3 Finance Leaders on Achieving a Single Source of Spend Truth
The Navan Team
For companies in explosive-growth mode — like Veterinary Emergency Group, Canva, and Pendo — traditional travel and expense platforms aren’t simply inefficient or clunky. Manual, disconnected T&E systems slow growth, create administrative drag, and limit visibility into the data finance leaders need to make big decisions.
Here’s how three modern, high-growth organizations left disparate, disconnected, and fragmented systems behind to achieve a single source of truth for spend with Navan’s unified T&E solution.
Why VEG Bet Its High‑Growth Future on a Unified T&E Stack
- Company: Veterinary Emergency Group (VEG)
- Time with Navan: 3+ years
- # of Employees: 4,000
- Unified Impact: 13% flight savings • 88% adoption • +59 NPS
Veterinary Emergency Group (VEG) has over 4,000 employees in 65 locations across the U.S., and they travel a lot.
Before Navan
Brett Holloway, senior vice president of finance at VEG, described their T&E program — or lack thereof — as “a complete mess” before onboarding Navan.
With Expensify and Concur, Holloway said there was “no special sauce,” and on the expense side of their business, these systems really did nothing but “provide an avenue for you to code the expense … totally putting the burden on the person who was doing the travel or charging the expense.”
In short, their previous expense programs and fragmented travel solutions could not support VEG’s ambitious growth without piling on administrative work.
They needed a smarter solution.
“We could look to the future and say we know in 3–5 years we’re going to be 3–5 times bigger. Thinking about how we’re going to manage our travel at that scale was daunting. And Navan has reduced that administrative burden substantially.”
With Navan
VEG went live with Navan in just 60 days, immediately streamlining their T&E program. Holloway says Navan “is the ideal type of platform” in that it just works without too much investment of time and effort from those implementing it. “I don’t even have to think about it. It just works,” he adds.
But how? Navan consolidates manual tasks so that VEG doesn’t have to hire more admins and managers as it continues to grow — a single employee can now handle most of the administrative work for them. With proactive, configurable policies, expenses are automatically coded and policy-checked, cutting down on the back-and-forth between employees, managers, and admins.
For VEG, the results are all the proof they need that Navan works. “We’re spending as little as we can on travel,” said Holloway. “We’ve saved hundreds of thousands of dollars with Navan.”
How Canva Made T&E “Super Seamless” for a Global Team
- Company: Canva
- Time with Navan: 3 years
- # of Employees: 5,500
- Unified Impact: 94% booking compliance • 4.7/5 CSAT • 84% mobile adoption
Canva needed a T&E partner that allows them to focus on creativity and collaboration, not administrative hassles.
Before Navan
Canva’s travel process was largely unmanaged, with an HR specialist manually booking flights and accommodations. Time-consuming, inefficient, and difficult to scale, this analog process created a bottleneck that couldn’t effectively support Canva’s goal to empower people everywhere to design anything, anywhere. So, Canva set out in search of an all-in-one solution that’s “really focused on the user experience,” said Rudy Batts, head of global spend at Canva.
Enter Navan.
“The value Navan brings to me and my organization is hard to quantify — it gives us freedom. My stakeholders can build and run programs without needing to create complex processes or infrastructure. It’s incredibly self-serve and simple.”
With Navan
Starting solely with travel management, the difference was immediately clear for employees like Batts. “With better hotel and flight bookings — and the ability to recoup unused tickets — Navan helps us save in a smart, scalable way,” he said.
After four years, Canva added expense management with Navan, unlocking the true power of an integrated, all-in-one solution — greater control, compliance, and simplicity across operations. Canva also rolled out BrexPay, which provides entirely seamless transactions in multiple currencies, including AUD, USD, GBP, EUR, and more.
The results have been significant. Before onboarding Navan, Canva was not able to effectively monitor compliance. With Navan, 94% of bookings are now within policy. Intelligent, real-time reporting and operational efficiency have also contributed to time saved. Now, Canva’s finance leaders can send out urgent reports in minutes in a form that’s clearly formatted and easy to understand.
Navan has given Canva both the flexibility and control they need to ensure a seamless booking experience, keep leadership informed, and deliver on their growth goals.
Why Pendo Ditched Disparate Tools for a Single T&E Platform
- Company: Pendo
- Time with Navan: 2+ years
- # of Employees: 1,000
- Unified Impact: 5–10 hrs/week saved on expenses • 92% CSAT • 83% mobile adoption
With nine global offices and roughly 900 employees, Pendo needed a T&E solution that could support employees wherever they are.
Before Navan
Before partnering with Navan, Pendo managed separate T&E programs. That created significant friction for both employees and the finance team. This resulted in fragmented workflows and limited visibility into the true cost of travel.
Kylee Bloodworth, senior director of global accounting at Pendo, states that their “biggest challenge was not having that unified experience, since employees had to navigate multiple tools and finance teams couldn’t easily see T&E costs together.” As the company aimed to expand its global footprint, moving from a slower, manual process to a simpler, automated T&E solution was a high priority.
“Our biggest challenge was not having that unified experience… Now, thanks to auto-approval of expenses within our thresholds, we save at least 10 hours each week. Plus, employees are reimbursed for out-of-pocket expenses within five days of approval.”
With Navan
For Pendo, customization and usability quickly set Navan apart. “Navan offered so many options to customize the platform to our business needs,” says Bloodworth, which was a critical feature when Pendo evaluated new solutions.
A seamless, user-friendly experience was equally important. Across web and mobile platforms, employees on the move can now book travel, submit expenses, and access their details directly on their phones, a seamless experience that makes compliance and expense completion easier.
With Navan, Pendo now reaps the benefits of a unified T&E management solution that supports Pendo’s growth without adding complexity.
Ready to see how Navan can upgrade your T&E management experience?
This content is for informational purposes only. It doesn't necessarily reflect the views of Navan and should not be construed as legal, tax, benefits, financial, accounting, or other advice. If you need specific advice for your business, please consult with an expert, as rules and regulations change regularly.