For companies managing travel and expense (T&E), 2025 will be the year of data consolidation. As businesses seek more efficiency, better financial visibility, and streamlined compliance, the key will be breaking down data silos and integrating T&E with finance, HR, and ERP systems.
Disconnected platforms create errors, inefficiencies, and manual work—from missing employee records in expense systems to inaccurate accruals and delayed reimbursements. In fact, a Gartner report highlights that “piecemeal investments in finance data and analytics have contributed to fragmentation, where data, tools, and expertise exist in silos across the organization.” This fragmentation leads to inefficiencies and hinders effective decision-making.
In the year ahead, businesses that sync and unify their travel, expense, and financial data will reduce errors, improve compliance, and gain a clearer view of corporate spending.
At Cornerstone, we believe seamless integration is the future of T&E. Here are four key trends shaping travel and expense management in 2025.
Prediction #1: Business Travel Demand Continues to Rebound—But Data Consolidation Will Be Key
More Travel, but Smarter Financial Management
With inflation stabilizing, companies may find more flexibility in travel budgets, but cost control and visibility will remain priorities. According to the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA), business travel spending reached $1.48 trillion in 2024, and companies will continue to prioritize high-value travel while improving spend management and reconciliation.
Instead of just spending more, companies will streamline travel and expense data to manage budgets more effectively. Key trends include:
- Centralizing travel, expense, and credit card data to track spending in real time
- Automating accruals management with better data syncing between finance, HR, and T&E platforms
- Stronger integration between ERPs, HRM systems, and expense platforms like Concur to improve reporting and compliance
Eliminating Manual Work in Expense Management
Fragmented systems cause delays, missing records, and compliance risks. In 2025, companies will focus on:
- Syncing HRM data with travel and expense systems to ensure employee records are always up to date
- Automating travel policy enforcement by integrating TMC data with expense systems
- Real-time spend tracking and automated approvals to eliminate reimbursement delays
How Cornerstone Helps: By syncing HR, finance, and travel data in real time, businesses can eliminate manual updates, reduce reconciliation errors, and ensure accurate reporting. With Spend Solutions like ApexConnect by Cornerstone, organizations can automate these processes, keeping financial workflows efficient and error-free.
Prediction #2: Expense Reconciliation & Data Accuracy Will Take Center StagePrediction
Managing expenses isn’t just about tracking spending—it’s about ensuring the data is accurate, auditable, and connected across systems.
Key Challenges That Will Drive Change in 2025:
- Siloed Expense and Travel Data: Without real-time integration, finance teams struggle to match corporate card transactions, travel bookings, and reimbursements across multiple platforms, departments, or operating companies.
- Manual Reconciliation Issues: Companies still waste time manually uploading employee lists into expense & HR systems, fixing missing transactions, and tracking accruals manually in spreadsheets.
- Inaccurate Financial Reporting: Disconnected data results in inconsistent accruals, inaccurate budget forecasts, and missed cost-saving opportunities.
The Future of Expense Reconciliation:
- Automated Employee Data Syncing: Ensure new hires, department changes, and terminations update automatically across travel, expense, payroll, and ERP systems.
- Real-Time Transaction Matching: Sync credit card transactions with expense reports to eliminate missing receipts and reduce manual work.
- Improved Accruals Management: Automatically reconcile travel bookings, approvals, and expenses across finance systems in real time to ensure accurate reporting.
How Cornerstone Helps: With ApexConnect, Cornerstone’s Expense Sync Solutions, companies can link Concur, Workday, SAP, and payroll systems, ensuring accurate, real time reconciliation of travel bookings, expenses, and financial records.
Prediction #3: The Growth of Disparate Data Will Drive Demand for Better Integration
As businesses scale, so does the volume of data flowing across different financial, HR, and travel systems. Companies now manage expense transactions, travel bookings, corporate card data, payroll, invoice processing, and financial records across multiple platforms, creating fragmentation and inefficiencies.
According to a Deloitte report on financial operations, the average enterprise now uses over 976 applications, yet only 28% are integrated with core financial systems. This lack of synchronization leads to data mismatches, reconciliation delays, and increased manual work.
Key Challenges Companies Will Face in 2025:
- Siloed Expense and Travel Data: Without real-time integration, finance teams struggle to match transactions and reconcile reports across platforms.
- Slow, Manual Reconciliation: Companies often manually update employee lists in Concur, sync expense reports with ERPs, and upload travel invoices, wasting time and resources.
- Inaccurate Financial Reporting: Disconnected data results in incorrect accruals, missed reimbursements, and compliance risks.
How Companies Will Adapt:
- Automated Data Synchronization: Businesses will invest in real-time integrations between T&E, ERP, and HR systems to eliminate inefficiencies like manual uploads.
- Stronger Cross-Platform Expense Visibility: Organizations will need a single source of truth for expenses, bookings, and payments, rather than fragmented reports from multiple vendors.
- Improved Financial Accuracy & Forecasting: By automating data reconciliation, companies can ensure that financial reports reflect actual, up-to-date spending data.
How Cornerstone Helps:
With Cornerstone’s Spend Management solution, ApexConnect, businesses can seamlessly sync expense, travel, and financial data across platforms like Concur, Workday, SAP, NetSuite, UKG, and more, ensuring:
- Accurate accrual tracking and real-time reconciliation
- Automated employee updates between HR, payroll, and expense systems
- Elimination of manual data uploads and expense mismatches
Conclusion: A Data-Driven Future for T&E
As travel and expense management continues to evolve, businesses will continue to prioritize data consolidation, automation, and seamless system integrations to stay ahead. Organizations that break down silos between travel, expense, and financial platforms will not only streamline operations but also improve compliance, accuracy, and strategic decision-making.
At Cornerstone, we enable businesses to future-proof their T&E processes by providing end-to-end data synchronization solutions that eliminate inefficiencies and manual work.
Ready to transform your travel and expense management? Let’s talk about how Cornerstone’s Spend Management solutions can help you achieve seamless integration and smarter financial operations.