How BearCom built a scalable T&E program with strong employee adoption

Region

NORAM: North America

Headquarters

Garland, Texas

Industry

Media and Entertainment

Products Used

• Navan Business Travel
• Navan Expense
• Navan Travel Payments

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BearCom is a leading provider of critical communications and security integration, delivering voice, video, and data solutions that help organizations stay connected, efficient, and secure. With approximately 1,000 employees and teams frequently traveling to support customer needs across the country, BearCom wanted a more scalable way to manage travel and expense.

As Senior DirectorSD of ProcurementP, Kristi Carlson oversees enterprise procurement, supplier management, contract negotiations, travel and expense programs, purchasing policies, and initiatives focused on operational efficiency and spend visibility. She helped lead the switch to Navan, after which BearCom established a more controlled, intuitive, and efficient travel and expense program with strong employee adoption.

Before Navan

Before Navan, BearCom saw an opportunity to further centralize and streamline its travel and expense program. Employees could book flights, hotels, and other travel through multiple channels, and managers generally reviewed spending after it had occurred.

“We had a large employee population using company cards for travel-related needs,” said Carlson. “We had policies in place, and we wanted a more efficient way to guide bookings, support compliance, and provide better visibility."

Because employees booked through multiple travel providers, BearCom wanted better real-time visibility into travel spend. Reporting involved manual steps, approval workflows could be more efficient, and the procurement team wanted faster access to information to support decision-making.

“The reporting involved hands-on administrative work, and we wanted better real-time visibility into our travel spend,” said Carlson. “Navan helped us improve policy guidance, reporting, approval workflows, and overall efficiency.”

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The user experience is so much more intuitive than other solutions.

Kristi Carlson

Senior Director of Procurement

Why BearCom chose Navan

BearCom needed a travel and expense platform that could simplify the employee experience while giving the business stronger controls, reporting, and visibility. Carlson was particularly focused on finding a scalable solution that could support BearCom’s highly mobile workforce.

“We really needed a simplified travel booking and expense management experience, and we needed a better employee experience, but we also needed to follow policies and keep those approval controls in place,” said Carlson. “That’s what I was really looking for, and that’s what our Procurement team  saw Navan provided.”

Navan’s policy guidance capabilities were especially important to BearCom. With Navan, BearCom could establish configurable policies designed to guide employees toward appropriate travel options while maintaining a seamless booking experience.

“The user experience is so much more intuitive than other solutions,” said Carlson. “The automated expense functionality aligned well with our objectives and our current program, so it was very much a seamless move for our team.”

Implementation and adoption

BearCom went live with Navan in approximately two months. The implementation was collaborative and structured, involving regular meetings with the Navan team to configure policies, resolve questions, train users, and prepare for a broader rollout.

Before launching Navan across the organization, BearCom conducted a pilot with members of its executive team and a frequently traveling internal team. That team was particularly important because its members spend much of the year traveling to support customer needs.

“I really needed this team’s feedback and their buy-in,” said Carlson. “Once we made a few policy tweaks to make their lives a little easier while they’re on the road, Navan really stood out. It’s been a very successful implementation.”

For employees traveling frequently, Navan made it easier to book travel within policy, manage changing plans, and access support while on the road. For example, a traveling employee can now book a hotel upon arrival and have the reservation reviewed against company policy.

“The employee can book it as soon as they arrives,” said Carlson. “It goes through the policy program, and they can move forward with the reservation. It’s one example of how Navan has made traveltravel easier for our employees.”

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The Navan support team is wonderful. I highly recommend them. They’re responsive, they’re knowledgeable, and they’ve been terrific through both implementation and ongoing support.

Kristi Carlson

Senior Director of Procurement

Results with Navan

Since implementing Navan, BearCom has gained greater visibility and control over its travel and expense spending. Carlson can now quickly access spending data, identify the organization’s largest areas of spend, and use those insights to support negotiations and program improvements.

“The biggest value has been the increased visibility and control over the travel and expense spending,” said Carlson. “We knew we had significant spend, but now we can actually see where it’s going and use that information to make better decisions.”

Before Navan, compiling monthly reports could take Carlson approximately five to six hours. Today, she can do it much faster. Life is also easier for employees, who can book travel, upload receipts, and manage expenses in one intuitive platform.

“The reduction in manual expense reporting is massive,” said Carlson. “The employees that I do hear from have appreciated the ease of booking travel and the convenience of the mobile experience.”

With these improvements, BearCom has achieved strong adoption and plans to continue improving policy compliance, expanding reporting and analytics, and identifying additional opportunities for cost savings. Navan’s support team has also been an important part of the program’s success, subject to BearCom’s confirmation of any customer satisfaction metrics before publication.

“The Navan support team has been responsive, knowledgeable, and helpful through both implementation and ongoing support,” said Carlson.

Future with Navan

By replacing a fragmented and manual travel process with Navan, BearCom has created a more consistent and controlled travel and expense experience for employees and administrators alike. The company now has the visibility needed to make better spending decisions, the controls required to support policy compliance, and an intuitive platform that employees want to use.

For organizations considering a similar transformation, Carlson recommends involving key stakeholders early, focusing on employee experience alongside business controls, and using a pilot program to refine the program before launch.

“A successful T&E transformation isn’t just about the technology,” said Carlson. “It’s about driving adoption, improving visibility, and creating processes that employees actually want to use.”