We got the new interface rolled out on October 1, like many others. Corporate AMEX accounts close at the end of the month, so many of us are just now seeing and experiencing these changes. I am astonished at how incredibly bad this new version is and how completely it disregards and overlooks the needs and requirements for the administrative professionals that actually process expenses and expense reports on behalf of executives in most large companies; I am talking about the features and functionality that afford the heavy user, the delegate who processes expenses & reports for multiple people each month, the tools with which to put together an expense report efficiently, speedily and comfortably (has the Concur development team ever heard of ergonomic health and safety??) We don’t put together expense reports on our phones or mobile devices; we use the company laptop and 27 - 32” monitors with a keyboard and mouse. As hundreds of comments here on these forums have already indicated, what once took a drag & drop, and perhaps a mouse click or two, now takes multiple to almost endless mouse clicks, with repeated drilling down and opening of single windows to do even the simplest things. Multiply those hundreds of mouse clicks, opening and closings of single windows and the constantly having to drill down for information (once easily available and visible “at a glance” in the former interface) by 4-6 detailed expense reports per month and you’ve created all the conditions necessary for a good case of carpal tunnel syndrome, hand and wrist pain, eye strain, frustration and general mind numbing. Concur, believe me when I tell you that no one who knows better wants to sit in front of a slow moving, poorly designed, inefficient, “do one thing at a time” type of program for hours each month just to get their job done.
There is nothing intuitive about this new interface that I have found. It is clunky with no accessibility adjustments available. As commenters before me have said, it appears that Concur is catering now primarily towards mobile device users and as such is forcing that layout upon all users (I don’t know anyone that compiles and completes detailed travel and expense reports on their phones.) As such the new layout is needlessly huge, non-adjustable and visually taxing on a large screen display. Has Concur ever heard of accessibility features so that the expert user can customize and comfortably and safely use their product?
How on earth did Concur come up with the idea of removing the “desktop view”, the “expert user” view, the “high volume or heavy user” view or whatever you’d like to call the original layout and interface? I work for a bay area company that employs over 1000 people and in almost all cases, it is the Executive Assistants who actually do the expense reports. I’ve worked in similar roles for almost 20 years, and used Concur for much of that time, and in all cases, it was the Assistants that create and complete the detailed travel and expense reports - on their desktops.
Before I found these forums, I’d already written to both my admin managers and our internal service team that says they are in contact with the Concur support team. So far not much response except to indicate that Concur tells them they have no intention of moving anyone back to the former interface. If that is the case, in spite of and in the face of all this clear dislike of the new product, from the community and their customer base, then I think it is probably time for us to find a smarter, more agile and intuitive travel and expense program that is ergonomically safe for individuals to use.
