So, American Express’ new Microsoft-powered AI can just do my expense reports for me now?!
Sign me up. I was about to have my teenage daughter do mine anyway — she needs community service hours for school.
And I’m not alone. In a survey Amex included in their AI expense report launch, here’s what business travelers say they’d rather do than expense reports:
– 41% would rather have a performance review
– 40% would rather have 8am Monday meetings weekly
– 40% would rather have hour-long flight delays
– 40% would rather have all-day virtual meetings
Amex will launch their new AI expense reports with Microsoft itself, their tech partner on the initiative, then roll it out to corporate clients.
Company cards and expense management are key parts of the fintech revolution that startups started and incumbents may end up finishing.
One example is Expensify, which started by making expense reports easier, and has more recently been growing card issuance to drive adoption and long game.
Another example is Brex which started with card issuance and expenses for startups, then pivoted to cater to enterprise customers as they grew.
But if the major credit card companies — or the banks who issue cards to and bank enterprise and startup customers — can just do the cool expense stuff, won’t startups and enterprise customers just stick with them?
Seems likely. Although Expensify does have George Clooney coming to their client conference in Italy this May.
So you can never count out the startups — especially as they mature like Brex and Expensify have. Plus startups will always keep the incumbents hustling.
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Reference:
– American Express Expands Relationship with Microsoft to Drive Innovation in Business Travel
– Expensify Adds George Clooney as Headliner For ExpensiCon 2023 in Puglia, Italy
