By Brian Veloso, Managing Director at SAP Concur Canada

From digital transformation to cloud to the advent of mainstream AI, technology has become integral to business travel. In 2026, travel management in Canada sits at a crossroads, with business travel more visible than it has been in years as organizations prioritize high-value connections.  But as your IT estate expands in scale and influence, so does its shadow.

The unsanctioned use of technology at work, better known as shadow IT, is a pervasive business challenge. While 2025 was marked by healthy scepticism of generative AI among Canadian travellers, by 2026 these technologies have become ubiquitous, compounding the problem.

Conversation in the media has shone a light on the challenge of shadow IT, but there’s little dialogue about the granular impact upon individual business functions – like travel.

So, what’s causing shadow IT in travel? And rather than just mitigating its effects, how can IT and HR leaders address the root of the problem?

Why do employees use shadow IT for travel booking?

When employees face obstacles booking travel in authorised tools, they turn to unapproved platforms to find transport and accommodation. It’s usually due to a case of poor user experience. According to SAP Concur research, nearly 7 in 10 travel managers say their travel budget still does not reflect how important business travel is to their organization which often leads to friction when employees try to book high-quality options within rigid, underfunded systems.

Slow, rigid, or otherwise unintuitive workflows drive employees towards more convenient, consumer-grade tools. For example, if it takes too long to load hotel listings or to bookmark favourite hotels in the organisation’s travel booking platform, marketing might revert to a third-party booking app to compare prices and availability. Many also believe they can get cheaper fares or better options outside of pre-approved tools.

The impacts of shadow IT in travel

When shadow IT finds its way into travel and expense (T&E) processes, it can have costly impacts on the bottom line. Finance teams seeing these challenges have found that connecting travel, expense, and accounts payable can simplify day-to-day management and reduce costs by up to 23%.Without this integration, bookings on unauthorized systems result in:

• Direct fraud and reimbursement losses: Fake receipts, inflated claims, and duplicate expense filings are potentially harder for businesses to track and assess when bookings are made in third-party tools.
• Illegitimate bookings and rogue vendors: Scam booking sites and compromised portals can cause direct card fraud, requiring investigation and chargebacks.
• Inefficient spending: Employees lose access to negotiated corporate rates and discounts when booking via unapproved channels.

Administrative overhead: The need for manual expense reports, receipt chasing, and coordination of multiple payment sources increases workload and processing costs. Fragmented data increases processing time for T&E reports.

The impact of shadow IT is felt in many aspects of travel. Third-party bookings can undermine an employer’s ability to fulfil their duty of care when employees fail to log details of their travel or plans change at the last minute. Without a digital audit trail to follow, travel managers lack visibility on employee movements and may struggle to contact them in emergencies.

Shining a light on shadow AI

The emergence of consumer-oriented AI tools has complicated the shadow IT landscape. This year, Canadian founders and experts expect AI to proactively anticipate traveller needs, but unmanaged tools pose risks. If an employee uses an unapproved browser extension to find a “better deal,” they may be uploading sensitive itineraries or personal data to non-approved cloud storage.

How to crack down on shadow IT

Legal, IT, finance, operations, and HR teams must work together to deter employees from using unauthorised tools. But beyond a blanket ban on third-party tools – which the data tells us isn’t effective – what policy changes and change management strategies can they implement?

Employee education is the first line of defence. Regularly training staff in shadow IT risks, security standards, and compliance requirements is an important step of this process. This will enable employees to better understand how approved systems are imperative to protecting the organisation’s data, financial wellbeing, and duty of care. As speed and adaptability become essential in the 2026 business environment, organizations must shift from a blanket ban to establishing clear guidelines around AI usage.

Ultimately, the biggest counter to shadow IT is a technology portfolio that incorporates consumer-grade, well-configured, and secure T&E platforms.

AI has a critical role to play as it shifts from prompt-based chat to proactively anticipating traveller needs and executing tasks. AI-powered booking platforms help travellers transform into confident, policy-savvy trip planners, using:

• Conversational trip planning: In natural language, travellers can say, “Book me a flight to Barcelona on Wednesday night,” to build instant itineraries aligned to user preferences.
• Compliant traveller personalisation: AI assistants recommend options that adhere to both traveller preferences and company rules, so every itinerary choice stays within policy.
• Integrated expense context: Real-time pricing breakdowns and travel class justification help avoid surprises when employees submit their expenses.

By equipping workforces with best-in-class travel tools and the knowledge to resist the use of shadow IT, organizations can safeguard themselves, their people, and the future of travel programmes, reaping the rewards of business travel without the risk.