8x8 Saves 33% on Hotels, Pays 100% of Expenses with Navan

Region

EMEA: Europe, Middle East, and Africa, NORAM: North America

Headquarters

Campbell, CA

Company Size

Mid-Market (800-2,500 employees)

Industry

Tech

Products Used

• Navan Business Travel
• Navan Corporate Cards
• Navan Expense
• Navan Group Travel
• Navan Guest Travel
• Navan Rewards
• Navan Personal Travel

Previous Solutions

Egencia, Other

8x8 is a cloud-based communications company based in Silicon Valley with team members across the U.S., Europe, and Asia. More than half of its ~2,000 global employees travel frequently between these regions for business meetings, conferences, and other events. However, the company’s previous solution could not keep up with the complexity and volume of travel and expense transactions, resulting in inefficiencies, errors, and delays.

Before Navan

Before Navan, 8x8 struggled without efficient global travel or expense management tools. It was difficult for employees to book travel while adhering to policy, and cumbersome expense reporting took time away from their daily responsibilities. Their previous solutions — Egencia for travel management and Coupa for expense management — failed them. 

“We didn’t have one global solution. We had two solutions, and those were limited,” said Jake Miller, Senior Project Coordinator at 8x8, who serves as the global travel and expense administrator and process improvement manager.

“My manager and I would audit every expense report because we didn’t have our policy built into our previous expense tool,” said Miller. “This proved a very time-consuming process. The lack of integration with our ERPs, and SAP in Asia also posed a significant challenge, leading to a flood of thousands of monthly expense reports in the payroll department.”

Every employee had to upload receipts to a consolidated expense report, and each receipt and expense report were manually reviewed. 

Why Navan

The 8x8 team started their search by looking for separate travel and expense management solutions. They then discovered Navan’s all-in-one solution for global travel and expense management, which could replace the many systems and manual processes they previously employed.

“When we started the process, we were looking at just the booking tool,” said Miller. “When we realized you could do travel and expense management, it changed our thinking: We could have one system with all data consolidated in one place. The feedback from our employees was that Coupa is very clunky and Egencia is not user-friendly. We wanted one place where people can go and do everything without having to go from one system to another system.” 

“We were pleasantly surprised when we found Navan had exactly what we were looking for.”

The team was confident they had found the perfect solution in Navan, as it fits every one of their crucial requirements: 

• A global travel management company
• Automated policy integration
• Real-time expense submission via a mobile option
• Faster reimbursement that’s not reliant on payroll

The onboarding process went even smoother than they had hoped.

“We thought we had an ambitious onboarding timeline of six months,” said Miller. “We ended up onboarding Navan in three. It was fast and efficient.”

“

A main reason we picked Navan is that the solution could cater to every scenario across every region and currency. We were so pleased that we could use a single solution for travel and expense and streamline everything.

Shelley Holton

Manager of Global Finance Services at 8x8

Results with Navan

The first thing the 8x8 team noticed when switching to Navan was the user-friendly interface across mobile and desktop. 

“The ability to book and change travel plans on a mobile app was a game-changer for us,” said Miller.

Two common metrics to measure customer satisfaction illustrate the team’s happiness with their new tool: Navan receives a 4.5/5 customer satisfaction score (CSAT) and 52+ net promoter score (NPS) from 8x8 employees.

On the expense side, features like built-in policies, custom fields, automated approvals, and third-party software integration save the accounting team countless hours.

“It’s been super easy for our finance team,” said Miller. “We didn’t have to take on any more employees and, more importantly, we didn’t have to lose anybody. But the workload that we had in the finance org, which wasn’t built to be a travel management team, has shifted. They no longer have to deal with all those travel management expense responsibilities that they did before.” 

“

I would absolutely recommend Navan to a colleague or someone in the same role as me. It’s a global solution, easy to integrate, and a one-stop shop for booking and expense reimbursement. The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.

Jake Miller

Senior Project Coordinator at 8x8

Policy and Budget Control

“The built-in policy dramatically reduces the expenses our team has to audit,” said Miller. “Navan’s 48- to 72-hour turnaround for reimbursement is huge for our employees, who no longer have to wait weeks to receive money through payroll.”

Reimbursements were previously processed with payroll, so twice per month.

Policy compliance was also a big concern. With Egencia, the team had to scrutinize every expense to maintain compliance. Removing this roadblock has not only reduced the risk of non-compliance but also improved the overall efficiency of 8x8’s expense management process.

“Implementing our policies was pretty straightforward,” said Miller. “I appreciate the functionality of getting in there and updating policies as we get used to the new tool.”

8x8 uses customizable approval workflows, which are efficient and user-friendly ways for managers to review and approve or assign a specific expense to another approver. The finance team also leverages several custom fields and a variety of expense categories.

“Transparency and real-time reporting allow managers total visibility into budgets and expense transactions,” said Miller. “It’s been an eye-opener and vital for managing spending and controlling budgets.” 

Time Savings

“When we used Coupa, every person had to key in every line entry manually,” said Holton. “If they went for a coffee, they would have to put it in for a coffee, a taxi, and whatever else. There was the time spent putting in that information manually, and then the finance team had to approve it manually.”.

“The accounting team would go into every expense report, look at it, audit it, and then approve it, so you can imagine the time spent doing that.”

With Navan’s auto-approved policies, employees only have to attach a receipt. Neither the finance team nor the employees’ managers have to spend even a moment approving in-policy expenses.

“It’s a real time-saver, and the manual work has disappeared,” said Holton.

Another time-saver for the accounting department: Navan’s capability to seamlessly integrate third-party software.

“The reconciliation side of Navan Expense is amazing,” said Holton. “We integrated directly with NetSuite — a game-changer because I used to have to manually upload every expense line pivot table journal. We previously spent hours analyzing this data. The reporting on Navan is second to none.”.

What’s Next

By adopting Navan, 8x8 has achieved significant efficiency gains, streamlined workflows, and enhanced policy compliance across its global operations. 

Integrating automated policy enforcement, real-time expense submissions, and user-friendly interfaces saved the finance team countless hours and improved the overall employee experience.

Looking ahead, 8x8 is poised to leverage these efficiencies to drive greater productivity and cost savings. With Navan’s robust platform, 8x8 can focus on strategic initiatives and innovate in cloud communications, confident that its travel and expense management is streamlined and efficient. This partnership sets a solid foundation for 8x8’s future growth and success.