BenchSci Saves Big With Navan's All-In-One Solution
Toronto-based BenchSci is a dynamic software company that empowers nearly 50,000 scientists around the world with the planet’s most advanced artificial intelligence (AI) software. Its goal: by 2025, BenchSci wants to make the preclinical scientific process so efficient that it cuts in half the research and development time currently required to bring new medicines to market.
Founded in 2015, BenchSci currently employs 300 people. Any company growing at such a fast pace is bound to experience growing pains. For BenchSci’s Vice President of Finance, Bryn Knox, who joined when the company had just over 20 employees, the biggest headaches occurred in the areas of travel planning and expense management, particularly because a large portion of BenchSci’s employees are road warriors.
As the company grew, it became clear that it needed a new plan for employee travel and expense reporting.
Challenges
- •Poor visibility into spend
- •Shoebox of receipts
- •High leakage and off-platform booking
- •Poor end-of-month expense consolidation
Results with Navan
- •Time savings: 99% of travel auto-approved with no review necessary; 82% of non-travel purchases auto-approved
- •20% net savings on hotels; 15% on cars
- •Greater visibility, improved forecasting
- •Better employee experience
- •Single, unified T&E solution
A Rewards Program that Incentivizes Savings
The Navan Rewards program incentivizes travelers to book travel options that save the company money by passing along part of the savings to them. BenchSci employees have earned more than $15,000 in rewards while saving the company 20% on hotel bookings and 15% on car rentals.
Real-Time Visibility for Admins
On the admin side, Knox finds the admin dashboards especially helpful. “Having real-time visibility is game-changing,” he said. “I can jump in today and see how much travel we have booked, when travel is happening, where my team is headed, and who is on the trip. I can pull the reports at a moment’s notice; the oversight is simply amazing. I can’t sing Navan's praises enough; it makes my life so much simpler.”
Expanding to Navan for Expense Management
In 2021, BenchSci decided to adopt Navan for expense management. “A major benefit of using Navan for both travel and expense management is that no one on our team has to learn a new UI,” said Knox. “They use Navan to book travel and to pay and manage expenses. It’s a seamless integration.”
One fan of the all-in-one solution is BenchSci’s VP of Sales who told Knox: “I have to thank you. This is the best software that someone has brought into the company in a very, very long time…And the best part is that when I’m on a trip, I don’t have to worry about expense reporting. It’s all within Navan so I can mark it as part of that trip and it’s done. You’ve saved me!”
“Our goal of cutting the time it takes to bring medicine to market is lofty, but what we’re trying to achieve here at BenchSci is something we’re very proud of. Now that we no longer have to spend so much time and attention on travel and expense management thanks to Navan, we can focus on achieving that goal.”
Bryn Knox
VP of Finance
