Aircall adopts Navan to simplify its accounting processes and boost efficiency

Aircall is a cloud-based phone system and call centre software that helps businesses manage customer communications. Since its foundation in 2014, the unicorn has grown quickly and now has over 700 employees in Europe, the US, and Australia. Previously, Aircall managed travel and expense (T&E) on several disparate tools, which was time-consuming and inefficient, particularly as the company grew. The company decided to simplify its T&E processes by choosing Navan’s all-in-one solution.

Before Navan

Inefficient T&E management across three tools

Before Navan, Aircall used three separate tools to manage travel, corporate cards, and expenses. Managing multiple suppliers created inefficiencies, particularly for the accounting and finance teams.

“The biggest pain point we faced,” says Christelle Valdivia, Accounts Payable Manager, “was that none of the tools integrated with our accounting provider, NetSuite.”

Reconciliation had to be carried out manually, making it impossible to get real-time data insights. From an accounting perspective, this made budgeting and forecasting difficult.

Without an automated flow of data, managers and admins spent valuable time manually entering data into a spreadsheet.

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"The biggest pain point we faced was that none of the tools integrated with our accounting provider, NetSuite."

Christelle Valdivia

Accounts Payable Manager

A convoluted traveller experience

When booking trips, travellers had to use their personal cards and get reimbursed after the fact, creating a poor traveller experience.

A poor choice of hotels and airfares meant travellers often booked off-platform, making it difficult for the finance team to track spend and ensure that employees were staying within policy.

Travellers had to use three separate platforms to manage their T&E activity, and this convoluted setup often led to delayed expense submissions, further limiting the visibility Christelle’s team had of company spend.

Why Aircall chose Navan

Aircall chose Navan to streamline its operations by consolidating three separate solutions into one and because it integrated seamlessly with NetSuite, offering real-time, automated data flow. 

To enhance the traveller experience, Aircall also wanted a built-in payment solution that eliminated the need for employees to use personal cards for trips. 

Additionally, Navan had the extensive global travel inventory Aircall needed to encourage widespread platform adoption.

The Navan effect

Seamless integrations

Today, all Aircall travel and expense transactions are centralised, data is automatically synchronised thanks to Navan’s NetSuite integration, and Aircall receives one statement for each of its entities, with payment made by a single direct debit.

Navan also syncs with Aircall's HR tool, BambooHR, accelerating the onboarding process for new employees and ensuring that employee data is automatically kept up to date.

One tool and no more out-of-pocket spending

Aircall travellers now book their trips and submit their expenses on one platform, choosing from Navan’s extensive travel inventory.

Thanks to Navan Travel Payments, travellers don't have to pay for trips out of pocket and wait for reimbursement; instead, Navan covers the flight costs and Aircall receives one monthly invoice.

Travellers are equipped with Navan cards for on-trip expenses, so they now don’t have to front the cost for any purchases.

The Navan cards make managing expenses far easier, with all transactions automatically captured and reconciled in the platform, saving travellers from carrying out a manual, frustrating process.

The platform’s ease of use has won the trust of Aircall employees: “Navan is highly adaptable, flexible, and very easy to use compared with other tools,” says Christelle.

Granular, adjustable policies

With Navan, the Aircall team can easily create custom policies for different teams, entities, or seniority levels. This can all be carried out and implemented in real time by admins. Aircall is able to increase or decrease the allocated budget at any time depending on the situation to create a high level of customisation.

What's more, the company has a dedicated Navan Account Manager who has been invaluable in identifying areas for optimisation and potential savings. “He's a real partner,” says Christelle. “He’s identified the areas where we can improve our policies to achieve better cost control."

Smart expense features for greater efficiency

Navan's expense management and payment solutions have transformed the day-to-day life of Aircall's accounting department. 

With travellers now paying for expenses with corporate cards, Christelle’s team gets real-time visibility of all travel costs across the company, and if employees use their cards by mistake or for unauthorised purchases, the transactions are declined automatically.

For admins, processing expenses is simple. All compliant transactions are automatically approved, and any that are out of policy are reviewed by a manager. Reimbursements can be refused or granted in full or in part.

The benefits for Aircall employees

Accounting and finance teams:

• Get accurate reporting and view company-wide travel spend in real time, on one centralised platform
• Make informed decisions using the platform’s readily accessible data
• Implement granular spend policies
• Receive a single consolidated invoice per entity at the end of each month

Travellers:

• No longer pay for trips out of pocket
• Book travel and manage expenses on one integrated platform
• Choose from a wide range of travel options and book in just a few clicks
• Can contact support 24/7
• Can book personal travel on the platform and benefit from corporate discounts

Looking ahead: further optimisations

Going forward, Christelle plans to continue optimising Aircall's T&E management processes by taking advantage of Navan's flexible policies and regular product updates.

One such update which is already benefitting Aircall is the addition of OUIGO, a low-cost rail carrier in France, to Navan. OUIGO brings the number of rail carriers available on Navan to more than 30 in Europe alone.

For Christelle and her team, managing T&E across three separate platforms feels like a lifetime ago. Rather than laborious manual tasks, they can now use their time to find ways to streamline travel costs and create efficiencies across the company.