Whether it’s the Harvest Festival in Britain, the Moon Festival in China, or Thanksgiving Day in the United States and Canada, a number of cultures around the world have a special day where they express their gratitude and thankfulness for friends and family. It’s no different here at Concur. We’ve been reflecting on what we’re thankful for this Thanksgiving and wanted to share some of the answers with you.

In part I and part II of our three-part series we discussed specific greener travel and carbon offsetting options to decrease your travel program’s ecological footprint. In today’s post, we talk about what actions other organizations are taking to enhance their corporate social responsibility. Read on…

Corporate social responsibility

Corporations are becoming increasingly aware of climate change and their environmental footprint. Through Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives, organizations are taking their environmental impact into their own hands not only to address climate change, but also to realize cost savings. According to Elizabeth Baer from Conservation International, "being a good global citizen is smart business sense! Although it sometimes requires upfront investment, in many cases, businesses can achieve cost savings over the long term when they implement sustainability measures. Cutting energy use, reducing travel miles, increasing recycling, and other initiatives can save companies money and improve their standing in the eyes of consumers."

Read part I of our three-part series discussing ways some organizations are decreasing their ecological footprint.

Have you ever considered what impact business travel has on the environment? Truth is, more and more individuals are taking their environmental footprint into consideration when it comes to their travel decisions. A recent survey conducted by travel research firm PhoCusWright discovered that almost half of all travelers try to be environmentally friendly when they travel. And, one third of travelers don't mind paying more for green rental cars, hotels and resorts. The study also indicated that this trend remains strong, even in the face of current economic conditions.

Like everyone else, universities and colleges are increasingly being scrutinized over budgetary matters. It’s a fact that travel and entertainment (T&E) expenses for faculty, administrators and staff is a “cost of doing business” to keep institutions at the forefront of academia. But unclear or non-existent standards for managing that spend can quickly lead to unwelcome and excessive expenses that could land an institution in hot water.

For those institutions that want greater transparency, actionable data and a customized level of control over their expenses, a quick read through Quocirca’s white paper: It’s not academic: Dealing with expenses in education will help.

Constantly on the road and racking up daily expenses, road warriors can be tiresome and costly members of any team to keep financial tabs on. While new technology and a broad choice of smartphones have made their lives significantly easier, it has also changed their travel needs, habits and expectations.

To help companies address the new dynamics of their mobile workforce, the folks over at Quocirca have put together a useful travel and entertainment (T&E) focused white paper titled, On the road again: managing the road warriors’ expenses.

As Concur’s mobile application enters its second generation the folks at Management.Travel recently talked with Concur’s COO and President Rajeev Singh about the growing trend of users embracing and adopting new mobile apps to make their lives easier. You can find the entire interview – 5Q With Concur COO Raj Singh – online.

Here are a few quick highlights from the interview:

Following a year living abroad in Paris, Mike Hilton, Concur’s Executive Vice President of Worldwide Marketing, sat down with us to discuss all of the buzz around NBTA 2010, his new appreciation for the European business travel industry and what to expect from Concur moving forward.

The largest business travel convention, NBTA 2010, recently concluded. What do you feel were the major themes/takeaways from the show?

MH: It was great to see that overall attendance, both of the supplier and buyer communities, increased this year, which is a good sign for the health of the industry. There was a lot of great discussion during the convention, though I’d have to say that ancillary fees were definitely a hot topic. There’s so much at stake for the significant industry players as we work to make sure we’re supporting partners’ wants and needs.

As we head out of summer and business travel starts gearing up again, we conclude last week’s post from Elizabeth West, Director, Content Solutions from ProMedia.travel on getting the most out of your corporate travel program:

Andrew Bartolini, Managing Partner & Chief Research Officer of Ardent Partners and Publisher of CPO Rising, shares his experience on creating his first expense report in Concur Breeze. He’s guest blogging over at Say Breeze and has some interesting insights to share.