaff.com.

Cary Strange

TRX, who has one of the leading travel technology platforms available, yields to pressure to roll-out an integrated expense platform.  While other travel technology companies such as Concur have had an expense component for years, TRX has maintained an agnostic approach to internally adding expense to their suite of products.  All indications are that they will continue partnering with leaders in the expense space such as Data Basics, ExpenseAnywhere and ExpenseWatch.  However, the reaction and results from the many expense vendors who have invested resources into their TRX relationships are yet to be seen.

ExpenseMatters has not engaged in a detail review of the TRX TRUEXPENSE product, but initial indications are that it will be a solid product backed by a very good company!   See excerpts of the original TRX press release below:

TRX Creates New Expense Management Product to Complement Robust Data Analytics and Online Booking Offerings

User-friendly TRUEXPENSE enhances spend management and reduces TCO

ATLANTA, 28 April 2010 — TRX, Inc. (www.trx.com) (OTHER OTC: TRXI.PK), a world-leading provider of travel technology, process automation, consulting and data services has introduced TRUEXPENSE™ a travel and expense reporting solution developed to enhance spend management, reduce total cost of ownership, and drive end user satisfaction. Pre-deployed to existing TRX customers, the solution was introduced today at TRX’s annual global user conference, TRX WORLD.

For more than 10 years, TRX has developed solutions that drive savings for corporate buyers. From booking and profile management to trip improvement and data analytic services, TRX has consistently focused on helping customers determine savings opportunities in their travel processes.

“TRX has a long history of delivering value to corporations seeking to gain control over their travel-related expenditures,” said Shane Hammond, president and CEO of TRX. “Based on our deep experience and years of industry research, TRX has developed an expense management solution that delivers unparalleled ROI and makes it possible for companies to control spend with minimal effort and maximum results.”

TRUEXPENSE appeals to chief financial officers and other corporate administrators of expense management platforms by improving visibility into corporate travel and entertainment expenses which, in turn, helps companies more effectively manage travel and expense reporting processes. In addition, the rapid implementation process makes it possible for users to benefit from the solution in days, not weeks.

Companies can easily integrate TRUEXPENSE, which includes ancillary fee capture, into their existing accounting and ERP systems. TRUEXPENSE also includes a mobile application designed specifically for iPhone and Blackberry mobile devices, which enables users to upload receipt images into the expense reporting software. This eliminates the need for users to keep track of receipts for long periods of time.

Because paper receipts no longer need to be passed between departments, companies can reduce storage costs. Moreover, by storing original documents in one digitized source file, TRUEXPENSE simplifies auditing and SOX compliance processes.

“TRX has more than 20 utilities that address the inherent challenges within the travel procurement life cycle, so delivering a comprehensive, user-friendly expense report vehicle was a natural progression for us,” Hammond stated. “We’ve managed billions of data records over the past decade which gives us a distinct advantage in understanding the nuances of travel data and providing value-added solutions to our customers.”

Cary Strange